What is van Prooijen’s definition of “conspiracy theory”? [Right There] To what degree does van Prooijen’s definition match Merlan’s? [Text + You]
The writer’s definition of “conspiracy theory” is the suspicion that a group of actors have joined together in a secret agreement to plan evil acts. (Paragraph 6). Although Merlan believes that conspiracy theories do involve a group, Merlan believes that conspiracy theories occur during times of social change, and that “fake news” play large roles in these theories. Along with this, Merlan believes that during the times of social change, people look for something to blame which can also create these theories.
What is van Prooijen (with Mark van Vugt) argument in support of the claim that conspiracy theories have evolutionary origins over 12,000 years old? You’ll need to Pull Together and summarize the information in paragraphs 9-14 to answer this question.
Prooijen and Mark’s argument is that conspiracies are caused by lethal conflict between different groups. In the article, they explain that conflicting groups were most likely to resort to violence with tribal warfare. Along with this, they state that ancient people had to always be on guard when dealing with unknown people compared to people today. This is because there was no social media or modern technology to help the groups resolve conflicts.
What does van Prooijen mean by “evolutionary mismatch” (paragraph 20), how does it apply to conspiracy theory (paragraphs 20-22) and what kinds of problems can conspiracy theory as an evolutionary mismatch cause in the world? [Right There + Pull It Together]
The “evolutionary mismatch” that the writer describes is the reference to human development in today’s age compared to thousands of years ago. This applies to conspiracy theories in many ways. This is because back then violence was used to fix many problems between different groups, creating conspiracies and mystery about the events that occured. In todays age, the “Us vs them” mindset is seen as people look to blame others for unfortunate events that have occured. For example, Indonesia looks to blame the West for a recent span of terrorist attacks that have occured in their country.
How could understanding conspiracy theories in the way that van Prooijen does contribute to our understanding of the rise of populist political movements and extremist organizations that endorse violent conflict with others? [Right There]
Understanding conspiracy theories in the way that the writer does is very important when looking to understand these factors. If able to understand these factors, we will be able to understand the true reason behind what motivate groups to carry out these acts.
