Are neoliberals more susceptible to bullshit?
We conducted additional analyses of Pennycook et al.’s (2015, Study 2) data to investigate the possibility that there would be ideological differences in “bullshit receptivity” that would be explained by individual differences in cognitive style and ability. As hypothesized, we observed that endorse...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Cambridge University Press
2016-07-01
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| Series: | Judgment and Decision Making |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S1930297500003788/type/journal_article |
| _version_ | 1797695954835472384 |
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| author | Joanna Sterling John T. Jost Gordon Pennycook |
| author_facet | Joanna Sterling John T. Jost Gordon Pennycook |
| author_sort | Joanna Sterling |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | We conducted additional analyses of Pennycook et al.’s (2015, Study 2) data to investigate the possibility that there would be ideological differences in “bullshit receptivity” that would be explained by individual differences in cognitive style and ability. As hypothesized, we observed that endorsement of neoliberal, free market ideology was significantly but modestly associated with bullshit receptivity. In addition, we observed a quadratic association, which indicated that ideological moderates were more susceptible to bullshit than ideological extremists. These relationships were explained, in part, by heuristic processing tendencies, faith in intuition, and lower verbal ability. Results are inconsistent with approaches suggesting that (a) there are no meaningful ideological differences in cognitive style or reasoning ability, (b) simplistic, certainty-oriented cognitive styles are generally associated with leftist (vs. rightist) economic preferences, or (c) simplistic, certainty-oriented cognitive styles are generally associated with extremist (vs. moderate) preferences. Theoretical and practical implications are briefly addressed. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T03:19:45Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-0c96605821ac4151a87e7be098c196b3 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1930-2975 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T03:19:45Z |
| publishDate | 2016-07-01 |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Judgment and Decision Making |
| spelling | doaj.art-0c96605821ac4151a87e7be098c196b32023-09-03T14:02:36ZengCambridge University PressJudgment and Decision Making1930-29752016-07-011135236010.1017/S1930297500003788Are neoliberals more susceptible to bullshit?Joanna Sterling0John T. Jost1Gordon Pennycook2Department of Psychology, New York University, 6 Washington Place, Meyer Building, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10003Department of Psychology, New York UniversityDepartment of Psychology, University of Waterloo.We conducted additional analyses of Pennycook et al.’s (2015, Study 2) data to investigate the possibility that there would be ideological differences in “bullshit receptivity” that would be explained by individual differences in cognitive style and ability. As hypothesized, we observed that endorsement of neoliberal, free market ideology was significantly but modestly associated with bullshit receptivity. In addition, we observed a quadratic association, which indicated that ideological moderates were more susceptible to bullshit than ideological extremists. These relationships were explained, in part, by heuristic processing tendencies, faith in intuition, and lower verbal ability. Results are inconsistent with approaches suggesting that (a) there are no meaningful ideological differences in cognitive style or reasoning ability, (b) simplistic, certainty-oriented cognitive styles are generally associated with leftist (vs. rightist) economic preferences, or (c) simplistic, certainty-oriented cognitive styles are generally associated with extremist (vs. moderate) preferences. Theoretical and practical implications are briefly addressed.https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S1930297500003788/type/journal_articlepolitical ideologyneoliberalismcognitive stylecognitive abilitybullshit receptivity |
| spellingShingle | Joanna Sterling John T. Jost Gordon Pennycook Are neoliberals more susceptible to bullshit? Judgment and Decision Making political ideology neoliberalism cognitive style cognitive ability bullshit receptivity |
| title | Are neoliberals more susceptible to bullshit? |
| title_full | Are neoliberals more susceptible to bullshit? |
| title_fullStr | Are neoliberals more susceptible to bullshit? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Are neoliberals more susceptible to bullshit? |
| title_short | Are neoliberals more susceptible to bullshit? |
| title_sort | are neoliberals more susceptible to bullshit |
| topic | political ideology neoliberalism cognitive style cognitive ability bullshit receptivity |
| url | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S1930297500003788/type/journal_article |
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