Sounds Deep, Says Nothing: The Science of Bullshit Receptivity
Bullshit Receptivity: Why We Trust the Wrong Words
Host 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 Setup
00:41 Cornell Corporate BS Study
02:49 Feedback Loop and Examples
04:56 Waterloo Origins of BS Scale
06:12 Why We Fall for It
07:55 Metacognition and Overclaiming
08:41 BS in News and Politics
10:28 Scientific and General BS
11:52 Training Your BS Detector
13:50 Practical Plain Language Test
14:47 Wrap Up and Teaser
The studies referenced:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0191886926000620
https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2026/03/workers-who-love-synergizing-paradigms-might-be-bad-their-jobs
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/judgment-and-decision-making/article/on-the-reception-and-detection-of-pseudoprofound-bullshit/0D3C87BCC238BCA38BC55E395BDC9999
https://sjdm.org/~baron/journal/20/200221/jdm200221.pdf
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/psych-unseen/202007/does-america-have-problem-bullshit-receptivity
https://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/6565
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13546783.2022.2066724
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Host 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 Setup
00:41 Cornell Corporate BS Study
02:49 Feedback Loop and Examples
04:56 Waterloo Origins of BS Scale
06:12 Why We Fall for It
07:55 Metacognition and Overclaiming
08:41 BS in News and Politics
10:28 Scientific and General BS
11:52 Training Your BS Detector
13:50 Practical Plain Language Test
14:47 Wrap Up and Teaser
The studies referenced:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0191886926000620
https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2026/03/workers-who-love-synergizing-paradigms-might-be-bad-their-jobs
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/judgment-and-decision-making/article/on-the-reception-and-detection-of-pseudoprofound-bullshit/0D3C87BCC238BCA38BC55E395BDC9999
https://sjdm.org/~baron/journal/20/200221/jdm200221.pdf
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/psych-unseen/202007/does-america-have-problem-bullshit-receptivity
https://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/6565
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13546783.2022.2066724
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