Have you ever shared an inspiring quote on your Facebook or lovingly placed a ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ poster on your wall?

Well, you might just be less intelligent than your friends according to new research.

The study titled ‘The reception and detection of pseudo-profound bull****’ found that those who find themselves uplifted by motivational quotes score lower in IQ tests overall.

Inspirational quote lovers are also more likely to believe in the paranormal and are more taken in by conspiracy theories.

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More than 845 participants were involved in the study, in which they were asked to rate how profound they believed a series of inspirational quotations were.

Many of the quotes shown to the participants were genuine, however researchers also input made-up quotes using positive and affirmative vocabulary which they then asked participants to rate how profound they believed them to be.

Following this, each participant underwent cognitive testing to rate their intelligence.

Lead researcher Gordan Pennycook, a cognitive psychologist at the University of Waterloo in Ontario Canada said: “Those more receptive to bull***t are less reflective, lower in cognitive ability - numeracy, verbal and fluid intelligence, 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.”

The research was published in the journal Judgement and Decision making.

A photo posted by Khloé (@khloekardashian) on Dec 5, 2015 at 2:53pm PST

Online Editors