CONSPIRACY THEORIES 1
Journal Article Review
Nancy D LeSueur
Helms School of Government, Liberty University
CONSPIRACT THEORIES 2
Abstract
The article that is being reviewed is “Conspiracy Theories: Evolved Functions and
Psychological Mechanisms”. This article was written by Jan-Willem van Prooijen and
discusses different theories of why criminals commit the crimes that they commit. It is
discussed why the criminal is influenced culturally and why they may be influenced so
much.
CONSPIRACY THEORIES 3
Journal Article Review on Conspiracy Theories
It has been talked about and researched that because of the wide spread culturally
it is believed that terrorist attacks are influenced by the cultural that one was raised in and
believes. Because people were raised in hostile coalitions and environments, the
conspiracy is detected that because of the way one was raised that they do senseless acts
of terrorism and were a frequent case of misery, death, and reproductive loss.
Because of the certain religions and cultural differences, conspiracy theories were
agreed that with in the culture the people would have secret agreements with the purpose
of having sometime of malevolent goals to harm the human population like the 9/11
attack and another one looked at would be the Covid 19 Pandemic. Contrary to the view
that belief in such theories is pathological, large portions of the human population believe
conspiracy theories 2004, 49% of New York City residents believed the U.S government
to be complicit in the 9/11 terrorist attacks.[ CITATION Pro18 \l 1033 ]
Supporting Points
The conspiracy theory that is assumed of how people, things, objects, and events
are casually interconnected. Because of different cultures and beliefs, it is found that the
conspiracy theories are to be true because others act upon what their culture believes as a
whole. What the cultures do not see is that dangerous coalitions are forming based on the
actions and threats that are made to others.
Many people who hold many beliefs share a lot of the same conspiracy theories as
to how they positively correlated and their supernatural beliefs. What distinguishes
conspiracy theories from supernatural beliefs is that they necessarily involve a coalition
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element of deceptive or potentially dangerous other human beings actin in unison.
[ CITATION Pro18 \l 1033 ]
Personal Experience
With being in law enforcement for a couple of decades, I have come into contact
with all sorts of people and cultures. Not every situation is the same nor is the person or
family that you are dealing with. Because some worship different then you and their
cultures are different you need to be understanding that they may do things differently
than you do and be flexible. “Dear friends, don’t believe all people who say that they
have the Spirit. Instead, test them. See whether the spirit they have is from God, because
there are many false prophets in the world”. (New King James Version, 2003, 1 John 4:1)
The world is changing so much to the different beliefs and how victims and
criminals act. With these kinds of changes, we as law enforcement need to be able to
change and adapt as well. We cannot use a conspiracy theory that every person will act
the same and assume that any actions or events are connected. The human mind is
equipped to look for existing patterns because establishing the true casual relations
between people, events, and other important stimuli is indispensable for survival.
[ CITATION Pro18 \l 1033 ]
Conspiracy theories on how people act and make the choices that they choose
come from a huge detection of moralizing gods, social and physical environments that are
changing in our world daily. With these theories it is researched that because of the
cultures one were raised in could be the reason they make the choices that they do and
commit the crimes that they commit.
CONSPIRACY THEORIES 5
Conclusion
Honestly we will never understand why others do what they do but, we can
research and hope that we can find answers why others act a certain way and have certain
behaviors based on their culture or beliefs. Having conspiracy beliefs of how you may be
able to detect how others may act during situations helps guide us to protect others from
danger. “The fear of the Lord leads to life, and whoever has it rests satisfied; he will not
be visited by harm”. (Proverbs 19:23)
