Dr. Fox Sauce

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

If you talk about something expressively, portraying the appearance of a deep understanding of the material and an interest in being understood, then the listeners may think that you are saying something very important, serious and correct, even if you are talking complete nonsense.

This psychological effect was called the Dr. Fox Effect, since it was first popularized in an experiment at the University of California Medical School, when a well-known actor under the pseudonym Myron Fox came to the podium and read a certain quasi-scientific text containing unfounded neologisms, contradictory statements and, in general, did not have any something of a certain meaning. During the experiment, it turned out that the audience as a whole positively assessed the report. This story is old, the performance itself or its excerpts can be found on the net. Here is one of the sites.

Again, the effect is well-known, well-studied, well understood by everyone … But why do most people still fail to notice how they fall under its influence? Don't believe me? Let's think about the non-obvious manifestations of this effect.

The most common is belief in a quasi-scientific text. This belief can be judged by the success of all sorts of scams like fuel economizers. Suffice it to say the phrase "the magnetic field orders the carbon compounds of high-octane fuel, giving rise to chain reactions of releasing the energy of internuclear fusion", and the client already believes that this is something really very smart and simply must work. Although the said phrase makes as much sense as the formula 0 = 0.

The second moment is when the manager personally convinces the customer that the device he is sniffing is really worth his money. "Well, you look at this phone, here is ZHE-4, MDX technology for two-wire systems at once and a newfangled feature of all such phones now: iStylus." If you say any such nonsense fairly confidently, the client will nod his head. Of course, now it is difficult to imagine that someone can be deceived when buying a phone with this particular phrase, but in a car service, you rip off an extra couple of thousand, saying that "you have got used to the brake fluid drain fitting, you had to change the vacuum booster", you can very easy. The fitting can really get used to it, but not everyone (especially not everyone) is aware that the vacuum brake booster is in general, as it were, in a different place.

The third moment is when a politician speaks beautifully from the TV screen without a piece of paper. I have often heard (and this was especially common in the early 90s, although it is gaining momentum again) when people determined their choice precisely by the quality of the politician's speech. They sometimes say that "here, well done, smart, he says without a piece of paper, I will vote for him." Sometimes they say it differently, but the meaning remains the same - they believe a person because how he speaks and not what he is.

In general, this is not surprising. The vast majority of people don't understand politics, but they all have a say. Since they don't understand politics, how do they know who to vote for? That's right, just trying to determine who speaks more fluently and whether the voter likes it. Direct link to the Dr. Fox effect.

In general, you can learn a lot from the TV screen. All these programs with popular science nonsense (a la Malysheva, "Malakhov +", "Incredible, but true," etc.) are completely built on two effects: a drop of truth and common sense is taken, anything is added to it (it doesn't matter if it's true or false, it goes against common sense or not) and is served with Dr. Fox sauce. It's like mayonnaise - for many people, wherever you add it, it will be delicious.

Once I watched how a hairdresser, from the standpoint of some kind of science, sniffs a grandmother about how her grandson's hair grows and why this is how it is here, and here that way. Grandma strenuously pretended that she was familiar with the basics of genetics and physiology. As a result, the child was given some kind of more expensive haircut than would have been possible in his case.

Likewise, they tried to convince me in the bank to become a member of the mutual fund and for a long, long time, using manipulation and emotional impact techniques, they tried to convince me how it is right and great to receive unearned income. Did not work out. I know these techniques, and the basics of economics too.

And you watch people when they explain something, having some interest in you just agreeing with them. Before agreeing with them, try to understand the topic as fully as possible yourself, or find a specialist who will stand by and give signs when the manager sells you noodles with Dr. Fox sauce.

An example of humor on this topic can be watched with pleasure on this VK video (in Russian): How to sound smart in your TEDx Talk.

By the way, did I write expressively? Did you believe me? Maybe there is not enough photo of a mi-mi kitten? Can't wait.