Why are conspiracy theories so appealing? The answer lies in your brain. Subscribe to ABC Science YouTube 👉 https://ab.co/2YFO4Go

Further reading:
Illusory pattern perception:
Whitson (2008) Lacking Control Increases Illusory Pattern Perception: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/s...
Hartmann (2023) Illusory perception of visual patterns in pure noise is associated with COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...
Proijeen, Douglas (2018) Connecting the dots: Illusory pattern perception predicts belief in conspiracies and the supernatural: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...
Walker, et. al (2023) Finding meaning in the clouds: Illusory pattern perception predicts receptivity to pseudo-profound bullshit: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journa...

The statistic “one in four Australians believe the governments are suppressing evidence of the existence of aliens" is from a 2022 survey. Marques et. al (2022) Australasian Public Awareness and Belief in Conspiracy Theories: Motivational Correlates: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/e...

Subscribe: https://ab.co/2YFO4Go
Like:   / abcscience  
Follow:   / abchealth  
---------------------------------------------------------------
This is an official Australian Broadcasting Corporation YouTube channel.
Please see the ABC Online Terms of Use for the reasons why we may remove content from this page, or ban people: http://about.abc.net.au/terms-of-use/