2min chapter

Ep. 209 - The Doctor Is In Series - The TRUTH Behind Conspiracy Theories

The Social-Engineer Podcast

notes

CHAPTER

The Five Reasons Why People Believe in Conspiracy Theories

There may be a need to escape from reality for reasons that are not particularly sane or trauma based. People want to maintain this positive image of themselves and sometimes having a conspiracy theory allows us to do that. It is associated with things like increased self view, increased need for external validation, increased narcissism. If I know something that not many people do and I leave this level of knowledge, I'm more intelligent than you. What does that do for a narcissist? It boosts self esteem. It boosts this feeling that I am special and it has this psychological need to feel unique.

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Transcript

Episode notes

Welcome to the Social-Engineer Podcast: The Doctor Is In Series – where we will discuss understandings and developments in the field of psychology.

In today’s episode, Chris and Abbie are discussing: Conspiracy theories. They will talk about what makes a Conspiracy Theory and why we believe them. [May 1, 2023]

00:00 - Intro

00:17 - Dr. Abbie Maroño Intro

00:59 - Intro Links

- Social-Engineer.com - http://www.social-engineer.com/

- Managed Voice Phishing - https://www.social-engineer.com/services/vishing-service/

- Managed Email Phishing - https://www.social-engineer.com/services/se-phishing-service/

- Adversarial Simulations - https://www.social-engineer.com/services/social-engineering-penetration-test/

- Social-Engineer channel on SLACK - https://social-engineering-hq.slack.com/ssb

- CLUTCH - http://www.pro-rock.com/

- innocentlivesfoundation.org - http://www.innocentlivesfoundation.org/

04:45 - The Topic of the Day: The TRUTH Behind Conspiracy Theories

05:54 - What is a Conspiracy Theory?

07:39 - What's the harm?

10:20 - WHY???

11:17 - Pattern Seekers

13:15 - Cognitive Closure

17:04 - The Role of Critical Thinking

19:18 - An Existential Element

20:41 - Don't Forget the Lizards!

22:35 - What about Bigfoot?

24:30 - Escapism

30:15 - Reading the Emotions

32:29 - Social Motive

33:31 - Emotions vs Critical Thinking

36:42 - Prove Me Wrong!

39:09 - The Takeaway: Empathy

40:57 - Wrap Up & Outro

- www.social-engineer.com

- www.innocentlivesfoundation.org

Find us online:

- Twitter: https://twitter.com/abbiejmarono

- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/dr-abbie-maroño-phd-35ab2611a

- Twitter: https://twitter.com/humanhacker

- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/christopherhadnagy

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