Scale of sensitivity to bullshit: Development and evidence of validity in adult population

Abstract

Abstract Research on misinformation has acquired great relevance in the era of social media given the massive social, sanitary and political impacts it has. In this context, fake information without any specific purpose (bullshit) is being spread with ease on social media. It is relevant to identify people's characteristics that could moderate the credibility that they give to misinformation. Sensitivity and receptivity to bullshit has evidence to be a relevant factor. However, despite the interest in this construct, the available instruments are scarce and generated from experimental expositions or ad hoc scales without enough psychometric support, which limits the development of related research. Hence, the purpose of this study was to develop a brief scale to be incorporated in large studies that contains evidence of reliability and validity to measure sensitivity to bullshit in the adult population. We conducted a psychometric study in general population, with a preliminary exploratory phase (n = 118) and a confirmatory phase (n = 603) using ESEM. The final instrument is constituted by 14 items and two dimensions (Sense and Nonsense). We present reliability evidence through McDonald’s omega along with internal validity evidence through ESEM. Furthermore, it has evidence of invariance between men and women and evidence of validity related to other variables (conspirations, paranormal beliefs, naive skepticism). Finally, we discussed the reaches and limitations of this instrument, as well as its possible application in social and health psychology.