Why do educated people fall for conspiracy theories? It could be narcissism

If there are two things the internet loves talking about, it’s conspiracy theories, and who may or may not be a narcissist.

Misinformation and conspiratorial thinking are long-running concerns, while narcissism has become TikTok’s favourite armchair diagnosis.

Research shows the two concepts, though seemingly separate, may actually be closely linked.

In my new research published in the Journal of Personality and Individual Differences, more than 600 people completed surveys, and the findings show higher scores on measures of narcissism were linked to belief in conspiracy theories and misinformation.

Importantly, this result held true regardless of how educated the participants were.

Head vs heart

Scholarly evidence shows people with lower levels of education are more likely to believe in conspiracy theories. But that’s only part of the story.

We also know that historically, conspiracy theories have done well in times of uncertainty, including during war, economic downturn and widespread hardship (such as the COVID pandemic).

A prominent explanation for this is that conspiracy beliefs serve underlying psychological needs. These include providing answers when things are unclear or uncertain, providing a sense of control by identifying a powerful group to take action against, and for social reasons, such as showing others which political groups you belong to and signalling loyalty to those groups.

I wanted to find out when educated people might also “fall down the rabbit hole”, and learn more about which psychological needs lead them to do so.

The research

Over two studies, 660 adults were asked to complete a series of questionnaires to measure narcissistic traits. These included:

• having a sense of superiority or entitlement (grandiosity)

• needing to be unique (wanting to be special and stand out from others)

• and a need for “cognitive closure”: a desire for concrete answers and viewing things as black and white.

The participants then answered how much they believed in certain conspiracy theories. One example put to them was: “the assassination of John F. Kennedy was not committed by the lone gunman, Lee Harvey Oswald, but was rather a detailed, organised conspiracy to kill the President”.

They also attempted to distinguish true statements from misinformation, including “Ebola Virus Caused by US Nuclear Weapons Testing, New Study Says”.

The participants had varying levels of education, ranging from high school or less through to having a masters or doctorate. They also had a variety of political beliefs.

People who scored higher in narcissistic traits were more accepting of conspiracy theories and misinformation.

Importantly, this was true regardless of how educated the person was.

The results showed these traits might offset the differences linked to education. When these traits were above average, highly educated people were just as likely to endorse these beliefs as those without any formal education.

Why might this be?

Education often provides people with skills in evaluating evidence, critical thinking and a shared understanding of how we can find truth.

However, humans are quite good at “motivated reasoning”: using reasoning skills to come to pleasing conclusions because we want to believe something.

This type of reasoning is often linked to unfounded beliefs – those without evidence. When people feel superior to experts, want to feel special, or need a concrete answer during uncertain times, they might use their reasoning to hold certain beliefs despite a lack of evidence.

My research suggests educated people are not immune to this.

What can we do with this information?

It’s important to recognise there’s a variety of factors that determine people’s beliefs and which ones they hold most dear. These include the above personality traits and thinking styles, as well as factors like identity, how people view themselves and show support for the groups they belong to.

These findings suggest even highly educated people can be resistant to changing their mind if underlying psychological needs are threatened. It’s important to keep these in mind when discussing controversial topics. This is true whether talking with friends, family, or those with opposing political views to our own.

We should also take into consideration our own motivations and needs, and how these might influence our points of view. Doing so might help in finding common ground and improve social discourse on a larger scale.