Why Do Narcissists Constantly Produce Conspiracy Theory?

While research on conspiracy theorists continues, previous research has revealed that those with narcissistic personalities are more likely to form conspiracy theories. But this research why narcissists are prone to forming conspiracy theories hadn’t mentioned it.

A new study has provided an answer to this problem. Research into narcissists’ predisposition to form conspiracy theories gave four reasons and attributed them to the three components that lead to narcissism. Accordingly, these individuals produced conspiracy theories because of their feelings of paranoia, their naivety towards claims about what is not true, and their need to dominate and be unique.

How do these four reasons lead to conspiracy theories?

The four reasons listed above paralleled the three components associated with narcissism. These three components extraversion (attempting to strengthen the ego and gain admiration through charm and daydreaming), antagonism (being arrogant, exploitative and entitled) and neuroticism (experiencing low self-esteem and shame).

How the four reasons listed by the researchers pushed narcissists to produce conspiracy theories were shared as follows:

• Paranoia: The tendency of narcissists to believe that other people exist to take over and are deliberately trying to harm them.
• The need for dominance and control: Narcissists use a different group as a scapegoat for something wrong and may find conspiracy theories plausible as a way to change the blame.
• The need to be unique: Narcissists promise access to ‘privileged’ and ‘secret’ documents that are not publicly available through conspiracy theories, and this makes those who believe them more private.
• Purity: It makes any person more susceptible to unreliable and manipulative information.

Worrying detail from researchers: Politicians are more inclined to be narcissistic:

The team behind the research also included an interesting explanation. According to researchers politicians have a higher tendency to be narcissistic. This means that governments are in danger of becoming more susceptible to conspiracy theories.