Gordon Pennycook
Special guest
Gordon is an Assistant Professor of Behavioural Science at the Hill/Levene Schools of Business and an Associate Member of the Department of Psychology at the University of Regina. Gordon's expertise is on the cognitive psychology of thinking and reasoning. He has published over 50 journal articles and chapters as well as popular press articles in outlets such as The New York Times and Skeptic Magazine. In 2016, Gordon won an Ig Nobel Prize for his work titled "On the Reception and Detection of Pseudo-Profound Bullshit.” Gordon was also named the Poynter Institute International Fact-Checking Network's "2017 Researcher of the Year" in recognition of his research on fake news and misinformation.
Gordon Pennycook has been a guest on 1 episode.
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Episode 15: Wisdom, Bullshit & Beliefs (with Gordon Pennycook)
April 7th, 2019 | 45 mins 7 secs
climate change, cognitive reflection test, dual process theory, fake news, misinformation, motivated reasoning, psuedo-profound bullshit, psychology, social psychology, wisdom, wisdom of chopra
‘Wholeness quiets infinite phenomena?’ Does it, really?! Why do some people fall for pseudo-profound bullshit and others don’t? When we share fake news stories, is this because we're motivated to think they're real, or because we don't bother to think at all? And why do scientists fight tooth-and-nail over the mechanisms involved, such as “System I vs. System II”, “Fast vs. Slow” and other frameworks? Gordon Pennycook joins Igor and Charles to discuss the critical distinction between a liar and a bullshitter, the cognitive reflection test, the random Deepak Chopra quote generator, the Ig Nobel prize, motivated reasoning, climate change beliefs, academic turf wars among dual process theorists, and how to stop yourself from compulsively retweeting fake news. Igor suggests that Gord only thought of studying bullshit after disbelief at one of Igor’s early talks, Gord reminds us that even the most enlightened social media platforms are in no hurry to help people STOP sharing news, and Charles unexpectedly finds common ground with the Chinese government. Welcome to Episode 15.