Are conspiracy theorists free thinkers who seek the truth? 

Is labeling someone a “conspiracy theorist” a strategy for exclusion to avoid legitimate debate and facts?

I am doing ethnographic research for a college study that seeks to answer the question “What causes someone to be a conspiracy theorists?” 

There are many sources that indicate that conspiracy theorists are intelligent, independent minded individuals who possess strong critical thinking skills who are searching for truth, and then there are many more sources that claim conspiracy theorists to be irrational, paranoid, and socially disconnected people who are unhappy with their lives and have lower analytical skills.

I would appreciate thoughts from both RE’s and FE’s on this.  Keep in mind that these studies were all performed by impartial social scientists and psychologists that are not conspiracy theorists.