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39-403: The words gullible and credulous are commonly used as synonyms . Goepp & Kay (1984) state that while both words mean "unduly trusting or confiding", gullibility stresses being duped or made a fool of, suggesting a lack of intelligence , whereas credulity stresses uncritically forming beliefs, suggesting a lack of skepticism . Jewell (2006) states the difference is a matter of degree:

78-508: A difference between intelligence being measured by IQ tests and social intelligence. Some autistic children are extremely intelligent because they have well developed skills of observing and memorizing information, however they have low social intelligence. For a long time, the field was dominated by behaviorism , that is, the theory that one could understand animals, including humans, just by observing their behavior and finding correlations . But subsequent theories argue that one must consider

117-420: A fool of, suggesting a lack of intelligence , whereas credulity stresses uncritically forming beliefs, suggesting a lack of skepticism . Jewell (2006) states the difference is a matter of degree: the gullible are "the easiest to deceive", while the credulous are "a little too quick to believe something, but they usually aren't stupid enough to act on it." Yamagishi, Kikuchi & Kosugi (1999) characterize

156-446: A gullible person as one who is both credulous and naïve . Greenspan (2009) stresses the distinction that gullibility involves an action in addition to a belief, and there is a cause-effect relationship between the two states: "gullible outcomes typically come about through the exploitation of a victim's credulity." The verb to gull and the noun cullibility (with a C ) date back to Shakespeare and Swift , whereas gullibility

195-664: A lack of consensus on the operational definition of social intelligence. In psychology, Social Intelligence is a critical subset of human intelligence centered around two core components: social awareness and social facility . Social cognition refers to the capacity to understand and empathize with others’ emotions and perspectives, while social facility pertains to the ability to behave effectively in social situations. The social intelligence hypothesis states that social intelligence (that is, complex socialization such as politics, romance, family relationships, quarrels, collaboration, reciprocity, and altruism) This hypothesis claims that

234-437: A methodology, belief, or practice that is claimed to be scientific, or that is made to appear to be scientific, but which does not adhere to an appropriate scientific methodology , lacks supporting evidence or plausibility, or otherwise lacks scientific status. Professor Paul DeHart Hurd argued that a large part of gaining scientific literacy is "being able to distinguish science from pseudo-science such as astrology, quackery,

273-470: A restaurant was harbouring child sex slaves, few took proportionate actions. As such, humans are not gullible per se, as we do not tend to trust everyone; indeed, a separate study found that more trusting participants were the best at discerning who to trust. As a result, he claims that humans "make more errors of omission (not trusting when we should) than of commission (trusting when we shouldn’t)". Research into how fake news influenced voting preferences in

312-501: A social license to betray the trust they have built up over the rest of the year. Some writers on gullibility have focused on the relationship between the negative trait of gullibility and positive trait of trust . They are related, as gullibility requires an act of trust. Greenspan (2009) writes that exploiters of the gullible "are people who understand the reluctance of others to appear untrusting and are willing to take advantage of that reluctance." In 1980, Julian Rotter wrote that

351-574: A standing joke in British humor for a century or more. In literature, Lewis Carroll provides a discussion of credulity: Alice laughed. 'There's no use trying,' she said, 'one can't believe impossible things.' 'I daresay you haven't had much practice,' said the Queen. 'When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast. [...]' Gullibility Gullibility

390-616: Is a failure of social intelligence in which a person is easily tricked or manipulated into an ill-advised course of action. It is closely related to credulity , which is the tendency to believe unlikely propositions that are unsupported by evidence. Classes of people especially vulnerable to exploitation due to gullibility include children , the elderly , and the developmentally disabled . The words gullible and credulous are commonly used as synonyms . Goepp & Kay (1984) state that while both words mean "unduly trusting or confiding", gullibility stresses being duped or made

429-495: Is a relatively recent addition to the lexicon. It was considered a neologism as recently as the early 19th century. The first attestation of gullibility known to the Oxford English Dictionary appears in 1793, and gullible in 1825. The OED gives gullible as a back-formation from gullibility , which is itself an alteration of cullibility . Early editions of Samuel Johnson 's A Dictionary of

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468-456: Is a statistical abstraction, similar to the ‘standard score’ approach used in IQ tests , with a mean of 100. Scores of 140 or above are considered to be very high. Unlike the standard IQ test, it is not a fixed model. It leans more toward Jean Piaget 's theory that intelligence is not a fixed attribute, but a complex hierarchy of information-processing skills underlying an adaptive equilibrium between

507-621: Is an aggregated measure of self- and social-awareness, evolved social beliefs and attitudes, and a capacity and appetite to manage complex social change. Neuropsychologist Nicholas Humphrey believes that social intelligence defines who we are as humans. An updated definition coined by Nancy Cantor and John F. Kihlstrom in 1987 is “the individual's fund of knowledge about the social world." In 2006 Eleni Andreou described social intelligence as being similar to "social skills and competence". Social intelligence and interpersonal intelligence were previously believed to be closely related, however,

546-626: Is an important interpersonal skill that helps individuals succeed in all aspects of their lives. The original definition of social intelligence (by Edward Thorndike in 1920) is "the ability to understand and manage men and women and boys and girls, to act wisely in human relations". It is thus equivalent to interpersonal intelligence , one of the types of intelligence identified in Howard Gardner 's theory of multiple intelligences , and closely related to theory of mind . Social scientist Ross Honeywill postulates that social intelligence

585-402: Is defined: " n. Credulity. ( A low word )". Both gullibility and gullible appear in the 1900 New English Dictionary . Greenspan (2009) presents dozens of examples of gullibility in literature and history: Deception is a classic theme in war and politics—see The Art of War and The Prince —and Greenspan finds the example most concerned with the gullibility of the deceived to be

624-646: Is one of the only ability measures available for assessing social intelligence. It was created in June 1928 by Dr. Thelma Hunt, a psychologist from George Washington University. It was originally proposed as a measurement of a person's capacity to deal with people and social relationships. The test assesses social abilities like observing human behavior, social situation judgement, name & face memory, and theory of mind from facial expressions. The George Washington University Social Intelligence Test revised second edition consists of these items: Nicholas Humphrey points to

663-516: Is that scientific theories are often counterintuitive, so we discard them in favour of explanations we find logical. This theory struggles to account for the prevalence of conspiracy theories; Mercier explains these as "reflective beliefs" that are insulated from our "intuitive beliefs", meaning that while we hold them we do not base our actions on them; an example of this is in the Pizzagate conspiracy where, despite many people falsely believing that

702-586: Is this?, Who is talking to me?"), the rules they use to draw inferences ("What did he mean by that?") and plan actions ("What am I going to do about it?"). More recently, popular science writer Daniel Goleman has drawn on social neuroscience research to propose that social intelligence is made up of social awareness (including empathy , attunement, empathic accuracy , and social cognition ) and social facility (including synchrony, self-presentation , influence , and concern). Goleman's research indicates that our social relationships effect our physical health, and

741-430: The 2018 Italian General Election supports this, suggesting that we tend to consume fake news that supports our ideologies and, thus, it does little to influence election outcomes. Social intelligence Social intelligence is the ability to understand one's own and others' actions. Social intelligence is learned and develops from experience with people and learning from success and failures in social settings. It

780-471: The Sokal Hoax and in the acceptance of early claims of cold fusion by the media. In society, tulipmania and other investment bubbles involve gullibility driven by greed, while the spread of rumors involves a gullible eagerness to believe (and retell) the worst of other people. April Fools' Day is a tradition in which people trick each other for amusement; it works in part because the deceiver has

819-693: The Trojan Horse . In the Aeneid ' s version of the story, the Trojans are initially wary, but vanity and wishful thinking eventually lead them to accept the gift, resulting in their slaughter. Greenspan argues that a related process of self-deception and groupthink factored into the planning of the Vietnam War and the Second Iraq War . In science and academia, gullibility has been exposed in

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858-613: The English Language , including those published in 1797 and 1804, do not contain "gullibility" or "gullible". An 1818 edition by Henry John Todd denounces "gullibility" as "a low expression, sometimes used for cullibility ". Gullibility does not appear in Noah Webster 's 1817 A dictionary of the English language , but it does appear in the 1830 edition of his American dictionary of the English language , where it

897-458: The brain reached its modern size. While this growth is still not fully explained, Mithen believes that it is related to the evolution of language. Language may be the most complex cognitive task we undertake. Language is related to social intelligence because it is used to mediate social relationships . Social intelligence was a critical factor in brain growth. Social and cognitive complexity co-evolve. The social intelligence quotient (SQ)

936-458: The deeper the relationship the deeper the impact. Effects include blood flow , breathing , mood such as fatigue and depression, and weakening of the immune system. Researcher Raymond H. Hartjen believes that intelligence is amplified by increased social interactions. This suggests that children require continuous opportunities for interpersonal experiences in order to develop a keen 'inter-personal psychology'. Traditional classrooms do not permit

975-408: The demands of living together drives our need for intelligence, and that social intelligence is an evolutionary adaptation for dealing with highly complex social situations, as well as for gaining and maintaining power in social groups. Archaeologist Steve Mithen believes that there are two key evolutionary periods of human brain growth that contextualize the social intelligence hypothesis. The first

1014-433: The gullible are "the easiest to deceive", while the credulous are "a little too quick to believe something, but they usually aren't stupid enough to act on it." Yamagishi, Kikuchi & Kosugi (1999) characterize a gullible person as one who is both credulous and naïve . Greenspan (2009) stresses the distinction that gullibility involves an action in addition to a belief, and there is a cause-effect relationship between

1053-652: The gullible. Cold reading , a magic trick that gives the appearance of a psychic experience, relies on the credulous belief of an audience that something psychic is occurring. Hence the audience fits the utterances of the cold reader to be consistent with psychic abilities, while ignoring any contrary evidence . A confidence trick or confidence game is an attempt to defraud a person or group by gaining their confidence. Confidence artists exploit human characteristics such as greed and dishonesty, and have victimized individuals from all walks of life. Politics and practical jokes are also related to credulity. Pseudoscience ,

1092-757: The individual and the environment. Therefore, an individual can change their SQ by altering their attitudes and behavior in response to their social environment. SQ had been measured by techniques such as question and answer sessions. These sessions assessed the person's pragmatic abilities to test eligibility in certain special education courses ; however, some tests have been developed to measure social intelligence. This test can be used to diagnose autism spectrum disorders . This test can also be used to check for some non-autistic or semi-autistic conditions such as social communication disorder or SCD, schizophrenia , dyssemia , and ADHD . Some self-report social intelligence measures exist. Although easy to administer,

1131-456: The inner structure behavior . Social intelligence is closely related to cognition and emotional intelligence . Research psychologists studying social cognition and social neuroscience have discovered many principles in which human social intelligence operates. Psychologists Nancy Cantor and John Kihlstrom outlined the kinds of concepts people use to make sense of their social relations (e.g., "What situation am I in?, What kind of person

1170-409: The interaction of complex social behavior . Instead, students in traditional settings are treated as learners who must be infused with more and more complex forms of information. The structure of schools today allows very few of these skills , critical for survival in the world, to develop. Because we so limit the development of the skills of "natural psychologist" in traditional schools, graduates enter

1209-406: The irrational belief that future events can be influenced or foretold by specific unrelated prior events. Treacle mining is the fictitious mining of treacle , similar to molasses in a raw form similar to coal. The subject purports to be a serious topic, but is in fact an attempt to test the credulity of the reader. The thick black nature of treacle makes the deception plausible. The topic has been

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1248-412: The job market handicapped to the point of being incapable of surviving on their own. In contrast, students who have had an opportunity to develop their skills in multi-age classrooms with democratic settings rise above their less socially skilled peers. They have a good sense of self, know what they want in life and have the skills to begin their quest. J. P. Guilford was the first researcher to approach

1287-461: The occult, and superstition". A snipe hunt , a form of wild-goose chase that is also known as a fool's errand, is a type of practical joke that involves experienced people making fun of credulous newcomers by giving them an impossible or imaginary task. The origin of the term is a practical joke where inexperienced campers are told about a bird or animal called the snipe as well as a usually preposterous method of catching it, such as running around

1326-620: The resulting social intelligence measures might better be interpreted in terms of social self-efficacy (that is, one's confidence in one's ability to deal with social information). Since people with low SQ scores may not have skills necessary to communicate with customers and/or co-workers, they are most successful with minimal customer interaction, smaller groups, or independent work. People with SQs over 120 are considered socially skilled, and may work exceptionally well in jobs that involve direct contact and communication with other people. The George Washington University Social Intelligence Test

1365-542: The subjects diverged into two distinct fields of study. Other authors restricted the definition to concern only knowledge of social situations, perhaps more properly called social cognition (or social marketing intelligence , as it pertains to trending socio-psychological advertising and marketing strategies and tactics). According to Sean Foleno, social intelligence is a person's competence to optimally understand one's environment and react appropriately for socially successful conduct. These multiple definitions demonstrate

1404-451: The two are not equivalent: rather, gullibility is a foolish application of trust despite warning signs that another is untrustworthy. The relationship between gullibility and trust has led to alternate theories. Neuroscientist Hugo Mercier claims the opposite, that humans are intrinsically skeptical and difficult to persuade; we readily accept unsupported or false statements when they support our beliefs. One reason why we form these beliefs

1443-407: The two states: "gullible outcomes typically come about through the exploitation of a victim's credulity. Many societies mark April Fools' Day or All Fools' Day on April 1 each year. The day features the commission of hoaxes and other practical jokes of varying sophistication on friends, family members, enemies, and neighbors, or sending them on a fool's errand , the aim of which is to embarrass

1482-414: The woods carrying a bag or making strange noises. Superstition is a credulous belief or notion, not based on reason or knowledge. The word "superstition" is often used pejoratively to refer to folk beliefs deemed irrational. This leads to some superstitions being called " old wives' tales ." It is also commonly applied to beliefs and practices surrounding luck, prophecy and spiritual beings, particularly

1521-415: Was about two million years ago, when the brain more than doubled in size. Mithen believes that this growth was because people were living in larger, more complex groups, and had to keep track of more people and relationships. These changes required a greater mental capacity and, in turn, a larger brain size. The second key growth period in human brain size occurred between 600,000 and 200,000 years ago, when

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