The Gift of Shaken Confidence

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Most people walk around with their personal data collection and the and they have incredible over confidence in what they believe to be true. I mean, every single simester, in my judgment and decision making, i'll ask students just basic questions. And so this is an old test, easy to replicate, just on basic things that people can easy things for people to think about. The problem with sort of bullshit comcommun ations and reasoning, i believe, is that the people who feel that they're most a, you know, they're readily armed and n an equipped to detect bolshit when they hear it, are oftentimes the least competent. But until we start treating it as though it

Bullshit is the foundation of contaminated thinking and bad decisions that leads to health consequences, financial losses, legal consequences, broken relationships, and wasted time and resources. No matter how smart we believe ourselves to be, we’re all susceptible to bullshit — and we all engage in it. While we may brush it off as harmless marketing sales speak or as humorous, embellished claims, it’s actually much more dangerous and insidious. It’s how Bernie Madoff successfully swindled billions of dollars from even the most experienced financial experts with his Ponzi scheme. In episode # 207, Michael Shermer speaks with experimental social psychologist and Professor of Psychology at Wake Forest University, John Petrocelli about his research that examines the causes and consequences of bullshit and bullshitting in the way of better understanding and improving bullshit detection and disposal. Petrocelli provides invaluable strategies not only to recognize and protect yourself from everyday bullshit, but to accept your own lack of knowledge about subjects and avoid engaging in bullshit just for societal conformity.