New study explains how to deter BS in the workplace

New study explains how to deter BS in the workplaceNew study explains how to deter BS in the workplaceIt can be hard to spot a bullshtter at first. They make claims that sound right, but upon closer inspection, these opinions have no basis in fact or reason. When we fall for their BS, we feel like fools. I just made a decision based on someone who has no idea what they are talking about? we think. No one likes feeling played.How can we stop it from happening? Those are the questions that a new study in theJournal of Experimental Social Psychology sought to explain.Social accountability can stop BSTo defeat bullshtters, you must first understand what encourages them to start spewing fake expertise in the first place. Psychologist John Petrocelli found that it gets encouraged when people feel obligated to form an opinion and when they know the audience hearing the BS is going to be less knowledgeable about the topic.The bullstter is a relatively careless thinker/communicator, he writes . People may be especially likely to bullst when they feel obligated to talk about something of which they know little to leidhing about, and when they are trying to get away with something. Participants were more deterred when they knew their knowledge was likely to be fact-checked by an actual expert, or by someone with an opposing view.Given that bullstting may potentially serve multiple communicative functions, including interpersonal connectivity and expressions of identity, people may feel free to bullshit with those they anticipate to possess like-minded positions, Petrocelli said. To stop BS, you need to create a culture of accountability.A bullstter cannot sell what we do not buy, the paper notes.To test this, Petrocelli, invited online participants to justify their views on polarizing issues like affirmative action quotas, nuclear weapons, and capital punishment. People in the accountability group were told that they would need to justify and explain their opinion to a So ciology Professor with an opposing view on their stance.Participants suddenly became much less likely to admit to BS when they knew their explanations were going to be read by a skeptical, knowledgeable authority.When people are held accountable or when they expect to justify their positions to people who disagree with their attitudes people appear to refrain from bullshitting, Petrocelli concluded. The threat of being called out and exposed as a bullshtter may be enough to help bullshtters keep their opinions to themselves.