Do you think global warming deniers tend to suffer from paranoid personality disorder?

Without any shadow of a doubt this is a characteristic of some global warming deniers. Clearly not all of them but quite a sizeable number all the same. Such a condition is not confined to the deniers, it manifests itself in some of the believers as well; but with significantly less frequency.

However, this condition is perhaps more common than may be imagined and the majority of people exhibit some degree of paranoia at one time or another. In most cases this is temporary and may have been caused by a particular sequence of events or a miscomprehension of something. Where it becomes a matter of concern is when the manifestation is prolonged and / or is an involuntary or subconscious condition.

We don’t need to look far for the evidence and for a clear example of this mode of thinking. An analysis of a typical answer from this person, whom I shall call Joe Doe, shows some of the characteristics of a paranoid personality disorder.

In Joe’s answer we see the first response is an attack on what is perceived by Joe to be the opposition. This attack takes on the form of a baseless argument where the alleged claim is completely fallacious and where Joe would be incapable of substantiating it if challenged to do so. However, Joe shows detachment from reality in using this argument, which in his mind, is quite valid – classic paranoia.

The next step Joe takes is to deny that such descriptors apply to him. There is no rationalisation or critical analysis but instead an immediate distancing from the possibility that he could in any way be affected himself. To facilitate this distancing and absolve himself of any accountability the reaction is to simply claim that these characteristics apply only to the opposition. More classic paranoia.

Finally there is the self-gratification. Effectively a pat on the back for a job well done. This is achieved by claiming non applicable attributes to ones self in an attempt to move up the perceived hierarchal ladder and thus claim superiority over those considered to be of a lesser standing. Further classical paranoia.

Do Global Warming Alarmists Deny that they're Defeated and Paranoid? I think we can all agree that most AGW Alarmists believe there's some sort of truth in lies,that exposed liars are somehow telling them the truth. They usually seem to think that Climate Scientists who have fudged the data to create their own version of the truth is right and that exposing these liars as liars is wrong,or something like that. So are you hoping that we will all accept the Theory of AGW which has been accumulated through falsified data and find what seems to be a great deal of joy in being a know it all for many Alarmists in this Doomsday Scenario too Dana? Should we all get rude,debasing,degrading and cruel towards people with opposing Theories like so many of the Alarmists seem to have stooped to being as well,OH GOODY! This answer is not about whether Alarmists are right to be in denial. Some denial is just to hard to overcome.But I wonder,can Alarmists admit they've been duped or will some just keep Goose Stepping forever? What's good for the Goose,well you know and if you don't then take a gander! LOL! See,I can be a frustrated mean spirited and rude person too Dana!

You have said in the past that deniers should support cap and trade because even if it is not true, it is still good good policy. There was never really any time when there was an actual debate on this subject, even though the earth's climate is/was poorly understood. This "theory" came in as dogma. People right from the get go who questioned this theory were attacked and had their motives questioned. But yet you claim that this has nothing to do with politics, and your support is based purely on science. We are not the fools you take us for.

No, then again, the people who usually use smear campaigns on this site are the AGW supporters. If you don't totally agree with them on everything then you are wrong period end of discussion.

Those who deny the existence, extent, attribution or threat of global warming do so for a variety of reasons, and I am sure that even speaking statistically, there will be deniers whose denial is motivated by paranoid personality disorder. However, I believe we can go further than this. Those who suffer from paranoid personality disorder are probably more likely than your average person to become climate deniers as they will be more open to the idea of a vast global conspiracy that so often accompanies the loopier end of the spectrum. (Some may think that being paranoid might make you more likely to see risks everywhere and so tend towards accepting an "alarmist" position on climate, however, the denier position offers a personalised threat (dangerous communist greenies out to destroy the capitalist system and impose nefarious world government), whereas the realist position offers a depersonalised threat (the staggering usefulness of fossil fuels makes us victim of our own "success" in harnessing them) and so is less attractive to someone who is genuinely paranoid). But even if amongst deniers there are a higher percentage of people suffering from paranoid personal disorder than is found amongst the general population, this by itself doesn't invalidate their points. Their points are generally invalidated by being out of date, out of touch with reality, lacking in evidence, or requiring implausibly complex conspiracy theories to maintain. When faced with a particular denier, I don't think it is safe to assume they suffer from PPD as there are a variety of other reasons why someone may adopt a position of denial (fear, greed, cultural bias, ignorance, boredom or many other options).

That said, I do suspect that some of the individuals you have mentioned in your question could well be under various delusions that ought to receive some kind of treatment.

'Monckton has made all sorts of bizarre claims about himself,"

And Al Gore invented the internet, claimed the ocean would rise by 6 feet by the end of the century, and wrote a book riddled with exaggerations. Plus he refuses to debate. I think there is enough personality disorder to go around both sides.

"These features include an intolerance of criticism and an inflated sense of their own importance. They succumb to what psychologists call "suspicious thinking"."

Sounds pretty familiar.

- intolerance of criticism: Deniers are good at slinging mud, but obviously can't take criticism of their poor arguments. The Monckton/Abraham thing is good evidence of that.

- inflated sense of their own importance: Deniers tend to be against "intellectual elites" and put their trust in those with limited skills, including themselves. Also see Dunning Kruger Effect.

- "suspicious thinking" - that's an understatement, considering deniers think global warming is a vast government leftwing conspiracy or scam designed to take your money and create socialism.

There are certainly some that do, yes. There is one occasional "contributor" to this forum whom I always have suspected is paranoid. Many others seem to be generally misanthrophic, as evidenced by their tendency to label everyone that disagrees with them as "liberals" or "socialists," and to generally use abusive terms with them. Others don't just recognize what they know and don't know. I asked a question recently about statistics, and one person gave an answer that was incorrect and missed the point of the question, and after I gave best answer to someone that did understand and answer the question, this person said

"For a fact the first part of your question was answered correctly. Without using math just common sense. The rest of your "BS" is about as relevant as defining the limitations of a prime. Go to school and give up on this garbage."

I actually like this person and find them kind of funny, but he has made many glaring mathematical mistakes in his answers before and insisted that they were right, even though they were not. It's very difficult to reason with someone that doesn't understand something but thinks that they do and uses "common sense" to convince themselves that their incorrect answer is right.

A lot of deniers seem to have no ability to filter out crackpot theories from real science. They'll find some whacko theory that one guy with a Ph.D. in an irrelevant subject believes, who may not have published anything in this century, and if it supports their denial they'll believe that over the conclusions of thousands of mainstream scientists. That's why they'll also fall for things like Bigfoot and chemtrails.

EDIT for I expel...: I'm happy to call deniers by some other term, if it adequately describes them. As I've said before, I've often thought that "liar" is more apt, but I can't imagine they'd be any happier with that. I could use "denialist," if that makes them happier. I will never call people that ignore scientific evidence and who will repeat any sort of garbage if it supports their viewpoint "skeptics," because I believe one should use the proper word for things--no way that I'm going to use skeptic as a euphemism for liar. By the way, I find you to be a borderline skeptic, I'm not sure I'd put you into the clear denial camp with BB, Peter J, jim z, bravozulu, Ottawa Mike (he wouldn't have been there a year or two ago), Dr Jello, James E and Starbuck. You do have a tendency to support specious arguments when they support the denial viewpoint, and your politics often overwhelm any objectivity you aspire to.

It is ridiculous but typical of alarmists to see everything bassackwards. Alarmism is practically the definition of being paranoid. Whatever a denier of HIV is or how that relates to climate change skeptics being paranoid is apparently beyond my comprehension. It is probably something that paranoid leftists believe about conservatives but that is just a guess. I am afraid that if I actually think about it blood might come out of my ears.

Nothing new in this except the target:

http://www.kenrahn.com/jfk/conspiracy_theory/the_p...

That's

http://www.kenrahn.com/jfk

/conspiracy_theory/the_paranoid

_mentality/the_paranoid_style.html

The ability to believe that the body of scientists who warn against the perils of AGW are all fools or rogues (a view frequently expressed here) certainly smacks of delusion. And those who want to be deluded choose to follow the delusional. It was ever thus.