So you think you know Bulls**t?
There's a certain whiff of something coming off our newsfeeds
A study carried out by researchers at the University of Waterloo looked at the IQ of people who are impressed by inspirational quotes which mean nothing but reek of faux-wisdom.
The study found that those who were unable to tell the difference between profound quotes written in plain English and quotes of no meaning written in impressive language tended to have a lower cognitive ability.
Participants were presented with a series of quotes and statements and asked to rate them, such as...
“A river cuts through a rock, not because of its power, but its persistence”
versus
“Attention and intention are the mechanics of Manifestation”
Some of the quotes classified as bullshit by the researchers were directly taken from Deepak Chopra's Twitter.
Chopra is a prominent figure in the new-age movement and has 2.89m followers on the social media site.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BI2BT5XA8Ut/?taken-by=deepakchopra
Some people in the study failed to notice the difference between the meaningless quotes and the genuinely profound ones.
Mr Gordon Pennycook, a PhD student who led the research, writes: "those who are more receptive to bulls**t are less reflective, lower in cognitive ability – numeracy, verbal and fluid intelligence and 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.”
Whether this will stop you posting these quotes or not is a personal decision; however you might just be tempted to generate your own new age bulls**t wisdom here.
