HRPYC81
RESEARCH PROJECT 4:
REPORT GUIDE 2024
Assessment 16
, Property of Perfectionist Notes
Illegal distribution/selling/use will be prosecuted
Contents
1. Instructions ..................................................................................................................................... 2
2. The broad topic ............................................................................................................................... 4
3. The Rubric ....................................................................................................................................... 6
4. STRUCTURE OF THE REPORT ........................................................................................................... 7
5. APA 7TH EDITION REFERENCING GUIDE......................................................................................... 56
6. Past Project that got 95%.............................................................................................................. 63
, Property of Perfectionist Notes
Illegal distribution/selling/use will be prosecuted
1. Instructions
Research Area: Social Psychology
Project Title: Bullshitting is terrible, but lying is worse. Or isn’t it?
Limited to 200 students
Project Description
• To be minimally functional, members of a society must respect the importance of honesty
and clarity in reporting facts (Frankfurt, 2021, p. 16), as the latter allows for making well-
informed judgments and decisions.
• However, it appears that the respect for truth and facts is disappearing as the social
phenomena of bullshit and lying have become commonplace within the very fabric of
societies.
• Facts become “alternative facts”, misinformation and subjective opinions replace evidence,
or the existence of “objective” truth is questioned at all (Petrocelli, 2021a).
• Both bullshitting and lying have in common that they are related to concerns about the
truth.
• However, they differ in their underlying motivations because the liar conceives the truth
(and spreads falsehood), whereas the bullshitter is indifferent to the truth.
• Consequently, a critical distinction between a liar and a bullshitter is that a liar's motivation
is to deceive with falsehood, while the bullshitter's motivation is to promote impressions (or
avoid negative ones) by using elusion and exaggeration.
• Both conceiving the truth and being indifferent to the truth can be dangerous as it may lead
“to false beliefs and destructive decisions” which may harm health and life
• Bullshit, which was first theoretically conceptualised by the American philosopher Harry G
Frankfurt (1986/2005) in his seminal work On Bullshit, is broadly understood as
communication with little to no regard for the truth and no concern for how things really
are.
• Bullshitters, irrespective of whether they act intentionally or unintentionally, have no
regard for the truth, evidentiary support, empirical knowledge or established semantics,
and logic.
• Lying and bullshitting are common in many domains of social life, like organisations,
universities and sciences, financial institutions, self-help industry, politics, and the fields of
sports and coaching.
• Although both bullshitting and lying constitute in most societies and communities acts of
norm violations, it seems that people are more forgiving towards the bullshitter than the
liar. These findings are considered surprising because bullshitting is considered a more
insidious threat to people than lying.
, Property of Perfectionist Notes
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INSIDIOUS: Something that is insidious is unpleasant or dangerous and develops gradually without
being noticed.
THREAT: a statement of an intention to inflict pain, injury, damage, or other hostile actions
• This contradiction is also known as the insidious bullshit hypothesis (i.e., bullshitting is
evaluated less negatively than lying, but bullshit can be more harmful than lies).
• The present research project will test the insidious bullshit hypothesis within the South
African context
• and explore whether factors like the status and trustworthiness of the source (of
bullshitting and lying) influence whether people are indeed more forgiving towards the
bullshitter than the liar.
Students in this research project will learn about:
• the psychological concepts of bullshitting and lying
• and related factors that might determine the when and why of the insidious bullshit
hypothesis.
VIDEOS TO WATCH ON THE “insidious bullshit hypothesis”:
1) Persuasive Bullshitters and the Insidious Bullshit Hypothesis with John Petrocelli:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zuVxSqpaR0
THIS IS A GREAT VIDEO – GOES INTO THE WHEN AND WHY OF BULSHITTING
2) Persuasive Bullshitters and the Insidious Bullshit Hypothesis with John Petrocelli:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0ZOUucWiKo
This research will be done using an experimental research design, which will be
conducted online and hosted on the research platform Qualtrics.
ASSIGNMENT INFORMATION FOR THE PORTFOLIO
FOURTH ASSIGNMENT
• ASSESSMENT NUMBER 16
• Write the research report (i.e., portfolio) in which you describe the study, provide the
results, and discuss the findings and their implications.
• The research report should not exceed twenty (20) pages (excluding the front page, table of
contents, references, and appendix).
