Do you think the moon-landings were faked, vaccines are a plot for mind control, or that shadowy government agencies are keeping alien technology locked up in hidden bunkers?

If so, chances are you're a narcissist with low self-esteem, according to psychologists.

In the internet age conspiracy theories can incubate in quiet corners of the web, but it may be psychological predispositions of believers which keep them alive, rather than cold hard facts.

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Through a number of online-studies, researchers at the University of Kent have showed strong links between the belief in conspiracy theories and those with narcissism (stock image) and low self-esteem

Over the course of three online-based studies, researchers at the University of Kent showed strong links between the belief in conspiracy theories and negative psychological traits.

Writing in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science, the team explained: 'Previous research linked the endorsement of conspiracy theories to low self-esteem.'

In the first study, a total of 202 participants completed questionnaires on conspiracy beliefs, asking how strongly they agreed with specific statements, such as whether governments carried out acts of terrorism on their own soil.

NARCISSISM VS LOW SELF-ESTEEM Typically, narcissists tend to be cocky, full of themselves and have an inflated sense of self-worth, so having low self-esteem may seem like a paradox. But psychology studies have shown that people who score as highly narcissistic can also have very low self-esteem. Psychologists have suggested that in this group, the outwardly inflated self-confidence may be them overcompensating for a lack of belief in themselves. There is also a subset of those who are highly narcissistic who, while having a strong sense of entitlement, may feel easily challenged and threatened. Advertisement

Alongside this, they were asked to complete a narcissist scale and a self-esteem assessment.

The results showed that those people who rated highly on the narcissism scale and who had low self-esteem were more likely to be conspiracy believers.

But to test whether the individual's beliefs were due to their over inflated sense of self-worth, or because they had inflated sense of worth for others who held the same belief – which psychologists call collective narcissism.

Lead author of the study Dr Aleksandra Cichocka, a lecturer in social psychology at Kent, told PsyPost.org: 'Because conspiracy theories often refer to malevolent actions of groups, we wanted to distinguish whether it is a narcissistic image of the self or the group that predicts the endorsement of conspiracy theories.'

In practice, this could be someone wanting others to accept the beliefs of people who think the moon landings were faked, rather than just accepting that they, as an individual, believe they were a hoax.

Over the course of three online-based studies, researchers at the University of Kent showed strong links between the belief in conspiracy theories - such as government control through vaccination (illustrated left) or faked moon landings (illustrated right) - and these negative psychological traits

A second study, in 276 people, confirmed that it was the narcissistic individuals with low self-esteem were likely to believe in conspiracies even when they didn't show collective narcissism.

And the final study, which questioned more than 500 people, showed low self-esteem could be largely explained 'by the general negativity toward humans'.

LINKS BETWEEN CONSPIRACY, NARCISSISM AND SELF-ESTEEM Over the course of three online-based studies, researchers at the University of Kent showed strong links between the belief in conspiracy theories and these psychological traits. The results showed that those people who rated highly on the narcissism scale and who had low self-esteem were more likely to be conspiracy believers. However, while low self-esteem, narcissism and belief in conspiracies are strongly linked, it is not clear that one - or a combination - causes the other. But it hints at an interesting new angle to the world of conspiracy and those who reinforce belief. Advertisement

However, while low self-esteem, narcissism and belief in conspiracies were strongly linked, it is not clear that one - or a combination - causes the other.

Dr Cichocka told MailOnline: 'Narcissists think that they are better than other people. At the same time, they are convinced that others are constantly trying to undermine them.

'This fosters paranoia and a conviction that others might conspire against them.'

Explaining the findings, she adds: 'We find that people high in narcissism are more likely to believe in various conspiracy theories.

'This does not mean that all narcissists believe in all conspiracies. It also does not mean that everyone who believes in some conspiracy theories is necessarily a narcissist.'

And as for how the findings might be applied to the real world, Dr Cichocka told MailOnline: 'The findings might be important for understanding how conspiracy theories are treated in politics.

'Leaders who are narcissistic might be more likely to believe that their political opponents conspire against them, or that an important political event was caused by a secret plot.'

While such psychological studies paint conspiracy believers as more likely to have negative psychological traits, physicists aren't doing them many favours either.

A recent study suggested that if people really were hiding the truth about events such as the moon landings, it would only take four years to come to light.

Dr David Robert Grimes from Oxford University created an equation to express the probability of a conspiracy being either deliberately uncovered by a whistle-blower, or inadvertently revealed by a bungler.

The authors explain that conspiracy theories, such as governments hiding UFOs (stock image) should appeal 'to individuals with exaggerated feelings of self-love, such as narcissists, due to their paranoid tendencies'

This factored in the number of conspirators, the length of time, and even the effects of conspirators dying, whether of old age or more nefarious means.

In each case, the number of conspirators and the time before the conspiracy was revealed were over-estimated to ensure that the odds of a leak happening were a 'best case scenario' for the conspirators.

From this he determined that all of the four plots would have been revealed long before now, and all within four years.