The Entertainment Value of Conspiracy Theories

First published: July 14, 2021 https://doi.org/10.1111/bjop.12522

Commentary

Many people around the world believe in conspiracy theories.

But what is it that makes conspiracy theories so fascinating?

This study proposed that conspiracy theories elicit intense emotions. Thus, people find conspiracy theories entertaining, stories that people find interesting, exciting, and attention-grabbing. Such entertainment ratings are positively associated with beliefs about them. Five studies support these, and participants were exposed to either conspiratorial or non-conspiratorial texts about the Notre Dame Cathedral fire (Study 1) or the death of Jeffrey Epstein (pre-registered Study 2).

Results showed that the conspiratorial texts elicited stronger entertainment ratings and more intense emotions (independent of emotional valence) than the non-conspiratorial ones. Furthermore, entertainment ratings were found to mediate the effects of the manipulation on conspiracy beliefs.

Study 3 showed that participants endorsed stronger conspiracy beliefs when election events were described in an entertaining rather than boring manner, and subsequent findings revealed that both organizational (Study 4) and social conspiracy beliefs (Study 5) are characterized by a preference for exciting and intense experiences and are positively associated with sensation seeking.

It was concluded that one of the reasons people believe in conspiracy theories is simply because they find them interesting.