US News and World Reports on Conspiracy Theorists

US News repeats the report on the psychological study that Pat mentioned earlier. I have to agree, I think the Grand Universal Conspiracy Theory is the Holy Grail for most conspiracists.

“Often, the proof offered as evidence for a conspiracy is not specific to one incident or issue, but is used to justify a general pattern of conspiracy ideas,” Swami says.

His conclusion echoes a 1994 proposal by sociologist Ted Goertzel of Rutgers–Camden in New Jersey. After conducting random telephone interviews of 347 New Jersey residents, Goertzel proposed that each of a person’s convictions about secret plots serves as evidence for other conspiracy beliefs, bypassing any need for confirming evidence.