Being able to bulls*** is a sign of intelligence, study finds

We all know that one person who can bulls*** themselves out of any situation. Well, it might come as a surprise, but studies find that people who are able to bulls*** could have a higher level of intelligence.

The studies defined BS as, ‘communication characterised by an intent to be convincing or impressive without concern for truth’.

It is argued that people with the ability to produce believable BS without care for truth or meaning, to impress others, possess “a high level of intelligence allows humans to meet the intense demands placed on them by complex social systems.” This essentially means that they are quick-thinking and can adapt to any social setting. They’re socially savvy and perform especially well on the spot.

A section of the study presented over 500 participants with a variety of concepts - some were real, some were fake. They were tasked with their knowledge and familiarity of each of the scenarios, which ranged from ‘never heard of it’ to ‘know it well’. The participants were then asked to give explanations for their ratings.

Of course, the serial bullsh***ers claimed to ‘know the fake scenarios well’. The study evaluated the explanations to understand how far someone would go to ‘be creative and make up an explanation.’

The second study followed a similar suit, however, different participants were asked “how intelligent is the person who provided this explanation”, based off a 5-point scale, ranging from “Not at all Intelligent” to “Very Intelligent.”

Those with higher scores were in fact the bullshi***er’s answers.

The studies concluded that there was a positive correlation between one's ability to generate convincing bullshit and level of intelligence. Surprisingly, they also discovered that despite the participants’ high-quality BS, it had no association with them wanting to bullsh***.

The study concluded: “We find that bulls*** ability is associated with an individual’s intelligence and individuals capable of producing more satisfying bulls*** are judged by second-hand observers to be more intelligent.

“We interpret these results as adding evidence for intelligence being geared towards the navigation of social systems.