In my previous post, we discussed how people who favor intuition over analytic reasoning are more likely to engage in conspiracy thinking, and how Mormon culture similarly favors intuition as the fundamental method of discerning truth—with analytic reason playing a supporting role. In this post, we will examine the availability heuristic.
The more frequently and/or recently we have been exposed to an idea or bit of information, the more rapidly our brains will recall it, and the more salient it will seem. Since our brains are predisposed to equate salience with importance, we are prone to interpret salience as truth and accuracy—especially if we have been socially conditioned to do so.1 In other words, our thinking is constrained by our preference for information readily available to us.
A powerful example of the availability heuristic is the illusory truth effect, which is: the more we are exposed to the same idea or information, the more we intuitively perceive it as true. Critically, this can happen even when we are initially aware that the information is misleading, inaccurate, or false.2 An expression of this is the misinformation effect, where individuals’ memory of an event can be influenced through later, repeated exposure to inaccurate information.3
In what ways do Mormons show a predilection toward the availability heuristic, and how might that contribute to Mormon conspiracism? One striking example is testimony meetings. In these meetings, members are encouraged to publicly “bear their testimony”—in other words, to declare their conviction, through the Holy Ghost, of the truthfulness of Mormon tenets—even if they don’t actually have a testimony. Why are they encouraged to do this? One Latter-day Saint apostle taught that “a testimony is to be found in the bearing of it,”4 meaning that (according to another apostle) “some testimonies are better gained on the feet bearing them than on the knees praying for them.”5 One general authority said that “bearing testimony drives your faith deeper into your soul, [so] you believe more fervently than before.”6 Another encouraged members to “consider recording the testimony of Joseph Smith in your own voice, listening to it regularly, and sharing it with friends.”7
Critics have asserted that this kind of testimony bearing is nothing more than “brainwashing.” Though the notion of brainwashing is pseudoscientific and a conspiracist idea itself, the critique is not wholly without merit.8 Encouraging members to publicly declare their certainty in the truthfulness of Mormon ideas as a method of self-conversion is an ethically questionable exercise because it puts the illusory truth effect into play, which the “bearer” may interpret as gaining a testimony through the Holy Ghost.
The availability heuristic also functions in LDS life through Mormon scripture, where conspiracy narratives abound. For example, there are prominent narratives about secret combinations (e.g., Ether 8), a conspiracy to steal and alter the early Book of Mormon translation manuscript (D&C 10), murderous plots against the Saints “in the secret chambers” (D&C 38:13, 28), “the Nicolaitane band and of all their secret abominations” (D&C 117:11), the order of Master Mahan (Moses 5), “evils and designs […] of conspiring men in the last days” (D&C 89:4), and “the subtle craftiness of men” who “lie in wait to deceive” and keep earnest seekers from the truth via “hidden things of darkness” (D&C 123:12–14). Seminary and Sunday school lessons frequently echo these themes with recitations of the organized persecution of the Saints or discussions that interpret current events as being deliberate opposition to the Restoration and one of the “signs of the times.”
Recall that the availability heuristic refers to our tendency to intuit as true those ideas to which we are most frequently exposed—especially when accompanied by social reinforcement and the absence of counter-messaging. Now, it’s true that the availability heuristic is a common tool in any community’s enculturation process, so it’s not remarkable that we find it in Mormonism. However, prominent among these oft-repeated ideas are sinister conspiracies, presented as past, present, and future realities. So, it is little wonder that many Mormons are attracted to conspiracy theories. They likely find something familiar in those theories—a similitude with ideas and information they have been taught to consider as plain and precious truths revealed from the most reliable authorities.
Footnotes:
1 Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, fast and slow. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Gligorić V, Većkalov B, & Žeželj I. (2018). Intuitive and analytical cognitive styles as determinants of belief in conspiracy theories. In K. Damnjanović, I. Stepanović Ilić, & S. Marković (Eds.), Proceedings of the XXIV conference empirical studies in psychology (pp. 93–95).
2 Dreyfuss, E. (2017). “Want to Make a Lie Seem True? Say It Again. And Again. And Again.” Wired Magazine, 11 February 2017. https://www.wired.com/2017/02/dont-believe-lies-just-people-repeat/
3 Udry, J, & Barber, SJ. (2024). “The illusory truth effect: A review of how repetition increases belief in misinformation.” Current Opinion in Psychology, 56, 101736.
4 Packer, BK. (1983). “The Candle of the Lord.” Ensign, 13 (1), January 1983.
5 Oaks, DH. (2008). “Testimony.” 178th Annual General Conference, Salt Lake City, UT.
6 Wirthlin, JB. (2000). “Pure Testimony.” 170th Semiannual General Conference, Salt Lake City, UT.
7 Andersen, NL. (2014). “Joseph Smith.” 184th Semiannual General Conference, Salt Lake City, UT.
8 Montell A. (2021). Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism. Harper Collins.