ABSTRACT
This chapter illuminates what conspiracy beliefs have in common with other forms of belief by describing the automatic cognitive processes of pattern perception and agency detection. Specifically, sense making is all about seeing patterns and detecting agency, which human beings do continuously and automatically as they go about their everyday life. In the following, the chapter illuminates these two key building blocks in the architecture of belief. Pattern perception is the tendency of the human mind to "connect dots" and perceive meaningful and causal relationships between people, objects, animals, and events. Agency detection refers to people's tendency to recognize intentionality in the actions of others. Agency detection is part of a broader mental capacity called "theory of mind": People are able to imagine what other people are thinking and feeling and therefore understand why others behave in a certain way.
