Study on motivation to bulls*** relevant to revelation

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Reuben
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Study on motivation to bulls*** relevant to revelation

Post by Reuben » Tue May 22, 2018 4:14 pm

I love that "bullshit" is an actual term from philosophy, and that it's getting studied in serious research.

It seems that the extent to which a person engages in bullshitting (communicating without concern for evidence or established knowledge) depends on their own knowledge, their estimate of their audience's knowledge, and moreover whether they think their audience expects an opinion:

https://digest.bps.org.uk/2018/05/22/th ... lshitting/
Overall, the participants who received no background information on Jim admitted to engaging in more bullshitting [about Jim]. Participants also bullshitted more when they felt more obliged to give an opinion, and when their audience was not knowledgeable about him. These latter two factors (obligation and audience knowledge) interacted, with social obligation being more potent. When feeling obligated to have an opinion, uninformed participants bullshitted a lot even when they knew their audience knew more than they did.

“Anything that an audience may do to enhance the social expectation that one should have or provide an opinion appears to increase the likelihood of the audience receiving bullshit,” Petrocelli said.
I think the extent to which someone bullshits also depends on how much better they'll feel about themselves by coming across as knowledgeable or authoritative. And there seem to be some people that have a casual approach to reality in general.
Learn to doubt the stories you tell about yourselves and your adversaries.

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Corsair
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Re: Study on motivation to bulls*** relevant to revelation

Post by Corsair » Wed May 23, 2018 7:26 am

It appears that it's far more about audience acceptance rather than content or connection to reality. This explains Joseph Smith quite well.

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Hagoth
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Re: Study on motivation to bulls*** relevant to revelation

Post by Hagoth » Wed May 23, 2018 9:08 am

Corsair wrote:
Wed May 23, 2018 7:26 am
It appears that it's far more about audience acceptance rather than content or connection to reality. This explains Joseph Smith quite well.
And it should be the motto of the general Sunday school presidency.
“The easy confidence with which I know another man's religion is folly teaches me to suspect that my own is also.” -Mark Twain

Jesus: "The Kingdom of God is within you." The Buddha: "Be your own light."

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moksha
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Re: Study on motivation to bulls*** relevant to revelation

Post by moksha » Wed May 23, 2018 10:19 am

Reuben wrote:
Tue May 22, 2018 4:14 pm
Participants also bullshitted more when they felt more obliged to give an opinion, and when their audience was not knowledgeable...
This would dramatically suggest the target audience for Church apologists are in the Middle School age range, rather than adult Chapel Mormons. That need not be the case, because the Chapel Mormons have learned to effectively suspend their disbelief.

The highest philosophical school for such BS is of the absurdist variety. Tall tales are both fun and instructive.

Another possible scenario would be coming from some game show called The Apprentice. Some people can eschew market research and instinctively know that going for the lowest common denominator of BS will get the yahoos revved up to buy whatever it is that is being sold.
Good faith does not require evidence, but it also does not turn a blind eye to that evidence. Otherwise, it becomes misplaced faith.
-- Moksha

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