A-Z Popular New Top Search »
Cognitive Biases
 
Related Guides

What is a Conspiracy Fallacy?

 , updated on
The conspiracy fallacy is the assumption that a particular conspiracy is factual when its status is more hypothetical and unproven. This commonly takes a defeatist tone that suggests that things are impossible because a system is rigged in some way.

Example

Investors may complain stock movements are the result of manipulation by "algorithms", "wall street" or the "big guys" as opposed to market forces. Such arguments are rooted in facts as large institutional investors, investment banks and algorithms have a great deal of impact on markets. However, claims that prices are "unfair" neglect the intense competition that exists on markets between these large forces such that prices typically represent a good guess at the intrinsic value of a security at a point in time.

Notes

Conspiracies do exist but the conspiracy fallacy relates to conspiracies that are mostly hypothetical in that there is little or no hard evidence to support them.
Belief in conspiracies may serve some purpose whereby having people willing to seeking out evidence for an unlikely hypothesis may be beneficial to society in some way. This can be viewed as a type of intellectual diversity whereby some people will only believe things that are fully accepted by authoritative sources and others believe authoritative sources have some agenda or faults that make them unreliable.
Overview: Conspiracy Fallacy
Type
Definition (1)
Assuming that highly theoretical conspiracies are factual and concrete.
Definition (2)
Viewing a system as rigged when it is in fact highly competitive and open.
Related Concepts
Next Read: Defeatism

Thinking

This is the complete list of articles we have written about thinking.
Abductive Reasoning
Abstract Thinking
Abstraction
Aesthetics
Analogy
Analysis Paralysis
Analytical Thinking
Anomie
Argument
Argument From Silence
Arrow Of Time
Assertions
Automaticity
Backward Induction
Base Rate Fallacy
Benefit Of Doubt
Big Picture
Brainstorming
Call To Action
Catch 22
Causality
Choice Architecture
Circular Reasoning
Cognition
Cognitive Abilities
Cognitive Biases
Cold Logic
Collective Intelligence
Complexity Bias
Concept
Consciousness
Constructive Criticism
Convergent Thinking
Counterfactual Thinking
Creative Tension
Creeping Normality
Critical Thinking
Culture
Curse Of Knowledge
Decision Fatigue
Decision Framing
Decision Making
Defensive Pessimism
Design Thinking
Divergent Thinking
Educated Guess
Emotional Intelligence
Epic Meaning
Essential Complexity
Excluded Middle
Failure Of Imagination
Fallacies
Fallacy Fallacy
False Analogy
False Balance
False Dichotomy
False Equivalence
First Principles
Formal Logic
Four Causes
Fuzzy Logic
Gambler's Fallacy
Generalization
Golden Hammer
Good Judgement
Grey Area
Groupthink
Heuristics
Hindsight Bias
Hope
Idealism
Ideas
If-By-Whiskey
Illogical Success
Imagination
Independent Thinking
Inductive Reasoning
Inference
Influencing
Informal Logic
Information
Information Cascade
Introspection
Intuition
Inventive Step
Learning
Lifestyle
Logic
Logical Argument
Logical Thinking
Ludic Fallacy
Magical Thinking
Meaning
Mental Experiences
Mental State
Mindset
Misuse of Statistics
Motivated Reasoning
Natural Language
Nirvana Fallacy
Norms
Not Even Wrong
Objective Reason
Objectivity
Opinion
Overthinking
Perception
Personal Values
Perspective
Positive Thinking
Practical Thinking
Pragmatism
Premise
Problem Solving
Proof By Example
Propositional Logic
Prosecutor's Fallacy
Radical Chic
Rational Thought
Realism
Reality
Reason
Reasoning
Red Herring
Reflective Thinking
Reification
Relativism
Salience
Scarcity Mindset
Scientism
Selective Attention
Serendipity
Situational Awareness
Sour Grapes
State Of Mind
Storytelling
Subjectivity
Systems Thinking
Thinking
Thought Experiment
Unknown Unknowns
Visual Thinking
Want To Believe
Whataboutism
Win-Win Thinking
Wishful Thinking
Worldview
If you enjoyed this page, please consider bookmarking Simplicable.
 

Fallacies

A list of logical fallacies.

Fallacy Fallacy

The fallacy of being too worried about fallacy.

Cognitive Biases

A list of common cognitive biases explained.

Broken Window Fallacy

An overview of the broken window fallacy.

Overwhelming Exception

A common logical fallacy.

Prosecutor's Fallacy

An overview of the Prosecutor's Fallacy.

Whataboutism

The definition of whataboutism with examples.

Double Bind

The definition of a double bind with examples.

False Equivalence

The definition of false equivalence with examples.

Logic

A few logic terms explained.

Law Of Excluded Middle

A classical law of logic first established by Aristotle.

Fuzzy Logic

Logic that allows for partial truths.

Logic vs Intelligence

The difference between logic and intelligence.

Causality

The definition of causality with examples.

Magical Thinking

The definition of magical thinking with examples.

Scientism

The definition of scientism with examples.

Mutually Exclusive

The definition of mutually exclusive with examples.

False Balance

The definition of false balance with examples.
The most popular articles on Simplicable in the past day.

New Articles

Recent posts or updates on Simplicable.
Site Map