Dr Michelle Dickinson: Nanotechnologist on why some people are more drawn to conspiracy theories than others

Have you ever wondered why some people seem particularly drawn to conspiracy theories, even when the evidence doesn’t support them? 

New research suggests the answer may have less to do with intelligence or critical thinking, and more to do with how people naturally process information.

A study published in the journal Cognitive Processing found that people who strongly prefer order, patterns, and structured explanations may be more likely to find conspiracy theories appealing. 

What’s interesting is that this can happen even when those people are perfectly capable of scientific reasoning.

The appeal of a simple explanation 

The world is complicated, events are messy, unpredictable, and often confusing. 

Conspiracy theories offer something very tempting: a tidy explanation for chaos. 

They connect dots, assign motives, and turn uncertainty into a clear story. 

For people who naturally look for structure and patterns, that kind of explanation can feel satisfying. 

Researchers describe this thinking style as “systemising.” 

Systemising is the tendency to interpret the world by identifying patterns and rules that explain how things work. People who score highly on systemising often enjoy solving puzzles, analysing systems, or finding logical frameworks that make sense of complex information. 

In the study, researchers looked at more than 550 participants and identified different thinking styles. 

They found that people with strong systemising tendencies were more likely to believe conspiracy theories, even if they demonstrated strong reasoning skills. 

The reason? Conspiracy theories often present events in a way that appears highly structured and internally consistent. 

Loose ends get tied together. Coincidences become evidence. Complex events get reduced to a clear narrative. 

The problem is that once someone adopts a structured explanation, it can be difficult to let go of it. 

Why beliefs can stick,  even when new evidence appears 

Participants who strongly preferred structured explanations were less likely to change their views when presented with new evidence. 

This doesn’t necessarily mean someone is irrational. Instead, it reflects how their brain prefers to organise information. 

The desire for a coherent system can sometimes override the willingness to question the system itself. 

Why this matters 

Conspiracy theories aren’t just harmless speculation. 

They can erode trust in institutions, influence public health decisions, increase anxiety, damage relationships, and spread misinformation. 

Understanding why people believe them is therefore important. 

The research suggests that simply presenting facts may not always be enough to change someone’s mind. If conspiracy beliefs satisfy deeper psychological needs, like the desire for order and predictability, then addressing misinformation may require more than just correcting the record. 

It may also require recognising how different people make sense of the world. 

A reminder about human thinking 

Perhaps the most important takeaway from this research is that belief in conspiracy theories isn’t always about poor reasoning. 

Sometimes it’s about the human desire to make sense of uncertainty. 

Our brains are pattern-finding machines, most of the time that ability helps us navigate the world. 

Understanding that tendency may be one of the most powerful tools we have for recognising misinformation, both in others, and in ourselves. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudgin
from News Talks EDB.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
It is time to talk science now. I'm joined by
doctor Micheld and single morning.

Speaker 3 (00:16):
Good morning.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
Okay. Something that I think a lot of us have
been thinking about over the last five years is why
some people are more drawn to a conspiracy theory than others.

Speaker 3 (00:28):
As a science communicator, this is my inbox. I get
hundreds of emails a day from people trying to prove
to me that the Earth is flat, COVID didn't exist,
we didn't leand on the moon, and they've got YouTube
videos they're like just watch this. So I'm exposed to
this sort of person a lot in my life, and
so when I saw this study, it's published in the

(00:50):
journal Cognitive Processing, I was like, this is interesting, and
the study wants to know why some people are more
drawn to conspiracy theories than others. So I assume you
get conspiracy theorists coming on your show.

Speaker 2 (01:04):
You do talk me, yeah, yeah, a little bit. But
I think actually most of us through COVID head friends
or family members who might have had quite different opinions
to us, And it was a real challenge for us
all to work out how to navigate those relationships with
quite different ideas about the world.

Speaker 3 (01:23):
So one of the things I've learned as a science
communicator is do not try to convince them with facts.
Facts aren't actually matter. And so what this study showed
is actually there are specific types of people who are
drawn to conspiracy theories, and they're called systematizers by personality,
and they tend to be and if you're currently doing
the crossword right now, I'll listen to this, you might

(01:45):
be vulnerable. They tend to be people who enjoy solving puzzles,
analyzing systems, and finding logical frameworks that make sense of
complex information. They're basically people who naturally look for structure
and patterns. And what they find is when they find
that structure a pattern, that explanation feels satisfying, they feel

(02:06):
more or in control out of the chaos, and so
their brains just go, I am calm, this.

Speaker 2 (02:12):
Is it, which makes sense, right, We're all looking for
the we're all looking for the calm the answers to
the Christians in the universe that way totally.

Speaker 3 (02:20):
So they steady looked at five hundred and fifty participants
and found the type of thinking brain that they had.
They did a whole bunch of personality tests on them,
and they found that these people with strong systematizing tendencies
tend to believe conspiracy theories even if they demonstrate strong
reasoning skills. So it's easy to go, oh, you're an idiot.
Why do you think that? It's not about that at all?
These can be really smart people. It's just that conspiracy

(02:43):
theories are presented usually in beautiful ways that are highly
structured and consistent internally with their messaging. They can tie
together loose ends, they can make coincidences become evidence, and
they give a really clear narrative even if it's false.
And so somebody who likes this structured explanation goes, great,
that my brain has accepted that that is it, which

(03:05):
is why you cannot usually change their minds. Those beliefs
stick because the people prefer structured explanations, and so they
don't want to change their views with evidence because they're
in a comfortable place right now. And you go, well,
why does this matter? Like who cares if people want
to believe that the Earth is flat? But I think
we saw in COVID that actually there can be decisions

(03:29):
that you make that go against scientific evidence that may
harm you if conspiracy theories do stick, and I think,
you know, we saw that a lot over COVID, and
so this research is about trying to understand why this
happens and is there a way that maybe we can
present evidence better in a way that helps to fit
people's brains, especially these systemizers or you crossword doers and

(03:51):
puzzle doers. And it's not a bad thing. It's just
trying to help make sure that good information gets out fairly.

Speaker 2 (03:57):
We can people read this study.

Speaker 3 (04:00):
It's in Cognitive Processing the Journal, and you can read it.
Its open source, brilliant. Thank you so much, Michelle.

Speaker 2 (04:05):
We'll talk next week.

Speaker 1 (04:07):
For more from the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin, listen
live to News Talks at B from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.