Show notes
Conspiracy theories aren't a sign of poor judgement or personality flaws. Constructed from a shared language, they actually offer a means for someone to try and make sense of an uncertain or stressful event. That's according to Henrich Greve, Professor of Entrepreneurship at INSEAD, speaking on this episode about his new book, co-authored with Stanford University's Huggy Rao: Ctrl+Alt+Doubt: Decoding the Language of Online Conspiracy Talk. Greve explains why anyone can end up believing in conspiracy theories, how "gateway" theories work like gateway drugs, why the calmest, most rational-sounding posts spread the furthest, and why people often hold several contradictory theories at once as a kind of psychological safety net. The conversation also covers real-world harms, from vaccine hesitancy and the return of measles to South Africa's HIV denialism and the January 6th Capitol attack, before turning to what actually works, and what doesn't, in slowing the spread of harmful conspiracies. Chapters 00:00 Introduction: why conspiracy theories spread faster than ever02:03 Why the book was written, and what past research got wrong06:36 Defining a conspiracy theory, and how widespread they are11:23 Reframing believers as problem solvers, not "dupes"15:00 How the conspiracy "toolkit" is learned and spreads 21:03 The language of conspiracy talk: calm words, hashtags and community24:23 Why people believe multiple, even contradictory, theories26:56 Real-world harms: vaccines, violence and the return of measles30:28 Conspiracy theories at state level: South Africa, Russia, January 6th34:04 What actually works, and doesn't, in limiting the spread40:34 Closing thoughts and where to find the book Read the related INSEAD Knowledge article.
