KOGNITÍVNY A EVOLUČNÝ KONTEXT ŠÍRENIA KONŠPIRAČNÝCH TEÓRIÍ

• Authors: Vladimír Bahna

Title variants

EN

Cognitive and evolutionary context of the dissemination of conspiracy theories

• Languages of publication: SK

Abstracts

EN

The goal of this article is to provide a cognitive explanation of some aspects of conspiracy theories which influence their spread in society. One important human mental capacity is the ability to produce beliefs about mental states (intentions, motivation, emotions etc.) of others. This ability, also called the Theory of Mind, enables humans to produce complex social interactions and effective cooperation but it is also crucial in creation of coalitions, cheater detection and in prediction of threats from other conspecifics. Previous research shows that socially spread explanations of world phenomena, which trigger these mental mechanisms (i.e. they propose human like intentions as causes of these phenomena), have better inferential potential whereby they become intuitively more relevant as alternative explanations. In this context the author argues that conspiracy theories, just because of how they are defined, are cognitively attractive as they postulate a potential threat as a result of hidden intentions of some group of people.

Keywords

EN

CONSPIRACY THEORIES; THEORY OF MIND; COGNITION; EVOLUTION

• Publisher: Institute of Ethnology, Slovak Academy of Sciences
• Journal: Slovenský národopis (Slovak Ethnology)
• Year: 2015
• Volume: 63
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 195 – 206

Contributors

author

Vladimír Bahna

• Ústav etnológie SAV v Bratislave, Klemensova 19, 813 64 Bratislava, Slovak Republic