I came across two interesting psychological scales, the bullshitting frequency scale and the bullshit receptivity scale, in two separate research studies.
It is said that people engage in two types of bullshit - persuasive and evasive. Bullshitting frequency is negatively correlated to sincerity, honesty, open-minded cognition, cognitive ability, and self-regard. Bullshitters are likely to present misleading information, fake news, and scientific bullshit.
Some people are more prone to receive bullshit than others. This is the tendency to view pseudo-profound things as "profound". In a study published in the journal of Judgment and Decision Making, it was found that people who are receptive to bullshit tend to attach meaningfulness to something that is proposed as "seemingly profound" but in fact is mere nonsense. Those who lack critical thinking skills are more likely to be receptive to bullshit than those who question, challenge assumptions, and seek evidence. The lack of cognitive ability explains why people are open-minded to accept widespread bullshit as true. Some people may have an uncritically open mind. As the idiom goes: “It pays to keep an open mind, but not so open your brains fall out”.
