People who misjudge meaningless sentences as profound statements are more likely to use essential oils and find them effective, according to new research that appears in the scientific journal PLOS One.
Essential oils extracted from plants are commonly used with massages and aromatherapy. But the oils are also marketed as natural remedies for a variety of conditions, including anxiety, autism, depression, stress, pain, insomnia, high blood pressure, bacterial infections, skin conditions, and even spiritual and relationship problems.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Federal Trade Commission recently took action against several companies for fraudulently claiming that essential oils and other remedies could prevent, treat or cure COVID-19.
“The essential oils industry is an enormous one. It is very popular among people and makes a number of claims about the mental and physical health benefits that they bring,” explained lead researcher William Chopik, an assistant professor of psychology at Michigan State University.
“We were more interested in who is the typical consumer of essential oils? Who thinks that they are most beneficial? And who spends the most money on them? To our surprise, no studies had really looked at these factors.”
Using Amazon’s Mechanical Turk and an undergraduate subject pool, the researchers surveyed a sample of 1,202 participants regarding their personality traits, bullshit receptivity, use of essential oils, and other factors. They found that 66% of participants said they were currently using essential oils. Women were more likely to be currently using essential oils than men.
A statistical analysis found that personality traits were mostly unrelated to use of essential oils, but those high in bullshit receptivity were 70% more likely to use essential oils and were more likely to find them effective.
“Of all the personality and personal variables we looked at, being high in receptivity to bullshit was the most consistent predictor. Bullshit receptivity reflects people’s willingness to endorse meaningless statements as meaningful,” Chopik told PsyPost.
In particular, people high in bullshit receptivity are more likely to view statements such as “As you self-actualize, you will enter into infinite empathy that transcends understanding” as profound.
“People high in this trait were more likely to believe that essential oils had magical healing properties, even if the essential oils were not marketed to solve those problems. They thought essential oils could improve their friendships and spiritual life in addition to all the other ailments that befall people,” Chopik explained.
High religiosity also positively predicted spending money on essential oils and finding them to be effective, while being conservative was associated with the use of essential oils for spiritual enhancement.
“We’re not exactly sure why people who are receptive to bullshit are more likely to use essential oils. On one hand, they could be naively taking the claims essential oil companies make at face value. On another hand, perhaps they trick themselves into actually perceiving benefits (or maybe they unconsciously do so),” Chopik added.
The study, “Individual differences in personality predict the use and perceived effectiveness of essential oils“, was authored by Lindsay S. Ackerman and William J. Chopik.
MurphysLab on March 22nd, 2020 at 09:21 UTC »
The paper is linked in the article text, FYI:
I'm curious if there's a hidden variable relating to involvement with multi-level marketing schemes, given that MLMs may currently be the most widespread promoters of botanical hydrocarbon extracts (EOs) for various purposes. It might also explain the greater proportion of women who are using these botanical hydrocarbon extracts.
I haven't yet found a study that relates BSR to participation in multi-level marketing schemes, although there is one study indicating that high cognitive reflection test (CRT) scores reduces vulnerability to pyramid scheme participation ("Decision-making and vulnerability in a pyramid scheme fraud", 2019). Moreover, CRT does show some correlation (not strong) with BSR ("On the reception and detection of pseudo-profound bullshit", 2015). So, given that there is some correlation between BSR and CRT, I'd expect MLM participation could be a hidden variable.
Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be any coverage of MLM participation/engagement in the paper. It might be difficult to directly inquire about, although one might at least suss out suppliers or EO brands used as a proxy. Even then it could be that BSR is the main influence behind both MLM participation and EO use.
It's also noteworthy that ~ 2/3 of the subject pool were MTurk users, and no comparisson was made between the ~1/3 undergrads and the MTurk subsets. It also seems noteworthy that MTurk is a very poor paying side-gig for some. I wonder if there might be an association here between MLM and MTurk side gigs.
Really cool though that the raw data has been posted by the researchers (https://osf.io/r9c62/) - that gives me a bit more confidence.
Would anyone be able to see if there's a statistical difference in the EO-use vs BSR for undergrads vs MTurk samples?
tigersharkwushen_ on March 22nd, 2020 at 04:18 UTC »
I think the problem is these people don't actually have the capacity to determine if something is meaningless.
Sanpaku on March 22nd, 2020 at 04:15 UTC »
So, I rooted around in this study's survey files, and "bullshit" is pretty much indistinguishable from output of a Deepak Chopra Markov chain generator.
As beings of light we are local and non-local, time bound and timeless actuality and possibility. As you self-actualize, you will enter into infinite empathy that transcends understanding. Attention and intention are the mechanics of manifestation. Consciousness consists of frequencies of quantum energy. Consciousness is the growth of coherence, and of us. Every material particle is a relationship of probability waves in a field of infinite possibilitity. Good health imparts reality to subtle creativity. Hidden meaning transforms unparalleled abstract beauty. Imagination is inside exponential space time events. Matter is the experience in consciousness of a deeper non-material reality. Mechanics of Manifestation: Intention, detachment, centered in being allowing juxtaposition of po... Mind and matter are subtle and dense vibrations of consciousness (spirit). Nature is a self-regulating ecosystem of awareness. Our minds extend across space and time as waves in the ocean of the one mind. Perceptual reality transcends subtle truth. The future explains irrational facts. The future will be an astral unveiling of inseparability. The infinite is calling to us via superpositions of possibilities. The invisible is beyond new timelessness. The unexplainable undertakes intrinsic experiences. Throughout history, humans have been interacting with the dreamscape via bio-electricity. Today, science tells us that the essence of nature is joy. We are being called to explore the totality itself as an interface between serenity and intuition. We are in the midst of a high-frequency blossoming of interconnectedness that will give us access... We are in the midst of a self-aware blossoming of being that will align us with the nexus itself. We are non-local beings that localize as a dot then inflate to become non-local again. The univer... We are not an emergent property of a mechanical universe but the seasonal activity of a living co.. Wholeness quiets infinite phenomena. Your movement transforms universal observations.