YANSS 092 – Avoiding the many varieties of bullshit
How strong is your bullshit detector? And what exactly IS the scientific definition of bullshit?
In this rebroadcast, we explore both of those concepts as well as what makes a person susceptible to bullshit, how to identify and defend against it, and what kind of people are the most and least likely to be bowled over by bullshit artists and other merchants of feel-good woo.
[image error]You’ll hear how Gordon Pennycook and his team at the University of Waterloo set out to discover if there was a spectrum of receptivity for a certain kind of humbug they call pseudo-profound bullshit – the kind that sounds deep and meaningful at first glance, but upon closer inspection means nothing at all. They wondered, is there a “type” of person who is more susceptible to that kind of language, and if so, what other things about personalities and thinking styles correlate with that tolerance and lack of skepticism, and why?
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Links and Sources
Download – iTunes – Stitcher – RSS – Soundcloud
The New Age Bullshit Generator
On Bullshit by Harry Frankfurt
On the reception and detection of pseudo-profound bullshit
Big Think Article on Cognitive Reflection
Barbara Drescher’s ICBSEverywhere.com
David McRaney's Blog
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