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Three ways to spot a conspiracy theory

VOX POP: Roswell... Bigfoot... VOX POP: Oh, that kind of thing. VOX POP: OK... Shape-shifting lizards. Interesting. VOX POP: Conspiracy theories do require a wild imaginative leap. VOX POP: I think we can explain it in scientific ways. So why do we believe some more ridiculous way. VOX POP: Yes and of course they spread much more readily now with the advent of social media. VOX POP: Who can you trust? THE ANATOMY OF A CONSPIRACY THEORY DR JOVAN BYFORD, SENIOR LECTURER IN PSYCHOLOGY, THE OPEN UNIVERSITY: The term conspiracy theory refers to explanations according to which events in the world are caused by an evil plan plotted in secret by a small group of powerful individuals. DR MYRTO PANTAZI, OXFORD INTERNET INSTITUTE, UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD Some decades ago there was this tendency to conceive conspiracy beliefs as pathological, but psychologists have shifted this. They nowadays believe normal functions of our mind explain why people believe in conspiracy theories. CONSPIRACY THEORIES ARE SHARED CULTURAL PHENOMENA, EACH WITH THEIR WON INTRICATE STORIES AND INTERNAL LOGIC. DR JOVAN BYFORD: The defining features of the conspiracy theory are: the conspirator, the conspiratorial plan - the sinister plan that they're trying to bring about - and the means of mass manipulation by which the conspirator is keeping the plan secret. PART 1: THE CONSPIRATOR DR JOVAN BYFORD: Sometimes the conspirator will be defined in terms of a concrete body with an identifiable membership. The Illuminati, or the Freemasons, Jews, more recently things like the Bilderberg Group, the Skull and Bones Society, and various other secret societies. However very often, the conspirator will be defined in much vaguer terms - the Big Pharma, the military-industrial complex, global elites and so on. So they're always balancing between the need to define the enemy and the need to accept that the enemy is always going to be shady, secret and so on. PART 2: THE EVIL PLAN DR JOVAN BYFORD: Conspiracy theorists will often argue that if you destroy a group of powerful people in the world you will not destroy the conspiracy because the plan is the key thing. Very often, that plan is going to involve world domination, but if one looks at the level of cover up that would be required in order to keep all these things secret it necessitates having somebody who is actually in control of everything. PART 3: MASS MANIPULATION DR JOVAN BYFORD: Much of the conspiracist's writing will involve trying to analyse what strategies and what power the conspirators have to keep their sinister plan or their identity hidden. Very often the manipulation comes from the plausible - things like science, government, media ownership - to the ludicrous - paranormal manipulation, use of occult powers, manipulation of brainwaves. WHY DO PEOPLE BELIEVE IN CONSPIRACY THEORIES? DR MYRTO PANTAZI: Conspiracy believers, I think they genuinely believe in the theories and they really strive for the truth. It may seem naive, but there is this human tendency to underestimate the role that chance alone can play in events that occur. DR JOVAN BYFORD: This belief that the world is ultimately controllable and that is a very powerful driver of conspiracy beliefs in moments of crisis where there is almost like a vacuum in explanation. DR MYRTO PANTAZI: We see this more social function of conspiracy beliefs in the fact that people believe in them or not as being part of their social identity. DR JOVAN BYFORD: The stereotype is that they're in their cellar on the internet, looking for the most recent conspiracy theory. But most people are neither believers nor sceptics but fall somewhere in the middle? And for me the key question is not what differentiates the hard believers from the hard sceptics, but how do we interpret that section of the population in the middle. HOW CAN WE ENSURE CONSPIRACY THEORIES DON'T MISLEAD US? DR MYRTO PANTAZI: Conspiracy theories can be dangerous for society - people who believe that vaccines cause autism and avoid vaccinating their children, put them in danger. A thorough thinking person could debunk one argument at a time but could not debunk all their arguments. DR JOVAN BYFORD: The most sinister conspiracy theories, like the anti-Semitic conspiracy theories of the early 20th Century, or if you talk outlandish in terms of David Icke's alien lizards, the fundamental error is always the same. If one makes people more aware of what conspiracy theories are it enables them, when they see a conspiracy theory, to see it for what it is. UNDERSTANDING THE COMMON ANATOMY OF CONSPIRACY THEORIES, MAKES IT EASIER TO IDENTIFY THEM IN DAY-TO-DAY LIFE.