The Psychology of Conspiracy Theories: Why Do People Believe Them? By John M. Grohol, Psy.D.
". . . personality traits such as openness to experience, distrust, low agreeability, and Machiavellianism are associated with conspiracy belief . . .people with stronger conspiracy beliefs are more likely to . . . have lower levels of analytic thinking. . . recent research demonstrating that individual narcissism, or a grandiose idea of the self, is positively related to belief in conspiracy theories."Who believes in conspiracies? New research offers a theory - Science Daily
New research by Josh Hart, associate professor of psychology, suggests that people with certain personality traits and cognitive styles are more likely to believe in conspiracy theories. The research was recently published in the Journal of Individual Differences.
"These people tend to be more suspicious, untrusting, eccentric, needing to feel special, with a tendency to regard the world as an inherently dangerous place," Hart said. "They are also more likely to detect meaningful patterns where they might not exist. People who are reluctant to believe in conspiracy theories tend to have the opposite qualities."