“It’s important to consider how appealing these narratives can be, quite generally, and be aware of that appeal and not assume that you’re immune.” ~ Joe Stubbersfield

We all want to understand the world around us, but sometimes our curiosity can lead us down some strange paths.

Dr. Joe Stubbersfield is a senior lecturer in psychology at the University of Winchester in the UK.  He explores the cultural transmission and evolution of narratives and the role of cognitive biases in the content and propagation of misinformation, conspiracy theories and urban legends. He’s curious about how our various stories and narratives might shape — and are shaped by — our curiosity.

Along with Coltan Scrivner (another guest here some years ago), Joe has researched how morbid curiosity can lead people to conspiracy theories –  an intersection that feels, frankly, important to understand in this day and age.

Spoiler alert: they find that the more morbidly curious people are, the more likely they are to have a strong conspiracy mindset, the more interest they have in conspiracy theories and the more threats they perceive.

He reminds us: wanting to understand what’s going on around us isn’t a bad thing — and we’re all susceptible to ascribing motives to others.

And, perhaps surprisingly, there’s not been much of a change in the frequency of conspiracy theories. “We have a feeling that conspiracy theory belief has gone up recently,” he says, “But there’s not strong evidence for that. Maybe we’re just talking about it more.”

So, what more should we know — and how might we push back against misinformation?

Having a grip on our own curiosity helps.

Some of these interventions [to counteract conspiracy theories] can have an unintended consequence of increasing criticality to a level so that people also disbelieve true information.

Listen to Choose to Be Curious #243: Morbid Curiosity & Conspiracy Theories, with Joe Stubbersfield

Learn more about Joe Stubbersfield’s work.

Read Joe Stubbersfield on How Morbid Curiosity Can Lead People to Conspiracy Theories, in The Conversation. The Conversation is a nonprofit, independent news organization that seeks to publish trustworthy and informative articles, written by academic experts, for the general public and edited by a team of journalists.

Learn more from my conversations on Morbid Curiosity with Coltan Scrivner and Conspiracy Theories,Magical Thinking & Curiosity, with Eric Oliver.

Theme music by Sean Balick; “Rough Hewn” by Castle Danger, via Blue Dot Sessions.

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