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There are two broad views in the epistemology of testimony, conservatism and liberalism. The two views disagree over a particular necessary condition on testimonial justification: the positive reasons requirement (PRR). Perhaps the most prominent objection levelled at liberalism from the conservative camp stems from gullibility; without PRR, the thought goes, an objectionable form of gullibility looms large for liberals. In this paper I aim to make two main contributions: to introduce a new metric for adjudicating this debate; and to argue that, from the perspective of this new metric, the liberal view is stronger than has been appreciated. Drawing on work from James (The Will to believe and other essays in Popular Philosophy, Harvard University Press, 1896), Goldman (Epistemology and Cognition, Harvard University Press, 1986), and Kelp et al. (Synthese 197:5187–5202, 2020), I firstly countenance the distinction between positive and negative epistemic measures. Positive measures concern, roughly, the acquisition of truths, whereas negative measures concern the avoidance of falsehoods. Both, it is argued, are relevant to epistemic justification, but this debate has proceeded in such a way as to overemphasise the importance of the latter over the former. Once this distinction is made, new conceptual terrain opens for the liberal. Rather than being resigned to a predominantly defensive role—of mitigating worries about negative measures—the liberal can go on the offensive, and explore the independent epistemic strengths of their position. The upshot is that liberals have a new way to dispel their most prominent objection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study investigates the association between Fear of Missing Out (FoMO) and Problematic Internet Use (PIU) in a sample of 358 cisgender emerging adults (74.58% females assigned at birth; Mage = 25.02, SD = 2.60; age range: 18–29 years), with a specific focus on the roles of various stances of Epistemic Trust, including Trust, Mistrust, and Credulity. The aim is to explore the complexities of these relationships and their implications for the psychological well-being of this population. We computed a mediation model to examine the relationships among PIU as the dependent variable, FoMO as the predictor, and Epistemic Trust, Mistrust, and Credulity as the mediating factors. Covariates such as age, gender, and sexual orientation were also considered in the analysis. The results revealed significant indirect effects for both Mistrust and Credulity. Specifically, higher levels of FoMO were associated with increased Mistrust and Credulity, leading to greater PIU. In contrast, the indirect effect of Trust was not significant. Also, FoMO had a direct effect on PIU. The results highlight the importance of considering Mistrust and Credulity as potential risk factors for Internet addiction in emerging adults. These findings have practical implications for clinical practice, psychological assessment, and intervention strategies, emphasizing the need to address FoMO and its associated vulnerabilities within different therapeutic settings. By doing so, mental health professionals can better support the psychological well-being of emerging adults and assist them in navigating the challenges inherent to this crucial developmental stage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Araucaria is the property of Araucaria-Revista Iberoamericana de Filosofia, Politica y Humanidades and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Previous research shows that the propensity to endorse conspiracy theories is associated with disrupted forms of epistemic trust, i.e., the appropriate openness towards interpersonally communicated information. There are associations, first, with an increased mistrust in several actors and institutions responsible for the communication of information in society, and second, with a pronounced credulity in unreliable sources and implausible phenomena (e.g., superstition, astrology). This study aims to investigate whether these phenomena are associated with specific personality-related disruptions of epistemic trust. Based on selfreported data of 417 individuals (mean = 33.28; standard deviation = 11.11) from a UK population sampled online, the potential relationships between disruptions in epistemic trust and the endorsement of a conspiracy mentality are explored. The epistemic stances characterized by mistrust and credulity (independent variables) are measured with the epistemic trust, mistrust, and credulity questionnaire (ETMCQ), and conspiracy mentality (dependent variable) is measured with the conspiracy mentality questionnaire. In a multiple linear regression model, mistrust is associated with the endorsement of a conspiracy mentality, even when accounting for other contributing factors (e.g., individual narcissism, attachment avoidance and anxiety, authoritarianism, loneliness). In a bootstrapped mediation model controlling for other relevant predictors, the association between credulity and conspiracy mentality is fully mediated by mistrust. In future research, the impact of disrupted epistemic trust on conspiracy beliefs should be investigated in terms of the specific epistemic stances of mistrust and credulity. In this respect, the ETMCQ represents a highly promising instrument to assess individual differences in factors underpinning aspects of conspiracy endorsement.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has advanced rapidly in the past decade. The arrival of ChatGPT last year has pushed the debate about AI into the public sphere. ChatGPT, and similar tools, do things we once thought were outside the ability of computers. This raises questions for how we educate people about the capability and the limitations of such tools. This article provides an overview of artificial intelligence and explores what ChatGPT is capable of doing. It also raises questions about morality, responsibility, sentience, intelligence, and how humans' propensity to anthropomorphise makes us gullible and thus ready to believe that this technology is delivering something that it cannot. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: to reveal the essence and significance of the historical experience of interdisciplinary study of crime and its use in modern conditions of scientific support of crime prevention.Methods: dialectical method and system-synergetic approach, the method of retrospection in the study and evaluation of historical facts of the complex development of scientific directions in the legal doctrine of crime and punishment; dogmatic and empirical methods determining the specifics of scientific approaches to the general subject of research, their critical analysis; comparative historical assessment of the integration of criminal-legal sciences at various stages of accumulation and development of their scientific potential; prognostic assessment of the preventive capabilities of the criminal-legal sciences within the frameworks of 5.1.4 scientific major.Results: in modern criminal jurisprudence, there are ambiguous research approaches to the perception and evaluation of some scientific provisions. On the one hand, in retrospection, the phenomena are observed which are unproductive in relation to science or generally useless for it (due to uncriticism or formalism). On the other hand, retrospection, being methodologically justified, serves the scientific perspective, in particular, the development of associative links of criminal-legal sciences, and the activation of the historically determined general scientific function of criminology. These processes, if scientifically optimized, have the prospect of bringing the energies of criminal-legal sciences and relevant practices to a resultant effect, i.e. to a well-coordinated system of combating crime. This is what the aspirations of the founders of the new legal science of crime are aimed at.Scientific novelty: the possibilities are substantiated of developing a number of aspects of interdisciplinary (within the framework of the 5.1.4 scientific major) research of crime regularities, of developing and implementing special measures of counteraction in the parameters of criminological and political support. A retrospective analysis of some criminological provisions in their historical connections initiates a deeper understanding of the painful issues that are covered by the category of “crime” (in the individual and cumulative meanings of this term). Initially, there were three main directions of theoretical and applied legal doctrine about crime in the scientific world of criminal justice: dogmatic-legal, criminological-legal and political-legal. Analytical reflections in the parameters of retrospection lead to the comprehension of a very complex nature of the evolution of scientific thought.Practical significance: the theoretical provisions may equip practice; namely, they form a higher and more sustainable level of criminological, or rather, criminological-political thinking, without which effective criminal-legal (legislative, law enforcement) practice is impossible.

Objective: Starting from May 2022, a growing number of monkeypox cases have been identified in several countries in Europe and the United States. To date, information on social reaction to the news circulating about monkeypox is limited. Assessing psychological and social elements related to the tendency to misinterpret monkeypox information is urgent and useful in setting up tailored education and prevention programs for specific populations. The present study aims to explore the association of selected psychological and social variables to monkeypox attitudes as fake news. Methods: Three hundred and thirty-three participants (212 women, 110 men, and 11 other genders) from the general Italian population completed nine self-report measures. Results: Results showed that people that were more likely to believe that monkeypox was a hoax were: older, heterosexual, politically conservative, and more religious. Moreoverm they were more likely to show more negative attitudes toward gay men, higher levels of sexual moralism, less knowledge and fear about monkeypox, no previous infections of COVID-19, lower number of COVID-19 vaccine doses, and being closer to no-vax theories. On the psychological side, participants that were more likely to believe that the monkeypox was a hoax were associated with lower levels of epistemic trust and order traits, with higher levels of epistemic mistrust, close-mindedness, and ability to process emotions. A full mediation model which explores the relationships between the main variables related to fake news attitudes toward monkeypox was tested, reporting good fit indices. Conclusion: Results from the current study could be helpful to improve the effectiveness of health communication, design targeted education, and support people to engage in healthier behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present research examines the relationship between populist attitudes—that construe society as a struggle between the "corrupt elites" versus the "noble people"—and beliefs in unsubstantiated epistemic claims. We specifically sought to assess the often assumed link between conspiracy beliefs and populist attitudes; moreover, we examined if populist attitudes predict conspiracy beliefs in particular, or rather, credulity of unsubstantiated epistemic claims in general. Study 1 revealed that populist attitudes are robustly associated with conspiracy mentality in a large multination study, drawing samples from 13 European Union (EU) countries. Studies 2 and 3 revealed that besides conspiracy beliefs, populist attitudes also predict increased credulity of obscure and politically neutral news items (regardless of whether they were broadcasted by mainstream or alternative news sources), receptivity to bullshit statements, and supernatural beliefs. Furthermore, Study 3 revealed that these findings were mediated by increased faith in intuition. These studies support the notion of populist gullibility: An increased tendency of people who score high on populist attitudes to accept obscure or unsubstantiated epistemic claims as true, including nonpolitical ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I model a decision maker who forms beliefs and opinions using a dialectic heuristic that depends on their degree of skepticism or credulity. In an application to political spin, two competing parties choose how to frame commonly observed evidence. If the receiver is sufficiently credulous, equilibrium spin is maximally extreme and generates short, superficial news cycles. When receivers vary in their skepticism, there is partisan sorting by skepticism parameter: the more credulous group systematically favors one party and displays hostility to evidence and a media they see as biased. In behavioral applications in which the frames arise from the decision maker's internal deliberation, a decision maker with the same credulous nature would display known behavioral anomalies in forming beliefs and forming decision weights from stated probabilities. The dialectic model therefore captures a simple psychological mechanism and matches closely some stylized facts across these three disparate applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Memorias is the property of Fundacion Universidad del Norte and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The Fourth Amendment protects people against "unreasonable searches" by police. To operationalize this protection, courts must have a workable definition of a search. Since 1967, the Supreme Court has used the two-step Katz test as a primary measure of when a search has occurred. Under Katz, a court will find that something has been subject to search when (1) the individual in question has a subjective expectation of privacy in that thing and (2) such an expectation of privacy would be reasonable. From early on, commentators have decried the Katz test as circular and have urged courts to adopt something else. This essay explains what the circularity worry really amounts to: the worry is about courts using improperly reduced expectations of privacy as a reason to withhold Fourth Amendment protection. This worry is much broader than most commentators have seen, and this broader framing allows one to deflect recent concerns that Katz circularity (more narrowly construed) is a myth. With the 'circularity' worry properly understood, the essay offers a way to deal with it: courts could simply drop Step One of Katz. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Truth-default theory posits that absent a trigger, people passively accept communication content as truthful and honest. Most often, the idea that some communication might be deceptive does not come to mind. The current research exposed participants to one of six video clips that varied in credibility and credulity. The clips included educational lectures, political speeches, an investigative news report, and an over-the-top satirical investigative news report. Participants completed a thought-listing task about the video they watched. Automated word searches for deception-relevant terms were used to assess the frequency of expressions of skepticism and attributions of deception. Consistent with strong truth-default predictions, except for the satirical video, little evidence of incredulity was observed. The results suggest that the truth-default holds for a variety of online video content, but also that it has its limits. Extreme implausibility most often, but not always, overcomes the truth-default. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article offers a reading of Ortiz's first book, Los negros brujos (1906). By following the theme of "duplicity" that structures the loose notes that compose the volume, an argument emerges in which reality and copy, credulity and hypocrisy, "true brujo" and brujo criollo, state and fetish, temple and museum, etc., play against each other. This argument resonates not only with how similar pairs emerged in the study of African culture but also with how anthropologists invent their object of study. By giving relevance to the verse by Cuban poet De Heredia that opens Ortiz's book, the article highlights Ortiz's intention to disenchant, which paradoxically leads him into a misrepresentation of Afro-Cuban ritual. Despite denouncing the lack of cultural intimacy, this article may help assess the extent to which Ortiz's later theory of "transculturation" was signalled in Los negros brujos 's views on "communicating vessels" and "allotropy." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Belief in astrology remains strong even today, and one of the explanations why some people endorse paranormal explanations is the individual differences in analytical thinking. Therefore, the main aim of this paper was to determine the effects of priming an analytical or intuitive thinking style on the credulity of participants. In two experiments (N = 965), analytic thinking was induced and the source of fake profile (astrological reading vs. psychological testing) was manipulated and participants’ prior paranormal beliefs, anomalous explanation, cognitive reflection, and depression were measured. Although analytic thinking was proved to be hard to induce experimentally, the results showed that analytic thinking predicts credulity and belief in the paranormal was linked with experiencing more anomalous experiences and more paranormal explanations. The more people were able to think analytically, the less credulous they were as reflected in the lower acceptance of fake profile as accurate.

Copyright of Alustath is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Belief in astrology remains strong even today, and one of the explanations why some people endorse paranormal explanations is the individual differences in analytical thinking. Therefore, the main aim of this paper was to determine the effects of priming an analytical or intuitive thinking style on the credulity of participants. In two experiments (N = 965), analytic thinking was induced and the source of fake profile (astrological reading vs. psychological testing) was manipulated and participants' prior paranormal beliefs, anomalous explanation, cognitive reflection, and depression were measured. Although analytic thinking was proved to be hard to induce experimentally, the results showed that analytic thinking predicts credulity and belief in the paranormal was linked with experiencing more anomalous experiences and more paranormal explanations. The more people were able to think analytically, the less credulous they were as reflected in the lower acceptance of fake profile as accurate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the example of Jean-Claude Romand, a Frenchman who impersonated a medical researcher employed at the World Health Organization (WHO) for over eighteen years, this paper reveals the unconscious logic behind the psychic functioning of individuals for whom lying has become a way of life. Contrary to what has been written so far, it is argued that such "mythomaniacs" do not believe their own lies and that it is only the recipients of their lies who adhere to them because they are couched in a discourse that resonates with their expectations. This ability to discern what others want and use this knowledge to gain favour warrants examination. The incredible, almost superhuman, capacity for empathy which defines the psychic functioning of these subjects appears to go hand in hand with a high degree of mental insecurity. Totally dependent on their connections with others, their relational "abilities" reflect severe yet imperceptible narcissistic fragilities. Conceived as a defense mechanism, the lie serves to preserve them from the fantasied threat of a bond from which they expect everything, yet have everything to fear. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Espacios is the property of Talleres de Impresos Oma and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The new wave of Pakistan's film industry, since 2011, started with a focus on highlighting the socio-culturally embedded women-centric roles and issues. The stories were rooted in the extraordinary endeavours of women who stood-up for themselves, their relations and their community. In the Pakistani context, there is a dearth of academic literature available in the area of women empowerment, and the topic is not yet explored in the current Lollywood films that deal with the issues of Pakistani women. The focus of the present study was to analyse, through quantitative content analysis, the representation of empowerment and/or subjugation in women-oriented films in Pakistan with specific focus on their narratives and characterization. The findings of the study revealed that despite the predominant empowerment orientation, women in the selected films were mainly characterized in traditional domestic and follower roles. However, there is high percentage of assertiveness and absence of gullibility when these women start taking charge of their situation. It is the transitional nature of the characters that changed the narrative from subjugation to empowerment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We find that analysts' forecast errors are predicted by past accounting accruals (adjustments to cash flows to obtain reported earnings) among both equity issuers and nonissuers. Analysts are more optimistic for the subsequent four years for issuers reporting higher issue-year accruals. The predictive power is greater for discretionary accruals than nondiscretionary accruals and is independent of the presence of an underwriting affiliation. Predicted forecast errors from accruals significantly explain the long-term underperformance of new issuers. The predictability of forecast errors among nonissuers suggests that analysts' credulity about accruals management more generally contributes to market inefficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista de Estudos Literários is the property of Imprensa da Universidade de Coimbra and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Consumer use of social media has witnessed significant growth in recent years. Due to its unregulated, user-generated, and poorly censored format, social media use has blurred the line between the fake and the true and can result in mass dissemination of inaccurate and false information, thereby impacting national politics, election outcomes, and social interactions between consumer social clusters. In the unique context of financial decisions, consumer reliance on social media can significantly increase the risk of making poor financial decisions. This study examined the impact of cognitive style, consumer gullibility, and demographics on consumers' reliance on social media for financial decision making. The results of a US national survey identify consumer characteristics which contribute to increased reliance on social media in financial decision making. The findings point to consumer vulnerabilities associated with psychographic and demographic attributes of consumers. The paper concludes with recommendation-related consumer education and public protection measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study aimed to clarify whether it is credulity or general trust that specifically affects vulnerability to fraud, as well as investigating the mediating role of susceptibility to persuasion and the moderating role of greed in this relationship. 254 Chinese older adults completed measures of credulity, general trust, susceptibility to persuasion, greed, and vulnerability to fraud. The results showed that credulity, but not general trust, was positively correlated with vulnerability to fraud, after controlling for demographic covariates. Susceptibility to persuasion partially mediated the effect of credulity on vulnerability to fraud. In addition, this mediating effect of susceptibility to persuasion was only significant in older adults with higher levels of greed. Our findings suggest that credulity, rather than general trust, is a risk factor in vulnerability to fraud among older adults, and may inform the development of supportive interventions to reduce this population's risk of falling victim to fraud. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Codex Aquilarensis is the property of Fundacion Santa Maria la Real del Patrimonio Historico and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Some use the need to explain communication, agreement, and disagreement to argue for two-dimensional conceptions of belief content. One prominent defender of an account of this sort is David Chalmers. Chalmers claims that beliefs have two kinds of content. The second dimension of belief content, which is tied to what beliefs pick out in the actual world, is supposed to help explain communication, agreement, and dis agreement. I argue that it does not. Since the need to explain these phenomena is the main stated motivation for the addition of the second dimension of belief content, my arguments also undermine the motivation for Chalmers’ two-dimensional account of belief content and theories like it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]