Study: People Who Like Motivational Quotes Not As Smart, Believe More Bull****
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Are you one of those people who often find yourself saying, "That's total BS!"?
A new study, "On The Reception and Detection of Pseudo-Profound Bullshit," finds that people who believe/post/share inspirational quotes ("Change your thoughts and you change your world.", "Always do your best. What you plant now, you will harvest later.", etc.) were found to have lower verbal and fluid intelligence and were more likely to believe stuff that's, well, BS.
Researchers at the University of Waterloo in Ontario decided to test 300 people's BS meters by presenting them with, "BS statements consisting of buzzwords randomly organized into statements."
So basically, things that sound amazingly deep, but really have no meaning behind them at all.
The participants' personality traits were also analyzed (religious beliefs, decision-making abilities, etc.), then they were asked to rate each pseudo-inspirational statement on how profound they thought it was.
"BS, in contrast to mere nonsense, is something that implies but does not contain adequate meaning or truth," the study notes.
Its authors noted that people who have good BS detectors have a stronger tendency to not accept most things as true.
The findings also suggest people who are drawn to "pseudo-profound BS" may just expect it to really, really mean something.
That or they could just be confusing vagueness with deepness.
"BS is a consequential aspect of the human condition. Indeed, with the rise of communication technology, people are likely encountering more BS in their everyday lives than ever before," study authors concluded.
Blame it on social media saturation, folks.
The study was published in the November issue of the Journal Judgment and Decision Making.