Updated / Monday, 1 Apr 2019 08:05 A student plays with pink balloons during April Fool day celebrations in Istanbul. Photo: Mustafa Ozer/AFP/Getty Images Opinion: today is a good time to reflect on the psychology of gullibility and our willingness to believe absurd stories Homo sapiens is probably an intrinsically gullible species. We owe our evolutionary success to culture, our unique ability to receive, trust and act on stories we get from others, and so accumulate a shared view about the world. In a way, trusting others is second nature. But not everything we hear from others is useful or even true. There are countless ways people have been misled, fooled and hoaxed, sometimes for fun, but more often, for profit or for political gain.