A new scientific study has found that people who enjoy posting “inspirational” statements – eg. that shit that clogs up your Facebook feed every now and then – tend to have lower levels of intelligence.

The research, which took place at the University of Waterloo in Canada, examined how receptivity to “pseudo-profound bullshit” related to a person’s intellectual level. Using four different experiments, it tested 845 participants – forcing each of them to evaluate whether a series of statements were profound or relatable.

Some of the given statements were, quite literally, a load of bullshit, while others were genuine life advice – written by New Age gurus like Deepak Chopra. The ones that were made up, however, were just bundled up buzzwords or nonsensical statements.

Researchers then tested intelligence by performing cognitive tests on participants; while also asking questions about conspiracies, religion and the paranormal. According to the results, the people who were more “receptive” to the “bullshit” inspirational quotes, were less reflective and “lower in cognitive ability”. They were also much more likely to be religious and believe in conspiracy theories.

“Although bullshit is common in everyday life and has attracted attention from philosophers, its reception – critical or ingenuous – has not, to our knowledge, been subject to empirical investigation,” explained lead researcher Gordon Pennycook. “Our results support the idea that some people are more receptive to this type of bullshit and that detecting it is not merely a matter of indiscriminate skepticism but rather a discernment of deceptive vagueness in otherwise impressive sounding claims.”

He added: “Those more receptive to bullshit are less reflective, lower in cognitive ability, 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.”

Deepak Chopra, who had many of his quotes singled out for the study, was fortunately not put out by the news. “No resistance, no anticipation, no regrets – just this moment as it is is also my motto,” he retaliated on Twitter. “Shit of any kind is profound. It is stardust and recycles as life.” Sure thing, Deep.