No, this is not bullsh*t!
We all have that one mate who manages to outshine everyone in 'bullsh*t' department. Well, they might have outsmarted us all.
A published in the scientific journal Evolutionary Psychologystudy has found that those who bullsh*t may actually have a higher level of intelligence.
In two separate studies, with more than 1,000 people in total looked at the connection between cognitive ability, how willing participants were to bullsh*t, and how well they should bullsh*t.
According to Unilad, researchers defined bullsh*tting as: ‘Communication characterised by an intent to be convincing or impressive without concern for truth’.
Participants where given 10 concepts, four of which were fake.
They were then asked to rate knowledge of each concept on a scale from ‘never heard of it’, to ‘know it well, understand the concept’.
Responses given to the fake concepts were used as a way to show a person's willingness to ‘be creative and make up an explanation’.
Participants with higher scores are thought to be more frequent bullsh*tters.
The study published concluded:
"Examining the hypothesized positive association between bullsh*t ability and intelligence, we find that bullsh*t ability was positively associated with verbal intelligence."
"Furthermore, the perceived intelligence of Bullsh*t Producers was positively correlated with assessments of their bullsh*t ability.
"This association is consistent with the hypothesis that producing satisfying and seemingly accurate explanations of completely fictional concepts is perceived by individuals as a signal of intelligence,"
