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On the reception and detection of pseudo-profound bullshit
Abstract
Although bullshit is common in everyday life and has attracted attention from philosophers, its reception (critical or ingenuous) has not, to our knowledge, been subject to empirical investigation.
Here we focus on pseudo-profound bullshit, which consists of seemingly impressive assertions that are presented as true and meaningful but are actually vacuous. We presented participants with bullshit statements consisting of buzzwords randomly organized into statements with syntactic structure butno discernible meaning (e.g., “Wholeness quiets infinite phenomena”).
Across multiple studies, the propensity to judge bullshit statements as profound was associated with a variety of conceptually relevant variables (e.g., intuitive cognitive style, supernatural belief). Parallel associations were less evident among profundity judgments for more conventionally profound (e.g., “A wet person does not fear the rain”) or mundane (e.g., “Newborn babies require constant attention”) statements. These results support the idea that some people are more receptive to this type of bullshit and that detecting it is not merely a matter of indiscriminate skepticism but rather a discernment of deceptive vagueness in otherwise impressive sounding claims. Our results also suggest that a bias toward accepting statements as true may be an important component of pseudo-profound bullshit
receptivity
Abstract
Although bullshit is common in everyday life and has attracted attention from philosophers, its reception (critical or ingenuous) has not, to our knowledge, been subject to empirical investigation.
Here we focus on pseudo-profound bullshit, which consists of seemingly impressive assertions that are presented as true and meaningful but are actually vacuous. We presented participants with bullshit statements consisting of buzzwords randomly organized into statements with syntactic structure butno discernible meaning (e.g., “Wholeness quiets infinite phenomena”).
Across multiple studies, the propensity to judge bullshit statements as profound was associated with a variety of conceptually relevant variables (e.g., intuitive cognitive style, supernatural belief). Parallel associations were less evident among profundity judgments for more conventionally profound (e.g., “A wet person does not fear the rain”) or mundane (e.g., “Newborn babies require constant attention”) statements. These results support the idea that some people are more receptive to this type of bullshit and that detecting it is not merely a matter of indiscriminate skepticism but rather a discernment of deceptive vagueness in otherwise impressive sounding claims. Our results also suggest that a bias toward accepting statements as true may be an important component of pseudo-profound bullshit
receptivity
Here's a tl;dr for the report:
Your Facebook Friends Who Post BS Inspirational Quotes Really Are Dumb, Says Study
Going on Facebook and looking at your feed is a masochistic tic that all too many of us are plagued with; at its worst, it's a somber reminder that, at one point in our lives or another, we were a poor judge of character and befriended dumbasses. Admittedly, there are days when I scroll through the wall of my former best friend from middle school and cackle maniacally in response to her constant stream of memes about how nice pit bulls are, nostalgic 90s posts, and of course, profound quotes about life: "'You have permission to rest. You are not responsible for fixing everything that is broken. You do not have to try and make everyone happy. For now, take time for you. It's time to replenish.' —Unknown."
According to a new Canadian study from the University of Waterloo, my ex-best friend, and others like her, are actually rather stupid. In the research paper, "On the reception and detection of pseudo-profound bullshit," PhD candidate Gordon Pennycook and four other researchers assert that there is a link between low intelligence and being impressed by seemingly profound quotes.
In the study, the researchers used a website called Sebpearce.com, which generates random statements meant to sound profound like, "This life is nothing short of an ennobling oasis of self-aware faith," or, "Today, science tells us that the essence of nature is guidance."
"I came across the website, I just kind of thought about if there was any research on this; I wanted to know if people thought those statements were profound," Pennycook told VICE. "I often see quotes [on my newsfeed] that are maybe not quite as egregious, but you see a lot of motivational ones... there's quotes and a picture of somebody who obviously did not say the quote—you come across that quite often."
In the study, nearly 300 participants were presented with various statements, including those of the "bullshit" variety, and asked to react to them by rating their profoundness on a scale of one to five, classifying quotes as either profound, bullshit, or mundane. They were also given tests meant to measure their cognitive ability and personality.
The paper gave the following as an example of a statement participants were asked to respond to: "Hidden meaning transforms unparalleled abstract beauty."
Those who were unable to detect the bullshit and rated the pseudo-profound as actually profound were determined to be lower in intelligence, less likely to engage in reflective thinking, and more likely to hold conspiratorial or paranormal beliefs.
In other words, these types of people are, as Nietzsche once said, "Locked in the glass cabinet of the mind's self-reflection."
Going on Facebook and looking at your feed is a masochistic tic that all too many of us are plagued with; at its worst, it's a somber reminder that, at one point in our lives or another, we were a poor judge of character and befriended dumbasses. Admittedly, there are days when I scroll through the wall of my former best friend from middle school and cackle maniacally in response to her constant stream of memes about how nice pit bulls are, nostalgic 90s posts, and of course, profound quotes about life: "'You have permission to rest. You are not responsible for fixing everything that is broken. You do not have to try and make everyone happy. For now, take time for you. It's time to replenish.' —Unknown."
According to a new Canadian study from the University of Waterloo, my ex-best friend, and others like her, are actually rather stupid. In the research paper, "On the reception and detection of pseudo-profound bullshit," PhD candidate Gordon Pennycook and four other researchers assert that there is a link between low intelligence and being impressed by seemingly profound quotes.
In the study, the researchers used a website called Sebpearce.com, which generates random statements meant to sound profound like, "This life is nothing short of an ennobling oasis of self-aware faith," or, "Today, science tells us that the essence of nature is guidance."
"I came across the website, I just kind of thought about if there was any research on this; I wanted to know if people thought those statements were profound," Pennycook told VICE. "I often see quotes [on my newsfeed] that are maybe not quite as egregious, but you see a lot of motivational ones... there's quotes and a picture of somebody who obviously did not say the quote—you come across that quite often."
In the study, nearly 300 participants were presented with various statements, including those of the "bullshit" variety, and asked to react to them by rating their profoundness on a scale of one to five, classifying quotes as either profound, bullshit, or mundane. They were also given tests meant to measure their cognitive ability and personality.
The paper gave the following as an example of a statement participants were asked to respond to: "Hidden meaning transforms unparalleled abstract beauty."
Those who were unable to detect the bullshit and rated the pseudo-profound as actually profound were determined to be lower in intelligence, less likely to engage in reflective thinking, and more likely to hold conspiratorial or paranormal beliefs.
In other words, these types of people are, as Nietzsche once said, "Locked in the glass cabinet of the mind's self-reflection."
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if you think i am bad that is only about .000062% of my news feed
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