Do you have a friend, workmate or relative who is constantly sharing those annoying 'profound' and 'deep' quotes on their social media profiles?
You know the type we mean, 'Paint the sky, make it yours.' or worse still 'Life is the art of drawing without an eraser'.
Well now you can be smug in the knowledge that they are not that smart, according to a recent study carried out in Canada.
The
study which was amazingly titled
'On the Reception and Detection of Pseudoprofound Bullshit.' claims to show that the types of people who buy into inspirational quotes are actually less intelligent than those who don't.
UGH STOP. (Huffington Post)
The study defined 'bullshit' as a string of words that is correct in terms of construction that doesn't actually....mean anything. Something that implies but doesn't actually contain any meaning.
'Those more receptive to bullshit are less reflective, lower in cognitive ability (i.e., verbal and fluid intelligence, numeracy), are more prone to ontological confusions and conspiratorial ideation, are more likely to hold religious and paranormal beliefs, and are more likely to endorse complementary and alternative medicine.'
Examples were generated randomly online and then a group of university graduates were asked to rate how profound 10 statements were, while also taking numeracy and verbal intelligence tests. Those who found the quotes to be profound also showed poorer results in the other tests.
So there you have it.
Here's a few that we found:
Lindsay....are you ok.
What does this even MEAN BRITNEY.
Repeat Offender Khloe Kardashian is very fond of a vague platitude:
