If you have this condition, you’re more likely to believe “pseudo-profound bullsh*t"

Researchers find out why some people believe utter BS.

 Paul Ratner
29 November, 2018
If you have this condition, you’re more likely to believe “pseudo-profound bullsh*t"
Pixabay
  • Scientists discover that people who have high apophenia are more likely to believe "pseudo-profound bullshit".
  • Apophenia is a tendency to see patterns and connections that aren't really there.
  • The condition could be a precursor to more serious mental illness.

If you've been feeling snarky about the motivational posts some of your friends keep posting on social media, there's a new study for you. It turns out, as researchers from the University of Melbourne in Australia discovered, there is a condition that makes people more susceptible to so-called "pseudo-profound bullshit statements"(PPBS).

The name of this affliction is "apophenia," which means having a tendency to find patterns or connections where none are present. The scientists concluded that people with high apophenia couldn't differentiate well between statements that were actually profound and those that were pseudo-profound.

The study's co-author Timothy Bainbridge of the University of Melbourne was drawn to PPBS expressions for "the strangely alluring sense that they should mean something, while not meaning anything," as he related in an interview.

The researchers carried out two studies that involved 297 college students, who had to read and rate various statements – some of them genuinely profound, some more everyday, and others high in pseudo-profundity. If you're wondering, examples of such included gems like "Hidden meaning transforms unparalleled abstract beauty" and "Wholeness quiets infinite phenomena."

An instance of a truly profound sentence from the study was "The creative adult is the child who survived." Certainly, one could argue there is some subjectivity in judging what is truly meaningful.

The participants whose measures of apophenia were higher were also the ones more likely to rate PPBS statements as more profound. Conversely, those who had higher intelligence scores, generally found pseudo-profound BS less appealing and were able to pick out the truer ideas.

"I think the take-home from this paper is that people who find PPBS profound do so more because of an inability to discriminate the profound from the pseudo-profound rather than because of a general propensity to find all statements profound," Bainbridge told PsyPost.

The German psychiatrist Klaus Conrad coined the term "apophenia" in 1958, which he defined as "unmotivated seeing of connections [accompanied by] a specific feeling of abnormal meaningfulness." He saw it as an early stage of delusional thought leading to schizophrenia.

You can read the new study "Openness/Intellect and Susceptibility to Pseudo‐Profound Bullshit: A Replication and Extension" in the European Journal of Personality.

Besides Bainbridge, the study was also authored by Joshua A. Quinlan, Raymond A. Mar, and Luke D. Smillie.

Check out also this great lecture from another team working on understanding people's propensity to believe bullshit --

From Your Site Articles
Related Articles Around the Web
psychology brain intelligence mental health public health science social media mind

Iron Age discoveries uncovered outside London, including a ‘murder’ victim

A man's skeleton, found facedown with his hands bound, was unearthed near an ancient ceremonial circle during a high speed rail excavation project.

Photo Credit: HS2
Culture & Religion
  • A skeleton representing a man who was tossed face down into a ditch nearly 2,500 years ago with his hands bound in front of his hips was dug up during an excavation outside of London.
  • The discovery was made during a high speed rail project that has been a bonanza for archaeology, as the area is home to more than 60 ancient sites along the planned route.
  • An ornate grave of a high status individual from the Roman period and an ancient ceremonial circle were also discovered during the excavations.
Keep reading Show less
ancient world europe Death history violence archaeology

Surprising new feature of human evolution discovered

Research reveals a new evolutionary feature that separates humans from other primates.

Human evolution.

Credit: Adobe Stock
Surprising Science
  • Researchers find a new feature of human evolution.
  • Humans have evolved to use less water per day than other primates.
  • The nose is one of the factors that allows humans to be water efficient.
Keep reading Show less
evolution biology history animals human body medical research

Skepticism: Why critical thinking makes you smarter

Being skeptical isn't just about being contrarian. It's about asking the right questions of ourselves and others to gain understanding.

Videos
  • It's not always easy to tell the difference between objective truth and what we believe to be true. Separating facts from opinions, according to skeptic Michael Shermer, theoretical physicist Lawrence Krauss, and others, requires research, self-reflection, and time.
  • Recognizing your own biases and those of others, avoiding echo chambers, actively seeking out opposing voices, and asking smart, testable questions are a few of the ways that skepticism can be a useful tool for learning and growth.
  • As Derren Brown points out, being "skeptical of skepticism" can also lead to interesting revelations and teach us new things about ourselves and our psychology.
Keep reading Show less
brain cognitive science critical thinking learning mind personal growth
Mind & Brain

New study suggests placebo might be as powerful as psychedelics

New study suggests the placebo effect can be as powerful as microdosing LSD.

Quantcast