Sounds Deep, Says Nothing: The Science of Bullshit Receptivity

Bullshit Receptivity: Why We Trust the Wrong WordsHost Leslie Poston discusses “bullshit receptivity,” a peer-reviewed construct describing susceptibility to impressive-sounding but meaningless language. She highlights Cornell cognitive psychologist Shane Littrell’s studies in which over 1,000 office workers rated AI-generated corporate jargon alongside real executive quotes; those most impressed scored lowest on analytic thinking and workplace decision-making, and were more likely to amplify jargon in a feedback loop that rewards BS-producing leaders. Poston connects this to earlier work by Gordon Pennycook (University of Waterloo) on pseudo-profound statements and cognitive defaults like initial acceptance and weak conflict monitoring, and to research linking BS receptivity with overclaiming, poor metacognition, fake news vulnerability (Pennycook and Rand), political slogans, and “scientific” BS. She notes Brandolini’s Law and emphasizes practicing analytic thinking, including restating claims in plain language, citing the University of Washington’s “Calling Bullshit” course and mentioning future coverage of pre-bunking.00:00 Welcome and Setup00:41 Cornell Corporate BS Study02:49 Feedback Loop and Examples04:56 Waterloo Origins of BS Scale06:12 Why We Fall for It07:55 Metacognition and Overclaiming08:41 BS in News and Politics10:28 Scientific and General BS11:52 Training Your BS Detector13:50 Practical Plain Language Test14:47 Wrap Up and TeaserThe studies referenced:https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0191886926000620https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2026/03/workers-who-love-synergizing-paradigms-might-be-bad-their-jobshttps://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/judgment-and-decision-making/article/on-the-reception-and-detection-of-pseudoprofound-bullshit/0D3C87BCC238BCA38BC55E395BDC9999https://sjdm.org/~baron/journal/20/200221/jdm200221.pdfhttps://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/psych-unseen/202007/does-america-have-problem-bullshit-receptivityhttps://www.niemanlab.org/2017/08/when-it-comes-to-the-academic-study-of-fake-news-bullshit-receptivity-is-a-thing/https://jspp.psychopen.eu/index.php/jspp/article/view/6565https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13546783.2022.2066724 ★ Support this podcast ★