Science discovers why that meeting felt so mind-numbing

For anyone who has ever sat through a meeting about “leveraging synergistic innovation pathways” and wondered whether it meant anything at all, there may now be an answer. A new study by Cornell University cognitive psychologist Shane Littrell introduces the “Corporate Bullshit Receptivity Scale,” a tool designed to measure how readily people are impressed by workplace language that sounds important but says little. Across four studies involving more than 1,000 workers, those scoring higher on the scale tended to show lower levels of analytical thinking and made poorer decisions. “Bullshit should not be confused with jargon, which refers to socially-learned words, expressions or acronyms used purposefully,” Littrell writes. “Corporate bullshit can only thrive in organizational environments where at least some people are receptive to it.”