An international research team recently showed several respondents a number of hoaxes made by generators. The goal was to see if they found a more credible statement if it came from a scientist or spiritual teacher.
These statements are made using the New Age Bullshit Generator, an algorithm that combines seemingly intellectual keywords and words to create phrases that sound so profound.
In total, 10,195 participants from 24 countries answered questions related to the credibility of the statement. They were also asked about their own level of religiosity. The study was published in the journal Nature Human Behavior.
The results show that people generally find statements that are more credible when they come from a scientist than from a spiritual teacher. 76% of participants rated 'scientist' nonsense at or above the midpoint of the credibility scale, compared to only 55% of teachers.
In addition, individuals who score high for religiosity still show a preference for statements from scientists compared to spiritual teachers. However, it is relatively weaker than the general sample. Religious individuals also gave teachers higher credibility ratings than the general sample but still lower than scientists. The authors think that this result might lead to what was previously called 'The Einstein Effect'.
What is the 'Einstein Effect'? So this is how, usually, the concepts that Einstein could understand were beyond the intellectual abilities of most people, so a certain level of confidence was sufficient to believe what he was saying.
"From an evolutionary point of view, respect for credible authorities such as teachers, doctors, and scientists is an adaptive strategy that allows cultural learning and effective transmission of knowledge. Indeed, if the source is considered a trusted expert, people will believe his claims without fully understanding them, " said the researchers. Thus citing Science Alert.