The Life-Changing Science of Detecting Bullshit
John V. Petrocelli, Ph.D.
We’ve all consumed and produced our share of bullshit, but John Petrocelli has spent his career studying it. This is the perfect moment for his thoughtful, readable book on the psychology of detecting fake news in the world around us—and false beliefs about ourselves too. (Adam Grant, New York Times bestselling author of Think Again and Originals, and host of the TED podcast WorkLife)
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.
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.
In this era of media-controlled information, we are challenged to identify truth from distortions. We now all have the essential tool needed in Professor Petrocelli's masterpiece, The Life-Changing Science of Detecting Bullshit. Our vision is sharpened by this new bullshit-detection lens we extract from the abundant examples and guidelines that fill this uniquely eye-opening journey. (Philip Zimbardo, Stanford University, author of the New York Times bestseller The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil)
The Life-Changing Science of Detecting Bullshit is available to buy from your favorite bookseller and in print, kindle and audio versions from Amazon.
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John V. Petrocelli is an experimental social psychologist and Professor of Psychology at Wake Forest University. His research examines the causes and consequences of BS and BSing in the way of better understanding and improving BS detection and disposal. Professor Petrocelli’s research contributions also include attitudes and persuasion and the intersections of counterfactual thinking with learning, memory and decision making.
His research has appeared in the top journals of his field including the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Professor Petrocelli also serves an Associate Editor of Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.
You can learn more about the groundbreaking work of Professor Petrocelli via his Psychology Today Blog and you connect with him online via LinkedIn and Twitter.
