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 |
| Published: |
Cambridge University Press
2016-07-01
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| Series: | Judgment and Decision Making |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://journal.sjdm.org/16/16305/jdm16305.pdf |
| _version_ | 1797712684278349824 |
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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 | 2024-03-12T07:24:22Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-965e14f688db4b23be7a1933999f4621 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1930-2975 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T07:24:22Z |
| publishDate | 2016-07-01 |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Judgment and Decision Making |
| spelling | doaj.art-965e14f688db4b23be7a1933999f46212023-09-02T22:11:05ZengCambridge University PressJudgment and Decision Making1930-29752016-07-01114352360Are neoliberals more susceptible to bullshit?Joanna SterlingJohn T. JostGordon PennycookWe 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.http://journal.sjdm.org/16/16305/jdm16305.pdfpolitical ideology neoliberalism cognitive style cognitive ability bullshit receptivityNAKeywords |
| 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 receptivityNAKeywords |
| 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 receptivityNAKeywords |
| url | http://journal.sjdm.org/16/16305/jdm16305.pdf |
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