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Bullshit-sensitivity predicts prosocial behavior

journals.plos.org

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Re: Bullshit-sensitivity predicts prosocial behavior

#41

Post by FabHK »

lithander wrote: post #31
barking wrote: post #5

Bullshit-sensitivity and cynicism are practically synomyms I'd say. It feels counter-intuitive to find cynicism positively correlated with prosocial behaviour (which the article defines as donating to and/or joining a charity.)

The headline 'Bullshit-sensitivity predicts prosocial behavior' contradicts the summary from the abstract where it basically says: Profoundness-receptivity has a positive association with prosocial behaviour whereas bullshit-receptivity has a negative association with prosocial behavior. So if you go by the abstract the results match your intuition!

Bullshit-sensitivity = ability to distinguish bullshit sentences from genuinely profound sentences

Bullshit-receptivity = tendency to perceive bullshit sentences as meaningful

So, BS-S is not BS-R, thus there is no contradiction. Mate, the guys wrote a paper about it, they're not going to have the abstract contradict the title.

Re: Bullshit-sensitivity predicts prosocial behavior

#42

Post by Moodles »

JulianMorrison wrote: post #12
awild wrote: post #7

I am slightly confused by the selection of those sentences, the bullshit sentences barely make grammatical sense, while the profound sentences are honestly pretty banal and sound like things you'd find written on tote-bags sold in etsy stores. I found the study pretty interesting especially table 2 is extremely informative!

The bullshit sentences look like they were put together by a Markov chain.

We can even generate bullshit CS papers (and get them accepted into some unscrupulous journals) now! https://pdos.csail.mit.edu/archive/scigen/

Re: Bullshit-sensitivity predicts prosocial behavior

#43

Post by Lewton »

pdpi wrote: post #37
Lewton wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This seems to just be a proxy that ends up measuring whether IQ is correlated to being prosocial

Except the paper specifically states that the effect remains after controlling for cognitive ability.

Thanks for pointing that out

Relevant part of the paper

> Numeracy and cognitive reflection (Section 4). Participants responded to three numeracy questions taken from Schwartz et al. [30] and from the Berlin numeracy test ([31]), and immediately thereafter to the three questions that make up the original CRT [12]. On both these variables, participants obtained a score between 0 and 3 representing the number of correct responses.

Re: Bullshit-sensitivity predicts prosocial behavior

#44

Post by a3n »

eksemplar wrote: post #13
barking wrote: post #5

Bullshit-sensitivity and cynicism are practically synomyms I'd say. It feels counter-intuitive to find cynicism positively correlated with prosocial behaviour (which the article defines as donating to and/or joining a charity.)

I think you can be extremely apt at detecting bullshit without being a cynic. In fact I think a lot, though certainly not all, of cynicism stems from the disappointment of having been fooled too much by bullshit.

I'd guess Fred Rogers was an excellent bullshit detector.

Re: Bullshit-sensitivity predicts prosocial behavior

#45

Post by pjc50 »

ak39 wrote: post #27
duopixel wrote: post #19

A simple self-experiment if you haven't read the paper, find which of these sentences are bullshit. Answer in order without reading further ahead, and don't go back to change your answers (as to replicate experimental conditions). * 1. A river cuts through a rock, not because of its power but it's persistence. 2. The hidden meaning transforms the abstract beauty. 3. The future elucidates irrational facts for the seek…

No 10. sounds just like something Slavoj Zizek would say.

This reminds me of the tremendous and only slightly trolling "What is wrong with our thoughts" by philosopher David Stove: http://web.maths.unsw.edu.au/~jim/wrongthoughts.html

(If you're finding it TLDR then at least skip to the list of numbered propositions in the middle)

Re: Bullshit-sensitivity predicts prosocial behavior

#46

Post by FabHK »

visarga wrote: post #9

I define bullshit as self-interested talk, that uses both truth and lies. It doesn't have to be lie, it's just presenting truth and lies in order to manipulate the other. There is always something to gain for the bullshitter - money, relationships, advantages or to get out of obligations.

I think their definition of BS is in line with the academic literature on this, ie Frankfurt's seminal booklet (that the NYT had a hard time reviewing, because their editorial policy did not let them spell out what the whole book was about :-), namely statements that are not even concerned with truth, but just seek to impress.

Not sure that lines up with your definition.

Re: Bullshit-sensitivity predicts prosocial behavior

#47

Post by JulianMorrison »

Moodles wrote: post #42
JulianMorrison wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The bullshit sentences look like they were put together by a Markov chain.

We can even generate bullshit CS papers (and get them accepted into some unscrupulous journals) now! https://pdos.csail.mit.edu/archive/scigen/

This should be automated like a chaos monkey for journals.

Re: Bullshit-sensitivity predicts prosocial behavior

#48

Post by FabHK »

ak39 wrote: post #27
duopixel wrote: post #19

A simple self-experiment if you haven't read the paper, find which of these sentences are bullshit. Answer in order without reading further ahead, and don't go back to change your answers (as to replicate experimental conditions). * 1. A river cuts through a rock, not because of its power but it's persistence. 2. The hidden meaning transforms the abstract beauty. 3. The future elucidates irrational facts for the seek…

No 10. sounds just like something Slavoj Zizek would say.

Incidentally, I wonder whether the translation from the Swedish original is somewhat deficient here, as it doesn't seem to be entirely grammatical.

Re: Bullshit-sensitivity predicts prosocial behavior

#50

Post by __david__ »

tabs_masterrace wrote: post #28

> Health and tolerance provides creativity for the future. This one is classified bullshit, although I think it makes at least somewhat sense.

Howso? I don't see how either health or tolerance is related to creativity… Also why only future creativity?
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