BSers have no idea if the claims they perpetuate are true or
false; they have put little effort forth in regards to investigating the
claim. The truth-value of a claim is
not important to the BSer. There is a
difference between a liar and BSer. The
liar misrepresents what they believe to be true.
On Bullshit (Frankfurt, 2005) is a pocket size,
67-page book that discusses BS.
Frankfurt discusses why BSers and Liars do not necessarily have the same
motives. I had never thought of the
two- BSer and liar as being different until reading On Bullshit. However, after reading Frankfurt’s book it
became clear- there is a difference between BSers and liars.
Frankfurt points out that BS is one of the most salient
features of our culture. Everyone
engages in some level of BS. Frankfurt
makes a point to explain that someone who thinks they are lying can actually
being telling the truth. A statement is a lie if the person making the
statement “believes that the statement is false and intends by making it to deceive”
(p.8).
Why are there so many Bsers? There are two key reasons:1-
ego inflation 2- customary communication.
Many people like to always be right, or at least make others think they
are right. Of course, most people like
to be right. There is nothing wrong
with wanting to be right, but this becomes problematic when being right becomes
more important than finding the truth.
Many people pride themselves on being good BSers; you know the type of
person that can carry on a conversation with anyone, or wow people with their
smarts. Some of the most popular people are BSers. Personally, I don’t mind to hear a little
BSing. I BS on occasion, but I limit my
BSing, and I know when it is inappropriate. The excessive BSer doesn’t
seem to understand or care to understand that BSing is sometimes
inappropriate. As an example, the
excessive BSer has a tendency to consistently make unfounded claims, and
attempts to participate in conversations on topics they know little to nothing
about. They haven’t looked at the
evidence, and they aren’t interested in what the evidence says. They know they are right, even when they
have no evidence to support their claims. They generally support their claims
by using an array of logical fallacies and nonsensical claims. What is the antidote to BS, in this context?
Maybe we should call the bluff, and ask to see evidence. This generally doesn’t work. I have been in many Internet battles, and
asking BSers to produce evidence is generally a waste of breath. To reiterate,
BSers are not interested in the truth-value of their claim. And, most of the time BSers have a
completely different idea than others, when it comes to what constitutes
evidence. This lack of understanding in
regards to what it means to produce evidence is prevalent, and is particularly
problematic when discussing science. In
science, we discuss topics by referring to evidence, not wishful thinking,
personal observations, or common sense.
Scientific thinkers derive their claims from systematic processes used
to collect and analyze information, namely science. If asking for evidence doesn’t work what should we do in order to
combat BS? I don’t have a good answer
to this question. Maybe someone else
does. Maybe we should pass a law that
allows us to duct tape their mouths shut?
Maybe they should be fined for intellectual pollution?
The customary process of
communication may be another reason that BS is so prevalent. Consider the following: you and your
significant other attend a dinner party for your friend. Your friends are
talking and seemingly having a pleasant evening until the conversation
addresses stem-cell research. Your
friends appear to be relatively knowledgeable about the subject. After a few minutes of dialogue they ask for
your opinion. You panic because you know very little about the subject,
but you decide to express your opinion. Why would you comment on something you
know nothing about? You felt obligated
to say something because you didn’t want to be rude. This type of situation
occurs on a regular basis. Bullshit is unavoidable when someone is forced
to discuss a topic that they know little about. In this context the antidote to BS is politely admitting you are
not qualified to discuss the topic.
BS is ubiquitous and sometimes
it is fine; however, at times it is inappropriate. Good thinkers are able to figure out when it is appropriate. The
next time you notice you are discussing a topic, and defending it vehemently,
even though you have no evidence to corroborate your beliefs do yourself and
anyone listening to you a favor and shut up!
Below is some of the e-mail I
have received and responded to over the past three weeks. A lot of these
conversations are with BSers.
Not-Fan Mail
E-mail: Hello Jamie,
I am a fan of some of your work,
but your article on testing and learning is PLAIN wrong. I am a junior high teacher and I know from
experience that testing does little to improve learning. In fact, it is my opinion, and the opinion
of many of my co-workers that testing has a negative influence on learning.
Your opinion is a moot point if
it is not supported by even an angstrom of evidence, and lacks logic. “I know from experience” is not sufficient
evidence. Of course, at times
experience may lead to the formation of testable hypotheses, and if that is the
case they should be tested. The article
you are referring to discusses the following research:
Balota, D.A., Duchek,
J.M., & Paullin, R. (1989). Age-related differences in the impact of
spacing, lag, and retention interval. Psychology
and Aging, 4, 3–9.
Roediger, H.L., &
Karpicke, J.D. (2006). Test-Enhanced Learning: Taking Memory Tests Improves
Long-Term Retention. Psychological
Science, 17 (3), 249-255.
The results support the
claim that testing enhances learning
Name, sorry you don’t like the
results, but science doesn’t have any concern for whether or not you are
pleased with the results. Science is
the great truth finder and self- deception detector.
2nd email: The results of studies are often wrong. Scientists have vested interests.
My 2nd response: You don’t think you could be wrong. Science might be wrong, but it makes use of
numerous self-correcting techniques to help ensure that it isn’t wrong. When scientific information is shown to be
wrong that information is abandoned in exchange for better information. All scientific information is tentative. If
interested in learning more about scientific processes I suggest you spend some
time educating yourself in the following areas: philosophy of science, research
methods and stats. I can send you some
suggested sources if you would like.
3rd email: Jamie, I have no interest in seeing your
suggestions. It appears to me that you
have a hidden agenda. Maybe you are
just interested in promoting science.
It seems to me that you think science can answer everything.
My 3rd response: My agenda is the perpetuation of
science. I am not trying to hide
that. I am a science educator. Do I think science can answer all questions? No, I do not. You have never heard me say
that. You have heard me say, and you
will continue to hear me say scientific processes are unquestionably the most
successful processes we have for discovering reality. There is no other method of knowledge acquisition that even
compares. Of course, you will probably
dishonestly say you disagree. I say
dishonestly, because you like everyone else depends heavily on science and technology. Try going 2-3 days without using any of the
benefits that you are provided due to science and technology.
E-mail: It appears to me that you are a hypocrite! You are always talking about being
skeptical. So, why shouldn’t we be
skeptical of your claims?
My response: I appreciate the not so kind words. You should be skeptical of all claims,
including those made by myself. Skeptic
is derived from the Greek skeptikos, which means, "inquiring"
or "to look around”. Skeptics apply reason to and need evidence for all
claims. It is important to consider who are making the claims, but no matter
who makes the claim evidence is required. The individual’s reputation,
authority or credentials do not make the claim correct.
If you are not a skeptic you should be. Skepticism should be applied to all claims;
no claim should be given a free pass when it comes to providing supportive
evidence.
E-mail: Hey Coach
Hale,
I used to be a fan of your work, until you became
boring. You are always talking about
evidence. Not everyone cares about
evidence! They just want the answers.
My response: I
agree that many people do not care about evidence. Especially, when that evidences contradicts their beliefs.
Correct answers are dependent on evidence; so, if someone
wants correct answers they should want evidence. But, people often do not care about what the evidence says, they
are only interested with recipe knowledge- they want to know what to do, but
they are not concerned with why they
should do it.
E-mail: If correlational research does not determine
cause and effect why do researchers conduct this type of research? It seems that they are wasting time.
My response: Even though correlational research is not
used to determine cause and effect it is still important. Consider the
following points made by Stanovich (2007):
“First,
many scientific hypotheses are stated in terms of correlation or lack of
correlation, so that such studies are directly relevant to these
hypotheses."
"Second,
although correlation does not imply causation, causation does implycorrelation.
That is, although a correlational study cannot definitely prove a causal
hypothesis, it may rule one out."
"Third,
correlational studies are more useful than they may seem, because some of the
recently developed complex correlational designs allow for some very limited
causal inferences."
"…some
variables simply cannot be manipulated for ethical reasons (for instance,
human malnutrition or physical disabilities). Other variables, such as birth
order, sex, and age are inherently correlational because they cannot be manipulated,
and, therefore, the scientific knowledge concerning them must be based on
correlation evidence.”
Correlation
does not imply causation, however causation does imply correlation.
Correlational studies are a stepping-stone to the more powerful experimental
method. (Hale, 2014).
E-mail: Sometimes your comments are very rude. I think each person has a right to their own
beliefs, and those beliefs should be respected.
My
response: You are being dishonest. You
do not believe that all beliefs deserve the same level of respect. Believes that are not based on evidence do
not deserve the same level of respect as evidence based beliefs. As an example, no one respects the belief
that “Elvis lives.” Why don’t people
respect that belief? Because it is absurd; even if we can’t prove he doesn’t
live. It is important to realize no
matter how much you want something to be true if it defies everything that is
known about reality it probably isn’t true.
No amount of wishing makes it any truer.
E-mail: I think it is offensive to tell people if
they don’t have any training in research methods and statistics, or that if
they don’t read about those subjects they can’t understand them.
My
response: Thanks for pointing this out.
I am sorry that you are offended by this fact. Why do you think that you understand the complexity of research
methods and stats if you have made no effort to acquire an education in these
areas? When I say that you do not
understand these subjects, or when I say you are ignorant in these areas I am
not saying you are stupid. However, I
am saying when you continuously attempt to show how much you know about
subjects that you nothing about you demonstrate irrationality. Of course, consistent irrationality might be
referred to as stupidity. Or a
euphemism may be used in suggesting stupidity.
To be
clear, not understanding a subject doesn’t reflect stupidity; if that were the
case we would have to say everyone is stupid.
No one understands all areas of knowledge.
E-mail: You admitted that your writing style has prevented you from getting published in some of the big magazines. That should tell you something?
My response: It tells me that magazines should change their publication criteria. When my writing style reflected many of the popular myths disseminated by the fitness industry it was a lot easier to get published.
Many types of magazines not just fitness magazines have suggested that my writing style is a little too evidence based, and not practical enough. Generally, magazines publishers are interested in generating high revenues, and quite often evidence based information might not be the best revenue generator.
References
Frankfurt, H.G. (2005).
On Bullshit. Princeton,
NJ: Princeton University Press.
Hale, J. (Not yet published ).
In Evidence We Trust: The need for science, rationality and
statistics.
Stanovich, K. (2007).
How To Think Straight About Psychology 8th Edition. New York, NY: Pearson.
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