14 COULD BE PEAK AGE FOR BELIEVING IN CONSPIRACY THEORIES

[Judi Lynn]

Issued: Tue, 09 Feb 2021 10:00:59 GMT

Belief in conspiracy theories is heightened as adolescents reach 14 years of age, reveals new research involving the University of Glasgow

A study conducted by a team of psychologists from across the UK, including UofG's Dr Yvonne Skipper, has uncovered that belief in conspiracy theories flourishes in teenage years. More specifically, they found that 14 is the age adolescents are most likely to start believing in conspiracy theories, with beliefs remaining constant into early adulthood.

The findings were discovered using the first ever scientific measure of conspiracy beliefs suitable for analysing younger populations. A paper detailing the research has been published in the British Journal of Developmental Psychology online today.

Previous research has demonstrated that conspiracy theories can affect people’s beliefs and behaviours in significant ways. For example, they can influence people’s views and decisions on important issues such as climate change and vaccinations.

With around 60% of British people believing in at least one conspiracy theory, understanding their popularity is important.

Despite their significance, however, all existing research on conspiracy theories has been conducted with adults, and research methods used to measure conspiracy beliefs have been designed only with adults in mind. To date, therefore, there has been a lack of knowledge about when and why conspiracy beliefs develop in young people, and how these beliefs change over time.

More:
https://www.gla.ac.uk/news/headline_772673_en.html

[littlemissmartypants]

1. Adolescent Conspiracy Beliefs Questionnaire from the article. Thanks, JL. ❤

Academics worked with secondary school teachers to devise an initial list of 36 questions. The questions were then tested on a range of young people from schools across the UK through multiple studies, allowing the team to confirm a list of nine questions that effectively measure young people’s belief in conspiracy theories. The ACBQ includes statements such as “secret societies influence many political decisions” - participants completing the questionnaire are asked to respond to each statement on a scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). A higher mean score indicates a higher belief in conspiracy theories.

Dr Daniel Jolley said: “Our project has put the spotlight on young people’s conspiracy beliefs for the first time. As part of our scale construction, we uncovered initial evidence that paranoia and mistrust are associated with conspiracy beliefs in young populations. We also found that by the age of 14, conspiracy beliefs appeared to remain constant. Exploring the psychological antecedents and consequences of conspiracy thinking in younger populations is important and timely.”

Vanessa Cuthill, Director of Research at the British Academy, said: “The British Academy is proud to support research that helps deepen our understanding of people and society. High-quality, independent research in the humanities and social sciences points us towards new ways to think about our most pressing concerns. This study is a great example, providing us with new ways in which we can learn more about the origins of conspiracy beliefs and the impact social media and digital technology have on the lives of young people."

❤ lmsp

[OldBaldy1701E]

12. I suspect

that one factor is that it is usually around that age when we become aware enough to notice the bullshiat that permeates our lives and our society. I know it was around that age when I realized that a lot of what I had been taught was either wrong or propaganda. It is true that some of us do turn to some amazing beliefs as we age. But for some of us, this is what led to becoming aware of injustices and inequities and led a few to even attempt to do something about it. The study correlations are valid. My concern is this: is this worth putting resources into when the result may... may... be more braindead sheeple with zero independent cognitive function? It is our disbelief that fuels investigation, debate, and critical thinking skills (as far as I am concerned). Should we be trying to mess with that?

[littlemissmartypants]

13. Good questions. Can't say that I disagree with your hypothesis.

I also suspect it has something to do with neurological development. Around that age the brain is undergoing a major shift with accelerated neuron migration. The second of three such events that we experience as we grow. The first is around ages 4 yrs to 5 yrs and the third is during our early twenties. I can't help but think that there's a relationship.

❤ lmsp

[OldBaldy1701E]

15. Yep

I always felt that second one was the most important. We develop our separate personalities in that first one, and we start to develop our advanced critical thinking skills in the second one. (If you have ever seen a 'FailArmy' clip, you will understand why I say 'start'. If it were not for teenaged and young males, the clips would come out two times a year and be about 3 minutes each.) I would say the third one is more about societal and social development, which might explain why some people cannot differentiate between being a kid and being an adult. I am just spouting my own thoughts on this, as I am not anything other than a human dwelling among other humans. But, I am very observant.

[littlemissmartypants]

16. We can learn a great deal by being observant.

It might actually be the best way to learn, now that I think about it.

❤ lmsp

[mia]

2. Arrested development...

Arrested Development & Chaos

Just because someone looks grown up, doesn’t mean they have reached all the developmental milestones necessary to have a matching mental age.

There are a lot of roles an adult must take on in life whether it be spouse, parent, worker, and even child in times of carefree playfulness. A sign of development-gone-right is when you have empathy, good communication skills, you can put your feelings aside for another person, and you can take on the different roles required of you at appropriate times. Arrested development creates chaos, defenses, and breakdowns. When a person has arrested development, it is difficult to switch in and out of these different roles due to the fact that they are still stuck in a childhood or teenage state of mind. They don’t know how to self reflect and self correct, they don’t know how to have a peaceful conversation, they don’t know how to step up and take responsibility for things, etc. In these situations, it is important to look back and see where you got stuck and undo the negative core beliefs and defenses that you formed there so you can move on and grow....

“Some of us look grown up but aren’t. We walk around with suits and briefcases and car keys and annuities. But inside, we are five. Ten. Twelve. Sixteen. We sit in boardrooms, travel the world, even write books. But we are kids, still playing dress-up, playing house. Our bodies matured but our minds did not. Now — playing catch-up, playing spy — we feel left out of the adult world, certain that our would-be peers are whispering behind our backs, or speaking in a code we do not know.”

In this article by Kendra Cherry, she sums up the developmental stages outlined by famed psychologist, Erik Erikson....

...If we have parents who mirror us and attune to us as we grow up, we will move properly through developmental stages of life. However, if we do not, we may be exposed to childhood wounds. Furthermore, if your parents have arrested development, they may not be the best at helping you grow. Our generational trauma holds us all back. Panel 1, 2, and 3 (wound, reaction, and encoding) represent the developmental stage of life. When we are exposed to wounds, we react negatively and encode our injuries as negative core beliefs. Panel 4 (chaos) represents a system-gone-wrong. To defend ourselves, we lock ourselves into psychological prisons and are arrested there because we do not believe the world is safe. When we don’t allow any light to come in, it is impossible to grow.

If we don’t look at the cause of our pain and why we’re in our defensive state, then we get stuck too early in our development. We won’t have the psychological base to continue building a healthy sense of self and basic psychological skills for life such as healthy communication, behavior. If we don’t develop those, it affects our relationships later on in life. At the psychological healing center, the Mind Map System takes you through the developmental stages to undo the damage of a painful childhood and help patients reform their cracked lens of perception.

https://psychologicalhealingcenter.com/arrested-development-chaos/

[OldBaldy1701E]

11. "To defend ourselves..."

...we lock ourselves into psychological prisons and are arrested there because we do not believe the world is safe.

Some of us do not have to 'believe' it...

[bucolic_frolic]

3. From experience I agree with this article

There are many people who reach an age and remain there, mentally, for the rest of their lives, particularly their emotional development. You cannot reason with them. You will get denial. If they do recognize you have a point, they might agree but won't be able to alter those behaviors.

With conspiracy goes paranoia and paranoia drives the conservative mindset, right wing radio, and ideology. I guess it originated in having something substantial to lose. But it becomes infantile for the unintelligent followers.

[LymphocyteLover]

4. like the existence of god?

[Roy Rolling]

6. The God problem

It isn’t a person’s belief that’s the problem, it’s aggressively expressing that belief to influence others.

A belief and preaching of no God is similarly annoying to some.

Faith in something is unavoidable. Can’t we at least make a distinction between Santa Claus and a murderer dressed as Santa Claus? Are we that dense we can’t distinguish the dangerous behavior in religious ISIS from grandma singing in the choir at the old time gospel church?

[LymphocyteLover]

14. Yes, of course I was being snarky.

It's not a problem to believe in a higher power. More the problem is some of the various beliefs that have sprung up around religion.

[twodogsbarking]

7. Oh my,

how daring, but spot on.

[Jon King]

5. Ha, this has been my life experience with Republicans...

Whether its family members or school class mates who turned out to be devout Repubs....they all have several things in common....they think they are the smartest in the room when they are the most clueless, they were usually huge jerks even as kids, and they got stuck maturity wise somewhere in the 10-15 year old age range.

I can think back to at least 20 people in my life over the years who are Repubs, and not one does not fit this description.

[tanyev]

10. And I've long thought that Donny seems to have gotten stuck at age 8.

Funny how they revere him. Maybe it's Donny's privileged upbringing that allowed him to get stuck so young and stay stuck, and they wish they'd been able to.

[TNNurse]

8. Have no trouble believing that many who believe conspiracies

are emotionally and intellectually 14 years old.

[Dustlawyer]

9. The biggest conspiracy theory that the poor and middle class Republican voters believe

in is that Republican politicians have their interests at heart.