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The Life-Changing Science of Detecting Bullshit

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Expanding upon his viral TEDx Talk, psychology professor and social scientist John V. Petrocelli's The Life-Changing Science of Detecting Bullshit reveals the critical thinking habits you can develop to recognize and combat pervasive false information and delusional thinking that has become a common feature of everyday life.

"This is the perfect moment for...the psychology of detecting fake news in the world around us―and false beliefs about ourselves too.”
―Adam Grant

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. It’s how the protocols of Mao Zedong’s Great Leap Forward resulted in the deaths of 36 million people from starvation. Presented as truths by authority figures and credentialed experts, bullshit appears legitimate, and we accept their words as gospel. If we don’t question the information we receive from bullshit artists to prove their thoughts and theories, we allow these falsehoods to take root in our memories and beliefs. This faulty data affects our decision making capabilities, sometimes resulting in regrettable life choices.

But with a little dose of skepticism and a commitment to truth seeking, you can build your critical thinking and scientific reasoning skills to evaluate information, separate fact from fiction, and see through bullshitter spin. In The Life-Changing Science of Detecting Bullshit , experimental social psychologist John V. 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.

With real world examples from people versed in bullshit who work in the used car, real estate, wine, and diamond industries, Petrocelli exposes the red-flag warning signs found in the anecdotal stories, emotional language, and buzzwords used by bullshitters that persuade our decisions. By using his critical thinking defensive tactics against those motivated by profit, we will also learn how to stop the toxic misinformation spread from the social media influencers, fake news, and op-eds that permeate our culture and call out bullshit whenever we see it.

336 pages, Hardcover

First published July 27, 2021

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John V. Petrocelli

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Displaying 1 - 30 of 175 reviews
Profile Image for Diane S ☔.
4,825 reviews14.3k followers
August 21, 2021
I can't think of a subject more needed, worth discussing than the one in the title. In the United States right now bullshit and those who believe every outlandish conspiracy theory thrown their way, are running rampant. Violence and the lack of concern for others is putting all at risk. So, how does this happen? Why do people believe things that leave those with any common sense, frustrated, shaking their heads. This book goes into some of these scenarios, people, in detail. Personality traits, biases that make one a victim to these flagrant untruths.

Political untruths, marketing tactics, cons, people feeling left out, wanting to belong to something, easily swayed, the list goes on and on. One needs to practice due diligence, fact check before one spreads these conspiracies, but most don't. This book tackles different scenarios, from the marketing of jewelry and wine, to the Madoff pyramid scheme. Interesting though maybe because I am a skeptic, I'm not easily sold, much here seems to me, like good old common sense. My hubby always says, common sense isn't so common anymore. Unfortunately those who could really use this book probably won't read, and if they did, they wouldn't believe.

At books end, the author provides a list of fact checking sites.

"In other words, one's susceptibility to being duped by bullshit is associated with an intuitive, less effortful, or careless thinking style."

"Bullshit can create an equally deceptive cognitive illusion if it focuses our thinking on incomplete information or nothing's that are really not there."

ARC from Netgalley
Profile Image for David Wineberg.
Author 2 books783 followers
June 6, 2021
Everybody recognizes bullshit when they hear it. Or assuming they’re paying attention, they at least think they do. But psychologist John Petrocelli has gone much farther and deeper into the doodoo. In The Life-Changing Science of Detecting Bullshit, he has researched an exhaustive compendium of circumstances, stereotypes, job classes and ulterior motives that make life a minefield. BS is everywhere, all day long.

Petrocelli teaches bullshit detection and has a bs detection lab at Wake Forest University. Not the typical day job, but an endless one, as it seems one can never really get to the bottom of it all. Or even just away from it. Even Petrocelli himself is guilty of it.

First off, one needs to be able to tell the difference between bs and lies. “The liar does whatever he can to hide the truth – to do it successfully, the liar distorts his portrayal of reality and tries to remember the lie. The bullshitter doesn’t have these burdens because most often, he actually believes his own bullshit. Think of how much easier it would be if you didn’t have the burden of knowing the truth or remembering that something is false. It wouldn’t feel like lying at all.” And in addition to bs and lying, there is also simply being wrong. Good luck sorting them out.

Petrocelli spends a lot of seemingly joyful time calling out the bs of various hyper-wealthy celebrities. The pickins are easy here. Donald Trump, Deepak Chopra and Dr. Oz come in for special treatment. They have made fortunes, based on nothing real. Trump makes most of his money licensing his name which he has built over decades of bs in the media. Chopra has indecipherable bafflegab concepts which mean absolutely nothing in the English language but which sound deep. Petrocelli says there is “little difference in the perceived profundity of Deepak tweets and artificial Deepak quotes generated by an algorithm.” Dr. Oz shills for all kinds of products and bogus treatments that can’t withstand the light of day, but millions will buy into them on his sayso. Petrocelli has studied him and says less than half are backed by medical science.

There are whole industries and careers that mandate bs. Petrocelli examines used car salesmen, jewelers, pharmaceutical reps and real estate agents, among others. Reading their strategies and tactics casts them in a whole new light. They are finely tuned into the dark art of bs.

In marketing, an industry built entirely on bs, experts can make claims that skirt the truth. They use tools like framing, he says. They could say a product contains 20% fat, but how much better to claim it is “NOW 80% fat-free!” The result is billions of dollars spent on terrible products.

The intersection of marketing and jewelry, Petrocelli says, is a pile of bs. Diamonds are not an “investment”. That is jeweler bullshit. Buyers will never make more when they sell later. The markup is so high that the wholesale price can never exceed the original retail price. Lab-made diamonds are the worst, with markups easily exceeding 1000%. He says buying a diamond at a pawnshop will get buyers the same quality on the genuine article, for a quarter of the price of something new. All the rest is bs.

There are whole industries that propagate bs, like TED Talks that are presented in their endless variety without vetting or challenge. To stand out, speakers must lay it on thick.

BS is so ingrained, he says, that “many of our memories, beliefs, attitudes and decisions are based on bullshit rather than evidence-based reasoning.” We have grown up believing the rock-solid truth of things that have no basis in fact. We insist our knowledge is unimpeachable, when we have no basis for making any claims at all. We also see it in internet facts, based on ungenuine photographs and made-up studies and headlines. But this is nothing new; it has been going on since people could talk. Any time someone wants to sell something to someone else, the bs rises to the top.

It is an unfortunate truth, but bs is instantly and permanently valued over truth. Petrocelli has quotes going back to the Ancient Greeks bemoaning the power of bs. My favorite comes from Jonathan Swift just 300 years ago: “Falsehood flies, and truth comes limping after it.” We have only to look at Q-anon conspiracies, like Hillary Clinton running a child porn ring out the basement of a Washington DC pizzeria to see this in action. Sadly, people still believe it, despite the building having basement at all, and the pizzeria closing because of all the hassles.

Society is geared up for it. Vitamin products by law are not required to have studies behind their claims. Diets need not show any proof. Miracle cures only require belief to be valid. Such is the power of bs. It is also a feature of being a social animal. People know innately it is better to say anything at all rather than nothing, in order to maintain membership in a group. No participation leads to being ignored and forgotten. So people will say anything to keep the conversation going, with themselves in it, Petrocelli says.


So how do we protect ourselves? Unfortunately, it isn’t easy. Petrocelli provides endless lists of checkoffs that could clue us in to bs. He proposes all kinds of questions to ask that will shine a light on the bs spewing at us. Beware of explanations that begin with “There was a study that showed…” or “Some say that…” They mean the speaker is spreading the stuff. Social media claims – fugeddaboudit.

Beating it boils down to critical thinking, which many are simply not capable of. They might be too trusting, too inexperienced, too naïve, too lazy or uncaring. So bs thrives. It rises in groups where there is no expert to call it out. It rises when one in the group is known to have similar opinions. It rises to fill blank spaces in conversation. There are endless opportunities for bs in our daily lives.

Petrocelli is justifiably focused on his own field, psychology. He points to innumerable psych studies that are simply bogus and which float through the air of truth because no one will call the bs out, even, if not especially, their peer-reviewed journals. There are endless studies with faulty methodologies, whose conclusions become common knowledge around the world. And there are bogus health claims for innumerable products and services for which there may be no studies at all. They too become ingrained in society. Diets, skin creams and wellness fads all fit the bill.

To give one example, Petrocelli calls out a fasting guru for all the insane claims to health and wellbeing that intermittent fasting supposedly confers: “I feel I have the right to call bullshit on (Cynthia) Thurlow because the two hours I spent fact-checking her claims was probably more time than she spent seeking the truth about intermittent fasting,” he says. But she has leveraged a TED Talk into books and media appearances as if she has hit on an unknown secret of the ages. That there is simply no truth to it is apparently irrelevant.

Let me pause to say Petrocelli is not the most economical of writers. He seems to take forever to make a point, and his points are mostly so straightforward they need no coddling. He is codifying a bunch of miscellany we all know about already. The puffery around it, if I may, is bs. But what is news is that it is so pervasive, pernicious, and such a permanent fixture of human life that we need to beware of it every moment of the day. So readers must go on, exploring where else they never considered bs to be lying in wait.

And for all that, Petrocelli is just as capable of spreading bs himself. He uses the hoary tale of Stanley Milgram’s much publicized and iconic study in the early sixties, where he supposedly showed that people will bend to authority, no matter what they are asked to do. Petrocelli calls it being Bullible. If someone appears to be in charge, people will defer to that office. Or so he insists the study showed.

Milgram posted subjects at consoles where they had to zap a person with high voltage if they answered a question incorrectly. As the game progressed, the voltage got higher and higher - into killer territory. The monitors in lab coats urged them on, telling the subjects they “must continue” and that they “have no choice.” This study has been used to show how autocrats manipulate people, and how everyone defers to the supposed expert. Even Petrocelli says: “participants tended to obey the authority figure” of the man in white commanding them to torture their victim.

Sorry, but that’s bs. The truth is that well over half the subjects flat out refused to zap the responders when the voltage seemed to be too painful. They defied the men in labcoats and quit the study. Worse, half the remaining subjects, who continued zapping away, said they did it because they knew it was all bogus and no one was being zapped with anything at all. This means nearly 80% of the subjects either did not fall for the setup or walked out with a clear conscience. In other words, what everyone “knows” about the Milgram study, and have been saying is gospel truth for decades, is bs. Including our author.

So the whole premise of critical thinking and checklists to catch bs in the making, I’m afraid, is bs. If bs can catch this author, it can overcome anyone. Nonetheless, the book is definitely entertaining, educational, and helpful. But life is just too complicated for everyone to catch all the bs. That much is truth you can take to the bank.

David Wineberg
Profile Image for Ryan Boissonneault.
201 reviews2,153 followers
August 8, 2021
If, like most people, you think you are immune to bullshit, consider the case of Stephen Greenspan, the clinical professor of psychiatry specializing in social incompetence and gullibility that fell for one of the largest financial scams in history by investing in Bernie Madoff’s long-running Ponzi scheme. Greenspan published nearly 100 scientific papers and wrote an influential book titled The Annals of Gullibility, yet in the end, he proved to be just as susceptible to bullshit as the rest of us.

And so we have lesson number one: you probably need to read this book. While we’re not all equally susceptible to bullshit—or, as Petrocelli would say, we’re not equally “bullible”—we all have blind spots and could stand to benefit from a refresher on the tools and techniques of bullshit detection. You’ll learn the psychology of bullshit, the difference between bullshit and lying, why people bullshit and are susceptible to bullshit, the social costs of bullshit, and how to develop your skills as a bullshit detector.

Bullshit, of course, is not the same as lying. Whereas the liar knows the truth and claims the opposite, the bullshitter not only doesn’t know the truth, but also doesn’t particularly care. This general disregard for truth and the truth-seeking process is the trademark of the bullshitter, who will confidently proclaim knowledge on topics they know little to nothing about. While we generally treat lying as the greater social offense, bullshitting can in fact create greater social damage, not only by spreading misinformation, but by establishing cultural norms of superficial thinking and indifference to evidence.

In other words, bullshit is no joke. Petrocelli shows the reader how bullshit killed 36 million Chinese citizens during the Great Leap Forward, deceives parents into thinking their autistic children can communicate with them through “facilitated communication,” and harms and kills millions of people each year by promoting alternative medicines and anti-vaccination campaigns.

Similar mishandlings of COVID-19 based on bullshit theories with no scientific backing have likewise killed droves of people. That’s why I don’t think it’s an exaggeration when Petrocelli claims that calling people on their bullshit—and demanding that we all adhere to better standards of thinking and evidence—is perhaps the most important social issue of our time.

You may wonder, though, if the book can really make any kind of difference. If Petrocelli is right to claim that bullshitters are indifferent to truth and evidence, then what is a book about better thinking based on truth and evidence actually supposed to accomplish?

This is a fair point, but remember that we are all susceptible to bullshit, even those of us who are not indifferent to truth and evidence. There are also those of us who believe that “everyone is entitled to their opinion” and therefore fail to call out harmful bullshit when we should, creating the cultural norms that allow bullshitters to flourish. But bullshitters are only as effective as their victims are gullible or unwilling to speak up. As we all develop our skills in bullshit detection—and raise our collective standards of critical thinking—we can create a world where bullshitters have far less sway than they currently do.
Profile Image for Cher 'N Books.
834 reviews313 followers
February 8, 2024
3 stars = Good and worthwhile but something held it back from being great.

There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.
Søren Kierkegaard


Never before has so much information been available at our fingertips, thanks to the internet and modern technology. Given how easily accessible facts are, I have really struggled for the last few years to understand how there can be so many gullible Americans falling prey to the daily overt lies and shenanigans told by the current fascist Republican party. I turned to this book hoping for an explanation from the author, who is a self described professor of experimental social psychology that studies bullshit and bullshitting for a living. Did it help? Kind of.

What I found to be the most helpful was his techniques on how to push back when faced with someone regurgitating ridiculous delusions that they believe to be true, or do not even care about the validity because they want it to be true. He also explains the personality types that are most likely to be bullshitters, and the types of people most likely to fall for bullshit. Some tips are discussed about how to detect bullshit and ways to strengthen your critical thinking skills, which is the best antidote to bullshit.

I also enjoyed how the author touched on how the rampant bullshit in America affects our culture and even our national security, such as the increased deaths and disabling we incurred due to so many believing the Russian and Republican lies to downplay Covid-19. But on the other hand, the book is a little dry despite its edgy subject matter, more shallow of a discussion than I was expecting, and somewhat repetitive.

Do I now understand how tens of millions of my fellow countrymen are blind to the incessant, glaringly obvious, contradicting lies spewed by their preferred political party on a daily basis and their idolatry of a demented traitor in makeup, high heels, and a stinky diaper, the most documented liar that has ever lived, whom they laughably view as their alpha macho man savior? No, I do not and I doubt I ever will. Perhaps I need to find some solid nonfiction on cults and the misguided folks that are drawn to them instead.

The truth may be puzzling. It may take some work to grapple with. It may be counterintuitive. It may contradict deeply held prejudices. It may not be consonant with what we desperately want to be true. But our preferences do not determine what’s true.
Carl Sagan

-------------------------------------------
First Sentence: In February 2017, just two days before the 2017 NBA All-Star Game, superstar Kyrie Irving made some interesting claims in a podcast that ended up receiving more attention than the game.

Favorite Quote: As soon as you realize that someone does not intend, nor prefer, to base their beliefs on evidence, you will see that their problem has nothing to do with a lack of evidence.
Profile Image for Eilonwy.
843 reviews214 followers
November 12, 2021
I like to think I’m good at detecting bull. I’m that spoilsport person who, when one of my friends sends me a link titled “Person (or group) you find despicable does exactly the thing that will validate and reinforce your low opinion of them!” promptly looks it up to see if it’s reported anyplace reputable, then if it’s not, replies with “I knew it was too perfect to be true!” I also have a decent enough STEM background that I can recognize dubious scientific claims, and I’m inclined to work out whatever math I can for myself when presented with numerical claims.

You probably think something similar about yourself.

One thing this book points out is that we are all “bullible” — a word the author coined to mean “susceptible to bull.” No matter how educated we are, how much expertise or experience we have in a given field, no matter what our street smarts are, or how generally cynical we are, there are things we will want to believe — and to persuade other people of — that simply aren’t true. The author distinguishes between outright lying, i.e., deliberately misleading people, and bulling, which usually has less nefarious intent. (However, he is clear that bull can be very harmful, and assigns 1, 2, or 3 flies to indicate low- to high-damage bull.)

The most useful aspect of this book in the long run for me, I think, is its descriptions of when we are all most likely to either produce spontaneous bull (we’re commanded to offer an opinion on something we really know nothing about, for instance), to spread bull (because it bolsters something we already believe or just sounds appealing and we want to share it), or to agree with bull even when we know it’s wrong (peer pressure, hierarchy pressure, avoiding confrontation, wanting to be accepted, etc.). I don’t want to produce or propagate bull, so I hope I can be aware in these kinds of situations and admit I don’t know enough to speak on a subject, double-check my facts and beliefs on a regular basis, and try to be willing to challenge bull from others, whatever our relationship.

Speaking of challenging bull, the book has a handy list of steps for how to do it respectfully and non-confrontationally, which I photocopied for future reference. (Question the idea without attacking the person; act confused and try to get the person to explain their assertion to you so that they have to think harder about what they’re saying, for instance.)

The author tackles a lot of different kinds of bull: the Myers-Briggs test (on which I’ve gotten varying scores myself, depending on what mood I’m in); Deepak Chopra; a wide swath of TED talks; assertions by politicians of varying stripes; wine judging; diamond pricing; and many other examples.

I found this book both interesting and highly entertaining. And hopefully both my bullibility and likelihood to bull will both be lower as a result of reading it.
Profile Image for Jim.
Author 7 books2,051 followers
May 20, 2022
As so many others have noted, this is a much needed book today since we're drowning in bullshit. Worse, it's difficult to know who or what institutions are bullshitting us & how. Sure, I expect it from a buddy at a bar & the car salesman, but institutions I grew up thinking were proof against it are now shoveling it with both hands & they're not even subtle about it. I was around for Spiro Agnew & Richard Nixon to fall & the Pentagon Papers to be released so I knew even the president could lie, but they did pretty good cover up jobs for years. Now, Trump just lies constantly & transparently. Deepak Chopra & Mehmet Oz at least try to baffle folks with bullshit. Petrocelli points his finger at all 3 plus quite a few others showcasing just how fast BS spreads, how badly it damages society, & how tenacious its hold is with another well known example in Wakefield & the MMR-autism fake.

He mentions quite a few of the brain bugs that cause our credulity & also points out why we all bullshit at times. Best of all, he gives quite a few tips on how to detect bullshit & avoid believing it. Not all are obvious. It's for this reason that I suggest getting a text copy. It's great to listen to, but parts deserve more study.
Profile Image for Lisa Konet.
2,233 reviews10 followers
June 1, 2021
get the point of this book that it gets you to recognize all lies from TV, to friends, family and other sources making you impenetrable to "bullshit." There was an overabundance of swearing which I usually do not mind but was off in this book when it is trying to be psychology/self-help book; it is not, Some parts were good but some parts were over-done/over the top absurd. All in all, a waste of my time when I can be reading something else on my ever growing TBR list.

Cannot recommend.

Thanks to Netgalley, John V Petrocelli and St Martin's Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Available: 7/27/21
Profile Image for Rod Brown.
5,992 reviews222 followers
December 2, 2021
I find it hard to resist books with covers on the red/orange end of the color spectrum and also titles with swear words in them. Put the two together like The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life or this book in hand, and I'm sure to read it.

Despite the catchy title and the amusingly frequent use of the word "bullshit" and several derivatives, I found the prose style to be a bit dry, academic, and dull. Petrocelli draws a distinction between bullshitters and liars and lays out some common sense methods for detecting them, but he sprinkles in a lot of complex concepts and jargon. He brings up some interesting examples -- Bernie Madoff and Ponzi schemes, Deepak Chopra and Donald Trump, TED Talks, wine and diamond marketing, car and real estate sales -- but doesn't really delve too deeply into any of them as he skims on to the next concept.

For readers who are critical thinkers, there is not much new here. Readers who are not critical thinkers will either be slightly lost at times or turned off by the bashing of what may be some of their favorite things to believe in or bullshit about. For instance, I don't think any anti-vaxxers will be converted by the evidence presented here.

I was annoyed by the inconsistent use of the "fly scale" Petrocelli introduces early in the book. Sometimes they rated a subject, other times they just seemed to serve as line breaks. Mostly, since I read outside while walking, they just kept making me think a bug had landed on the page.

Finally, I thought his conclusion that we should all model "calling bullshit" so it catches catches on and everyone starts telling the truth all the time to be simplistically pollyannish, but perhaps he was just serving up some ironic bullshit of his own.

Side note: I do find it odd that in a book about bullshit he changes the names of a couple people he features to protect their identities but buries that fact in the end notes instead of being upfront about it.
Profile Image for Marsha.
Author 30 books753 followers
May 23, 2021
A quick and entertaining read that should help many people become more aware of how they've arrived at their own decisions and attitudes and how they can logically dissect that process so they're less susceptible to bullshit.
The first part of the book consisted of highly readable anecdotes to illuminate his various points. The second half was more of a roundup and reiteration of his points. While I enjoyed this book, I docked one star because of the author's own bullshit. The anecdotes he used in the first half were mere padding. He could have used more original examples. Anyone who has taken a basic psychology course or watched a documentary on the art of persuasion will be familiar with most that he cites. That's a small criticism though, because the second half of the book makes up for it.
Profile Image for Andy.
1,581 reviews520 followers
January 20, 2022
This has some good advice (like think critically) but was disappointing overall. The book itself is BS in multiple places, and the author generally fails to provide rigorous scientific evidence to back up his own recommendations.

Nerd addendum:
-Ch. 2: Discussion of MBTI personality test. MBTI is based on misinterpretation of Jungian theories. Okay, but that doesn't mean it's useless. Silly theories can yield great outcomes. So this is actually a bad argument to make in terms of detecting BS. What matters is results in controlled trials. He says there aren't any for MBTI. So now we have another problematic thought process: beta error. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. So maybe the MBTI does "work." This would be crucial to explain in a book like this. I do agree that people shouldn't recommend untested interventions, but by the same token, just because something is untested doesn't prove in any way that it's worthless or harmful.
-Ch 2: A lot of what gets cited here is typical psych lab experiments. Better than nothing, but notoriously ungeneralizable. Certainly not the RCTs he keeps expecting from others.
-Ch. 3: Vaccines/autism story. Only talks about the Wakefield MMR paper, which is sort of a sideshow to the main event of the mercury concern, which was started by EPA, AAP, CDC, FDA, etc. So that's a huge omission. And a missed opportunity for instructive purposes about how to respond to risks of harm, including how to tell whether something causes disease or not.
-Ch. 5: Discussion of intermittent fasting. I agree that intermittent fasting has not met a level of proof from clinical trials that would warrant recommending it. But once again, the author's path to that point involves trudging through BS. He gets lost in theory and makes comments there that show he doesn't really know his stuff. For example he makes a big deal of "calories in/calories out" while ignoring the very well publicized research on Biggest Loser contestants or hunter-gatherer cultures on how metabolic rates do vary in ways that undermine the calorie counting concept.
-Ch. 5: Elements of critical thinking. Seem reasonable but I am skeptical that listing these steps is any more effective than exhortations in fitness books. I hope to be proven wrong ... someday.
Profile Image for Andrea .
490 reviews
June 13, 2021
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC.

John Petrocelli is a social psychologist at Wake Forest University who specializes in, according to the WFU website, "experimental social cognition and judgement and decision making." In other words, Dr. Petrocelli is an expert on the art and science of detecting bullshit.

This short book describes how susceptible we are to bullshit (very) and lays out how Dr. Petrocelli's recommendations for detecting it yourself. Unlike your average TED talk that suggests a simple action that will revolutionize your life (fasting to induce autophagy!), Dr. Petrocelli doesn't have a quick fix to offer (though note that the author does have a TED talk). Instead, the antidote requires critical thinking. I found the systematic process and list of sample questions for evaluating prospective bullshit quite helpful and definitely plan to review it in the future.

The book is fairly nonpartisan in nature, quite an achievement given the subject matter. This shows a careful hand at work. I'm tempted to buy copies for my more gullible relatives.

My only quibble is that several old chestnuts about social psychology are trotted out for illustrative purposes, namely Philip Zimbardo's Stanford prison experiment, and there's no mention of how much bullshit was involved in this study.

Nullis in verba.
210 reviews11 followers
May 22, 2021
I have read On Bullshit, but Petrocelli takes the idea down a different route. Instead of a philosophical work, this one is more applicable to understanding and guarding against bullshit. There were some really interesting anecdotes throughout the text that made me often stop and think about, even though I wouldn't have admitted it, I have fallen prey to bullshit more than I would like to say.

The second half of the book is where I think one can apply the rules the best. The questions and guides in the last couple of chapters are great reference questions about any source of information.

The book's political views might turn people away, but in the end, it is those people who have stayed wallowing in the cow pie
Profile Image for Chris Boutté.
Author 7 books204 followers
June 12, 2022
2nd read:
I’ve thought about this book a ton since reading it when it launched, and I had John on my podcast. So, I read it again, and it’s so damn good. I really wish it got more of the attention that it deserves because it’s so much more unique than many of the other books in this realm. We live in a time where people don’t care about the truth as long as they hear something that aligns with their beliefs. It seems like it’s only getting worse, and that’s why this book is so important.

Bullshit is a lack of concern with the truth. John’s been researching this topic for years, and he explains why bullshit is such a problem. There are anecdotes of non-consequential situations where bullshit doesn’t really matter, but he shows how it can lead us to believe even more bullshit. Through his own research as well as the research from others, Petrocelli explains why we fall for bullshit, why people bullshit, what we can do to prevent it, and much more.

Not only do I think everyone should read this book, it’s one I’m going to have my son read as well to help him become a better thinker.


1st read:
I have no clue how I didn’t hear about this book or the work of John V. Petrocelli. This book is fantastic, and I binged it within a day of it being launched. There are a lot of books out there about being a better thinker and decision-maker, and I’ve read a ton of them. I can honestly say that this book stands out for a wide range of reasons, and I hope it gets the recognition it deserves. The author is a social psychologist and researcher, and there are a ton of studies in this book that I hadn’t heard of as well as studies that John and his team have done. In this book, you’ll learn what bullshit is, why people do it, and how to spot it. I mainly enjoy these books to remind myself of the tools needed to be skeptical of misinformation, but John covered way more than that. By the time you finish the book, you’ll know how to spot bullshit whether you’re reading or watching the news, buying a used car, or just talking to a friend.

Also, I listened to the audiobook version of this, and the narrator was perfect for the book. I usually don’t pay much attention to narrators of non-fiction, but as an audio listener, I really enjoyed this one.
Profile Image for shoe.
1 review
July 27, 2021
Ha. This book unleashes it's own form of bs. Proceed with caution.
Profile Image for Cav.
763 reviews143 followers
August 16, 2021
"The truth may be puzzling. It may take some work to grapple with. It may be counterintuitive. It may contradict deeply held prejudices. It may not be consonant with what we desperately want to be true. But our preferences do not determine what’s true..."
Carl Sagan

The Life-Changing Science of Detecting Bullshit was a great read. The author drops the above quote at the start of the book.

Author John V. Petrocelli is a Professor of Psychology at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He writes of himself: "I am a social psychologist and my research involves experimental social cognition and judgment and decision making. My specific research interests include attitude strength and persuasion, bullshitting, counterfactual thinking and metacognition."

John V. Petrocelli:
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The book opens with a bang, as Petrocelli delivers a high-energy intro. He recounts the story of 2017 NBA All-Star Game superstar Kyrie Irving advocating for people to do "research" and see that the earth is flat. Petrocelli mentions a few other common misconceptions:
"Kyrie isn’t alone in believing something that isn’t true. Many people still believe you can see the Great Wall of China from the Moon, despite the fact that Apollo astronauts confirmed that you cannot.8 Many people believe that one human year is equivalent to seven dog years, although dog age actually depends on the size and breed of the dog (after 7 years, a Saint Bernard is 54, but a Maltese is only 44).9 It’s often said that you lose your body heat fastest through your head, despite the fact experts have shown humans to be just as cold if they went without wearing pants as if they went without wearing a hat.10 People continue to insist that giving children sugar makes them hyperactive, despite the fact that virtually all tests show that sugar does not cause hyperactivity.11 And many people still believe that vitamin C is an effective treatment for a cold, despite the fact that experts have demonstrated little to no evidence that this is true."

Petrocelli has a natural and easy writing style, that effectively holds the reader's attention, and has the effect of making the book very engaging and readable. Points awarded for this. My reviews are always very heavily weighted on how engaging and interesting an author's prose is, and thankfully Petrocelli doesn't disappoint here.

Petrocelli introduces a humorous "Bullshit Flies Index" in the first chapter, ranking bullshit according to how damaging it is:
BFI

He drops this famous thought experiment, that examines people's faulty thought processes:
"The two general styles of thinking are intuitive and reflective thinking. To understand the distinction, try answering this question:
A bat and a ball cost $1.10 in total. The bat costs $1.00 more than the ball. How much does the ball cost?
If you are like most people, your first answer was 10 cents. Although that’s the most common answer, it is wrong. If the ball cost 10 cents, then the bat would cost $1.00, and the bat would thereby cost only 90 cents more than the ball. The bat costs $1.00 more than the ball, and the only way for that to be the case is for the bat to cost $1.05 and the ball to cost 5 cents. What makes this problem difficult is that the pull of the intuitive and incorrect response is significantly stronger because it comes to mind more quickly than the correct response. In order to arrive at the correct response, you must fight against the intuitive pull and stop to reflect for a few moments—it requires reflective thinking..."

Another great quote, about those who excessively bullshit:
"High-propensity bullshitters are remarkably easy to spot. They are the type of people often found evangelizing and proselytizing about their beliefs to anyone willing to listen.
They do this because convincing otherwise rational people to agree with their opinions reduces any psychological discomfort they may feel for believing their own bullshit.
Because relying on evidence to make decisions does not appeal to them, high-propensity bullshitters tend to show signs of irritation when asked to provide reasons for their beliefs..."

Some more of what is covered here includes:
• Professional wine reviewers; price as a rule of thumb.
• Personality tests; the cottages industries surrounding them. The "Big 5" Personality traits.
• Mao Zedong's disastrous "Great Leap Forward." The largest man-made catastrophe in history, it resulted in millions of famine deaths. His "Four Pests Campaign" went after four nuisance pests; rats, flies, mosquitoes, and sparrows. The mosquitos responsible for malaria, the rodents that spread the plague, the pervasive airborne flies, and the sparrows—specifically the Eurasian tree sparrow—which ate grain seed and fruit.
Bernie Madoff and Ponzi schemes.
• Stanley Milgram's famous social compliance experiments.
• Solomon Asch's Conformity Experiments.
Dr. Mehmet Oz.
The Dunning–Kruger effect.
• Paid posts by social media influencers.
"Facilitated communication" for autistic children.
Deepak Chopra; pseudo profundity, "therapeutic touch."
TED Talks, Cynthia Thurlow
• A bit of "Critical thinking 101."
• The artificially-inflated value of diamonds.
Dowsing.
• The fake ADE 651 bomb detector.

I did find a small point of contention here. He takes a shot at Cynthia Thurlow’s TEDx Talk, titled Intermittent Fasting: Transformational Technique, casting doubt on the health benefits of fasting and intermittent fasting. The Ph.D. biochemist, Rhonda Patrick has compiled quite a lot of research on this, which, along with many other fitness and health-related topics, can be found on her site, foundmyfitness.com. She says this, and posts links to the data:
"...As such, time-restricted eating may trigger some beneficial health effects, such as reduced fat mass, increased lean muscle mass, reduced inflammation, improved heart function with age, increased mitochondrial volume, ketone body production, improved repair processes, and enhanced aerobic endurance."

*************************

I enjoyed The Life-Changing Science of Detecting Bullshit. Petrocelli presents the material here in an effective and interesting manner. Although most of what he covered here was not new to me, those who are not well-versed in social psychology will no doubt find this content extremely interesting and informative.
I would recommend this one to anyone interested.
5 stars.
Profile Image for Shawn.
602 reviews31 followers
June 28, 2021
A fun and well- written book advocating and explaining the need to greater reliance on critical thinking and evidence seeking.
Petrocelli does research from the Wake Forest "Bullshit Laboratory" (yes, I'm jealous) and wow this book seemingly as a textbook for how to help people understand when they someone is using Bullshit on them (from lying) and how they can get better at catching it and avoiding using it themselves.
Were I still teaching, I would want this to be required reading for our science department (or maybe the whole school) to enable us to work critical thinking techniques into every class. One portion that especially jumped out at me was asking "how" instead of "why" questions in order to elicit more evidence based thinking about a topic. Because of this, I would recommend this for anyone who actually cares about understanding the world through the lens of facts and evidence and I would wish that would include everyone.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for giving me the chance to read an advance copy of this book and to Dr. Petrocelli for his work.
Profile Image for Cari.
Author 16 books151 followers
January 1, 2022
Picked this up off the library shelf while changing new books to regular nonfiction. I was immediately drawn in by the clear and readable prose. While I've read a lot of the studies mentioned before, I haven't thought of them in the context of finding out bullshit. "Bullshit," as defined here, is a little different from straight-up lying. It's when a person doesn't exactly know what they're talking about but acts like they do and may even reference bullshit sources. I thought the tips for detecting bullshit were helpful - I also thought about self-reflection for my own BS (and even if you think you don't do it, you probably do). I liked the list and examples of problems in thinking at the end. My only beef was that Petrocelli gives the tip that most research articles can be found online, and if they're not, a person should email the author. It's much more effective to ask your local librarian - and probably much faster.
Profile Image for Blake Randall.
50 reviews69 followers
October 16, 2022
Great, informative, easy-to-read book.

While I felt I had an idea of what bullshitting was, this book by John Petrocelli, provided a lot more detailed information, research, and examples of the many forms of bullshit.

It was a fairly straightforward book that was presented in a reasonable manner.

At times, I did find most chapters to be stretched out a bit much. But, there were a lot of notes and information to unpack.

This is one of those books that, the people who need to read this one, unfortunately, won't read it.

Any person who finds it difficult to discern reality from fiction would benefit from reading this book.
Profile Image for Ian D.
561 reviews65 followers
January 23, 2022
Γνωστικών σφαλμάτων συνέχεια, μόνο που αυτή τη φορά ο κοινωνικός ψυχολόγος John Petrocelli το πάει ένα βήμα παραπέρα προσθέτοντας στην εξίσωση την άγνοια, το δόλο και το συμφέρον.
Έπειτα, μ' ένα τόσο εντυπωσιακό τίτλο, δεν μπορεί παρά να μας κεντρίσει το ενδιαφέρον.

Ψυχολογία πρωινάδικου, ponzi schemes, ακριβά κρασιά, πολιτική (και πολιτικοί), κτηματομεσιτικά, επικοινωνία επιστήμης, διαμάντια, μεταχειρισμένα αυτοκίνητα. Όλοι διεκδικούν μια φέτα από μια πίτα φτιαγμένη από αγνή παπάντζα γι' αυτό και στο βάθος ελλοχεύει μια εσάνς bullshit.

Αν και δεν πρόκειται για μια πρωτότυπη ιδέα, το βιβλίο είναι καλογραμμένο και σαφές, δε χαϊδεύει αλλά ούτε προσβάλλει.
3/5
Profile Image for Kimberly.
289 reviews
July 12, 2022
There were some good points in the book and some tedious ones. The best chapters were near the end, so one must slog through all the other stuff first. Each chapter builds on previous ones so there is no skipping ahead. I sought this book because I wanted to read more about the development of critical thinking. This book helped a bit , but the richest information was towards the end. This is an interesting introduction to social psychology and some of its current research.
Profile Image for bri.
95 reviews5 followers
October 11, 2021
This book was so helpful. I, like many people, think that 1) I don't fall for bullshit and 2) that I don't bullshit people. After reading this book I am convinced that we all do both. I would love for everyone to read this book so we can all come together to create a society with less bullshit.
Profile Image for Christopher Costanzo.
12 reviews1 follower
July 11, 2023
This book is much needed in this day of false information, of glandular thinking, of “truth” conveyed by implication instead of specification, of the absence of critical thought, and the propensities towards misinformation seen in so many politicians, salesmen, faddists, religionists, and in merely wishful thinkers.
The author goes out of his way to explain his use of the somewhat indecorous word, “bullshit.” He is convincing in asserting that it’s the most accurate word to explain much of today’s misinformation. “Bullshit” does NOT necessarily encompass bold-faced deliberate lying, but consists rather in the conveyance of untruths or misleading conclusions through omissions, through selective “evidence” and wishful thinking, sometimes unscrupulously but, yes, often sincerely by the bullshitter himself. There is no word better than “bullshit” to encompass the foregoing concept.
Although the author doesn’t say it specifically, the book is basically an exposition on Spinoza’s observation that belief comes quickly and naturally, but skepticism is slow and unnatural, and most people have a low tolerance for ambiguity. Hence the prevalence of bullshit in our lives.
The author describes the many forms that bullshit can take in commerce, social media, politics, and religion. He is merciless in exposing specific bullshit in, for example, selling fine wines or automobiles, investment scams, manipulation of statistics, and spiritual come-ons. Among the bullshit tactics that the author mentions are the disregard of any facts that disproves a claim, the focus on unreliable anecdotal evidence to support the claim, exaggerating the credibility and credentials of those who support the claim, logical errors, ambiguous language, the unsubstantiated puffing up of those who agree and the character assassination of those who don’t agree, the personal attractiveness of many charismatic bullshit artists, and the pseudo-profundity regarding spiritual matters inherent in many a guru’s utterances which, when analyzed linguistically, actually mean nothing.
This book outlines strategies for detecting and cutting through bullshit. Among such strategies are collecting data, assessing plausibility, spotting and minimizing bias, clarifying the exact bullshit claim, evaluating underlying assumptions, spotting unwarranted correlations, assessing the speaker, and even assessing one’s own self for any desire to believe a given claim. The author lists verbal "red flags" that could signal the onset of bullshit, and he devotes space to cutting through bullshit that masquerades as science.
Many of the author’s points have already been cited in very compact form in Carl Sagan’s “The Fine Art of Baloney Detection,” which the author mentions in his footnotes. However, the author of this book, unlike Sagan, is a professional academic psychologist who illuminates his points by citing and describing scientific work that vastly illuminates the human propensity towards gullibility. “The Life-Changing Science of Detecting Bullshit” is a great and worthwhile read.
Profile Image for Bertram Leonard.
49 reviews5 followers
February 15, 2022
Practical tips. Worth reading/listening/consuming. However, the people who would most benefit from consuming this will certainly avoid it. Nevertheless, a good refresher on critical thinking.
769 reviews61 followers
October 3, 2021
Wow. Do not, I repeat, do NOT take a shot every time you hear the word "bullshit" (or any variant thereof). You'd be dead before being even a fraction of the way through the book! The "bullshit" vortex was so over the top, just about everything else faded into nonexistence.

This was quite frankly, according to the author's perspectives, a "bullshit" read. He used anecdotes as supportive 'evidence', which he repeatedly spoke out against. He made value judgements & presented them as fact instead of accurate historical information.

This felt more like a knee jerk response to the ripple effects of US politics in recent years.

I often find it funny, when so much focus is placed on the 'problem of poor critical thinking skills,' when the education systems are designed to teach people to consume & regurgitate OTHERS' thinking. If most 'learning' is actually consuming, with very little focus on HOW to THINK - let alone critically, how can we expect anyone to jump straight to skilled critical thinking?!

Another ironic tid-bit. The author is preaching to the choir, but it's evident he thinks this message should be heard by those who don't have or care to gain the ability to detect bullshit. He even admits that they won't hear it, let alone embrace it. So, what is this? Self-congratulatory ego stroking (for him and the reader)?

Personally, I found "You Can't Lie to Me" by Janine Driver to be a far more valuable read. Similar concept, but Driver is very clear it's not about hunting lies. It's catching the 'hot spots' that can be extremely revelatory.

Lastly, that "bullshit" vortex nearly took me out; I nearly stopped at 85%. How many times can someone squeeze that one word into one sentence?! Ugh, kill me now!!


490 reviews10 followers
August 6, 2021
This subject matter is much deeper than I had expected. It is not my preferred genre to read, but it is worth reading since we have an abundance of misinformation in today's world. The author is a college professor who has devoted a substantial amount of time to this study. I did not fully grasp everything that he said because, frankly, I tried to absorb too much too quickly. I would probably do better if I were to take one of his classes and learn everything gradually. Still, the author succeeded in convincing me that I have been duped much more than I had ever realized. I will endeavor to continue learning and questioning my perceptions.
Profile Image for Carolyn Amate.
640 reviews2 followers
July 27, 2021
Entertaining and very interesting read as how to recognize bullshit when presented to you. Examples of where in society bullshit is used in ads to sell products or promote a person for a political party.
It was an fun book to read an did enjoy it.

Thank you Netgalley and St Martin's Press for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review

#TheLifeChangingScienceOfDetectingBullshit
Profile Image for Rod Olson.
31 reviews50 followers
September 20, 2021
A Must Read for this moment. It's THE best summary of many the most credible experts studies that have uncovered our mental hacks and how to discipline our minds to detect BULLSHIT and then be the cause of good in the world to join in and STOP it from spreading.

Clue to that how to stop it... CALL IT OUT, wherever and whenever you detect it!
Profile Image for Danielle.
57 reviews
March 2, 2022
An essential read in today's ocean of misinformation. It's a good reminder that we all bullshit and it would be a better world if we didn't.
Profile Image for Ashley.
174 reviews
December 12, 2021
To be honest I didn’t finish this book because it felt like really basic knowledge. Good for certain people but just not very insightful and I was bored.
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