PUBLICATIONS

‘Pseudo‐profound bullshit’ (PPBS) is a class of meaningless statements designed to appear profound. Profundity ratings for PPBS have been found to be negatively related to analytical thinking and positively related to epistemically suspect beliefs (e.g. belief in the paranormal). Conceptually similar traits within the Openness/Intellect (O/I) domain form a simplex, whereby traits are arranged along a single dimension from intelligence to apophenia (i.e. observing patterns or

Openness/Intellect, a trait domain reflecting a tendency towards cognitive exploration, is positively associated with the tendency to experience mixed emotions (i.e., simultaneous positive and negative feelings). This study examined whether this trait is also positively associated with mixed appraisals (i.e., concurrent positive and negative stimulus evaluations). Participants (N = 225) appraised 18 visual artworks. Higher Openness/Intellect predicted stronger mixed appraisal