Social Psychology Network

Maintained by Scott Plous, Wesleyan University

John V. Petrocelli

John V. Petrocelli

  • Media Contact
  • SPN Mentor

Much of my research falls within the domains of experimental social cognition and judgment and decision making. My primary research interests include bullshitting behavior, bullshit detection and disposal, attitude strength and persuasion, and counterfactual thinking. Much of my work employs a metacognitive approach in these areas, exploring the roles of people’s perceptions and thoughts about their own thoughts and attitudes in social and consumer contexts.

Primary Interests:

  • Applied Social Psychology
  • Attitudes and Beliefs
  • Causal Attribution
  • Communication, Language
  • Judgment and Decision Making
  • Persuasion, Social Influence
  • Social Cognition

Journal Articles:

  • Petrocelli, J. V. (2020). Bullshit and its detection: The conditions under which common, everyday bullshit is most likely to emerge. Skeptic, 25(2), 50-55.
  • Petrocelli, J. V. (2018). Antecedents of bullshitting. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 76, 249-258.
  • Petrocelli, J. V., Rubin, A. L., & Stevens, R. L. (2016). The sin of prediction: When mentally simulated alternatives compete with reality. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 42, 1635-1652.
  • Petrocelli, J. V., Watson, H. F., & Hirt, E. R. (2020). Self-regulatory aspects of bullshitting and bullshit detection. Social Psychology, 51, 239-253.
  • Petrocelli, J. V., Williams, S. A., & Clarkson, J. J. (2015). The bigger they come, the harder they fall: The paradoxical effect of regulatory depletion on attitude change. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 58, 82-94.
  • Seta, C. E., Seta, J. J., Petrocelli, J. V., & McCormick, M. (2015). Even better than the real thing: Alternative outcome bias affects decision judgments and decision regret. Thinking and Reasoning, 21, 446-472.

Courses Taught:

  • Contemporary Issues in Psychology
  • Research in Judgment and Decision Making
  • Research in Social Psychology
  • Research Methods in Psychology I
  • Social Psychology

John V. Petrocelli
Department of Psychology
P.O. Box 7778
Wake Forest University
Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27109
United States of America

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