The Crispin-Buxley Phenomenon is one of those things which leaves people wondering if they’ve missed something, but there’s a simple answer.
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I remember as a kid at school when some of my classmates would be chatting about something, and I’d nod along like I knew what they were talking about.
But, in truth, I had no idea!
They obviously overheard something from a parent, uncle or older sibling and were whispering in the playground, leaving me feeling left behind.
So, I lied, said yes, and tried to change the subject quickly.
As you get older, you read more, see more and understand more, but there are always some things that leave you scratching your head.
And I’m happy to admit that when I was first asked about the Crispin-Buxley Phenomenon, I had absolutely no idea what it was!
Crispin-Buxley Phenomenon
I do a fair few paid surveys but hadn’t logged onto my Prolific profile for ages. I thought it was about time I checked in and made sure my profile was up to date.
(As a bonus, I had a fiver I’d forgotten to cash out before!)
I started going through the About Me section to make sure everything was up-to-date, started to complete some of the new questions.
And there it was…one of the questions was “Are you familiar with the Crispin-Buxley Phenomenon?”
There are three options: Yes, No or Don’t know / not applicable.
A lot of these questions I jump through really quickly, as I read fast, but this one stumped me.
I thought for a while.
Could it be something I know but have forgotten about? Did I learn about it at school?
Or, did I have absolutely no idea what on earth they were on about?
I had to admit the truth, so I answered No and carried on updating my profile.
Once that was done, this “phenomenon” was playing on my mind. Maybe I had heard of it before? So I started searching online.
There was an odd mention, which didn’t say much, and a few threads of Reddit, but nothing really answered the question – but it didn’t take much for me to work it out!
So what is the Crispin Buxley Phenomenon?!
Perhaps it is just a phenomenon of what people will do.
Will people lie, or will they tell the truth when faced with a question they’re unsure about?
The hope is that people will be truthful, but for whatever reason, sometimes they aren’t.
Maybe they don’t want to look silly, so they say a small fib – “yes” I know what the Crispin-Buxley Phenomenon is.
Or, it could be that they’ve taken a moment, had a bit of a think, and wondered if it’s something they might have heard of before. Could it be similar to a Myers-Briggs Test? Are Crispin and Buxley two people who did some kind of study?
The thing is, in reality, the reason you won’t find anything when you search is that there is no Crispin-Buxley Phenomenon.
So why ask the question?
The reason they ask the question is part of a screener. Very simply, it’s a trick question to prevent cheats.
If you’re used to taking surveys, you’ve likely come across control questions.
They use these to make sure people are still paying attention and giving accurate answers to surveys.
Some people can click any old answer to get through as fast as possible and earn money, but that gives bad and inaccurate survey results.
So, screener questions like “answer blue to this question” or “pick the third option” sometimes appear in surveys you complete.
If you answer the Crispin-Buxley question with a yes, Prolific will either think you’ve not been paying attention or that you fib on surveys.
Over time, they’ll likely offer you fewer surveys, and you’ll earn less money from them.
So, don’t bend the truth and say yes to everything – it’s ok to say no on surveys and you won’t always get screened out if you say no.
Surveys want a range of people with different experiences – they don’t want:
- bots who’ll try to scam the system
- people who cheat and answer anything
- those who bend the truth or say yes to everything, or
- people who speed through without reading
My real wonder, though, is how many people answered the Prolific question as “Yes”… did you?
Survey savvy says
Lol i saw this the other day and wondered what they were on about. And I answered no like you ahaha
helene says
Thanks for this post, I came across this question the other day and was utterly baffled!
Ricky Willis says
Hi Helen, I’m glad we could help!
Amy says
I clicked “yes” on this because I got it confused with an actual phenomenon with a different name. Thankfully you can go and delete your answer and if it pops up again give the ‘correct’ one.
Naomi Willis says
I spent too long trying to work out if I knew what it was too.
Good point about deleting your answer. It’s probably a good idea to check over all the previous answers from time to time if your circumstances have changed anyway.
Iain says
But I’ve just read this article so I’ve heard about it, so I should answer “yes” – because I’ve heard about it, even if it doesn’t exist to hear about.
Oh dear. This is getting a little bit Schrodinger, isn’t it?
Naomi Willis says
hahaha :)
Rebekah says
Hey, l made the same mistake and prolific has not given a survey since. did you get surveys when changed your answer?
Ricky Willis says
Might be a good idea to go back into the About Me section and remove your answer. It’s in the Other category. Leave it a few days and reanswer.
I’d be interested to understand why you clicked on yes, if you’d be happy to share?
Rebekah says
Yes l did go back to the About me section, deleted then answered no when it came back but still nothing.
Honestly l clicked yes as l thought its a phenomenon that l might know about but only to google and realize l do not know it.
Naomi Willis says
That sounds like my train of thought too. Hopefully you’ll get more soon.
Avuma says
Wow!! This totally blew my mind.
I answered “no” and quickly googled the phenomenon cause I thought it was something new I could educate myself about.
Dale says
Hah, very neat! Came here from Prolific’s mention as well. Here’s the problem, though: Now I know what it is!
Felicity says
I was going to answer no, but was curious what it was. It didn’t take long on the google result page to make me realize it’s just a precursor, or perhaps an alternative version, of Alden’s Number, which is of course a very well known theorem. You know all about that, right? Right? What kind of fool wouldn’t?
;)
Agustin says
Excellent article. Prolific is awesome. Like others I went online and searched for said phenomenon.
S says
I’m here also because of Prolific… is it cheating if I googled it before I answered the question??
Craig says
I came across this very question today, and, before answering decided to google it to see if I knew but had forgotten….. your article appeared and I realised that I didn’t know at the time of being asked the question, so answered No….. only a few hours later have I come back to actually ‘read’ your entire article. Thank you.
Freya says
I came across the question and figured I would Google it to see if I know it and don’t rember it or don’t know the name of it. Now I am not sure if I should answer yes or no, since I read your article and know of it now.
talesofgore says
I confused it with the Dunning-Krueger effect (the irony not being lost on me) and answered ‘Yes’.
Hopefully I can change it, I feel like such an idiot.