Actually, I think it's important to not just hand-wave but understand the overall psychology of it.
I've known very informed cranks (some of whom are on the edge of being useful contributors to the field by proposing alternative mechanisms and rigorous tests) and poorly informed cranks.
But it is an interesting, if not entirely unexpected finding, that people with anti-consensus views have much lower scores of knowledge in related but not directly connected scientific fields, but are willing to bet higher amounts on their test scores.
I've known very informed cranks (some of whom are on the edge of being useful contributors to the field by proposing alternative mechanisms and rigorous tests) and poorly informed cranks.
But it is an interesting, if not entirely unexpected finding, that people with anti-consensus views have much lower scores of knowledge in related but not directly connected scientific fields, but are willing to bet higher amounts on their test scores.