Political conspiracist communities emerge and bind around hard-to-falsify narratives about political opponents or elites convening to secretly exploit the public in contexts of perceived political conflict. While the narratives appear descriptive, we propose that their content as well as the cognitive systems regulating their endorsement and dissemination may have co-evolved, at least in part, to reach coalitional goals: To drive allies’ attention to the social threat to increase their commitment and coordination for collective action, and to signal devotion to gain within-group status. Those evolutionary social functions may be best fulfilled if individuals endorse the conspiratorial narrative sincerely.

政治阴谋主义社区出现，并围绕着政治对手或精英在政治冲突背景下秘密剥削公众的难以伪造的叙述而展开。虽然这些叙述看起来是描述性的，但我们认为，它们的内容以及调节它们的认可和传播的认知系统可能至少部分地共同进化，以实现联盟目标：促使盟友关注社会威胁，以增加他们的支持。对集体行动的承诺和协调，并表明致力于获得群体内地位。如果个人真诚地认可阴谋论叙事，这些进化的社会功能可能会得到最好的实现。