<p>I have a question about what to call a term of behavior. I've seen the movie called Dune Part 2, and saw many examples of similar behaviors I have experienced in my life. In the movie, these people spread this propaganda that a new leader will take these people called Fremen to a better place. These followers, follow Mua-Dib (leader) no matter what, denying the evidence that this may be propaganda, and even at times when the leader himself says that he is not the Mua-Dib. This behavior reminds me of conspiracy theorist. They continually follow their beliefs, and while given a contradiction, they deny it and use their excuses on how &quot;the government is tainting your brains&quot; or just plainly ignore it.</p>
<p>For empathis, from the Scientific American, they point out,</p>
<p>&quot;The study is a review of research on attempts to counteract conspiratorial thinking, and it finds that common strategies that involve counterarguments and fact-checking largely fail to change people’s beliefs.&quot;</p>
<p>This is similar to extreme followers of political parties, following these leaders, and even when given evidence that goes against the leaders, the people who follow them grow stronger, saying how everyone is attacking this leader, or how the evidence is not true. For example, On emphathis, from the survey of the Uscinski’s University of Miami, the paragraph states,</p>
<p>&quot;People who believe in the conspiracy theory that COVID-19 was created to destroy President Donald Trump’s presidency are predisposed to reject information coming from experts and other authorities, a new survey led by University of Miami political scientist Joseph Uscinski has found. The survey was part of the work of Uscinski’s University of Miami Laboratory for Integrative Knowledge (U-LINK) team.&quot;</p>
<p>What would this behavior be called for a person to follow someone, without questioning them, and when faced with reasonable doubt, ignore the evidence or deny it continually?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-04-30T14:24:55.733Z
Welcome. I can't find the cited text on Google; can you add a link to the *Sci Am* article?
AliceD
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-04-30T14:27:00.187Z
and can you expand a little on what you mean; denial of any belief, or specific in a religious context, or specific on conspiracy theories?
AliceD
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-04-30T18:58:53.147Z
Questions about this group of phenomena have been asked here before, such as: [What makes people easily subscribe to pseudoscientific theories?](https://psychology.stackexchange.com/q/1556/7001), [Is there a specific term for false justifications?](https://psychology.stackexchange.com/q/12419/7001), [Denial of evidence and reason](https://psychology.stackexchange.com/q/13173/7001) (which also lists more duplicates), etc.
Arnon Weinberg
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-05-01T00:41:13.430Z
@AliceD, here is the link. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-can-you-fight-conspiracy-theories/ Also, my question is about the denial of any belief, how anyone, when set down in a rabbit hole and focusing that only this certain person is right, (or even themselves,) and will deny research and evidence given to them. So yes, a universal theme.
Lukius
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-05-01T00:48:08.937Z
And thank you @ArnonWeinberg for the helpful links!
Lukius
<behavior>
What is this behavior called?
Lukius
# What is this behavior called?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2024-04-30)

I have a question about what to call a term of behavior. I've seen the movie called Dune Part 2, and saw many examples of similar behaviors I have experienced in my life. In the movie, these people spread this propaganda that a new leader will take these people called Fremen to a better place. These followers, follow Mua-Dib (leader) no matter what, denying the evidence that this may be propaganda, and even at times when the leader himself says that he is not the Mua-Dib. This behavior reminds me of conspiracy theorist. They continually follow their beliefs, and while given a contradiction, they deny it and use their excuses on how "the government is tainting your brains" or just plainly ignore it.

For empathis, from the Scientific American, they point out,

"The study is a review of research on attempts to counteract conspiratorial thinking, and it finds that common strategies that involve counterarguments and fact-checking largely fail to change people’s beliefs."

This is similar to extreme followers of political parties, following these leaders, and even when given evidence that goes against the leaders, the people who follow them grow stronger, saying how everyone is attacking this leader, or how the evidence is not true. For example, On emphathis, from the survey of the Uscinski’s University of Miami, the paragraph states,

"People who believe in the conspiracy theory that COVID-19 was created to destroy President Donald Trump’s presidency are predisposed to reject information coming from experts and other authorities, a new survey led by University of Miami political scientist Joseph Uscinski has found. The survey was part of the work of Uscinski’s University of Miami Laboratory for Integrative Knowledge (U-LINK) team."

What would this behavior be called for a person to follow someone, without questioning them, and when faced with reasonable doubt, ignore the evidence or deny it continually?

**Tags:** behavior

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Welcome. I can't find the cited text on Google; can you add a link to the *Sci Am* article?  
> **username_1**: and can you expand a little on what you mean; denial of any belief, or specific in a religious context, or specific on conspiracy theories?  
> **username_2**: Questions about this group of phenomena have been asked here before, such as: [What makes people easily subscribe to pseudoscientific theories?](https://psychology.stackexchange.com/q/1556/7001), [Is there a specific term for false justifications?](https://psychology.stackexchange.com/q/12419/7001), [Denial of evidence and reason](https://psychology.stackexchange.com/q/13173/7001) (which also lists more duplicates), etc.  
> **username_0**: @username_1, here is the link. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-can-you-fight-conspiracy-theories/ Also, my question is about the denial of any belief, how anyone, when set down in a rabbit hole and focusing that only this certain person is right, (or even themselves,) and will deny research and evidence given to them. So yes, a universal theme.  
> **username_0**: And thank you @ArnonWeinberg for the helpful links!  

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