Apparently deep phrases, generally tautological or platitudes, tend to have many followers. They are phrases like Paulo Coelho. Randomly selected sets of nouns and verbs by popular gurus in grammatically correct sentences that toggle between the simple and the cryptic.
The propensity to agree with these phrases is called "bullshit receptivity," an expression that has become popular since Princeton University philosopher Harry Frankfurt published his book On Bullshit .
Favorable mood
Fankfurt characterizes bullshit ("hoax") as a form of falsehood other than lying. The liar, Frankfurt argues, knows and cares about the truth, but deliberately sets out to deceive rather than tell the truth. The bullshit generator, on the other hand, does not care about the truth, but only seeks to impress .
Gordon Pennycook and his colleagues have done a number of studies on people’s reactions to these seemingly profound statements. What they discovered is that credulity is not a mere function of permanent and immutable dispositions.
When we are in a good mood we are less likely to detect deception or filfa, we are also less receptive to nonsense. Let them tell Schopenhauer .
On the contrary, as Daniel Kahneman explains in his book Noise : "Eyewitnesses exposed to misleading information are better able to ignore it, and avoid false testimony, when they are in a bad mood." So if everything is going well for you in life, set the alarms. Maybe Paulo has sneaked into your lives.