Prof. Nathaniel Barr on BS!

As mentioned in the “Spotlight on Research” section of Alchemy, Professor of Creativity and Creative Thinking Nathaniel Barr co-authored a research article in the Journal of Judgement and Decision Making entitled “On the reception and detection of pseudo-profound bullshit.” Although ‘bullshit’ is a ubiquitous aspect of human experience, and has been discussed by philosophers, this paper was the first to systematically approach the topic from a psychological perspective. The work garnered extensive international media attention and was covered in prominent publications such as Forbes and the Washington Post, and even appeared on the front page of the Toronto Star. Nathaniel also wrote a popular press article for Quartz that connected this work on bullshit to his previous research on the relation between thinking style and internet use. You can read that article here.