Rich men are the most likely to get through life by pretending they know more than they actually do, study finds
- Men are more likely than women to fake expertise they don’t have – and rich men are the worst culprits, according to a new study
- Researchers call this the art of ‘BS’ – when someone is more likely to ‘display overconfidence in their academic prowess and problem-solving skills’
- Researchers also found that North Americans were more likely to BS than people in other parts of the world – and Canadians are worse than Americans
Men are more likely than women to fake expertise they don’t have – and rich men are the worst culprits when it comes to speaking with authority on topics they have no idea about, according to a new study.
Researchers call this the art of ‘BS.’
Experts at the University College of London partnered with the Australian Catholic University to measure how pervasive the BS trait is among different demographic groups, according to The Washington Post.
Men are more likely than women to fake expertise they don’t have, and rich men are the worst culprits when it comes to speaking with authority on topics they have no idea about (file photo)
They asked study participants to give an assessment of how well they knew 16 different math topics on a scale of 1-5 – with answers ranging from, ‘never heard of it’ to ‘know it well, understand the concept.’
The tricky thing is, three of those topics were completely made up: ‘proper numbers,’ ‘subjunctive scaling’ and ‘declarative fractions.’
Anyone who said they were familiar or well-versed in the faux specialties was labelled a ‘BSer.’
A BSer is more likely to ‘display overconfidence in their academic prowess and problem-solving skills,’ the study said.
In other words: be wary of braggarts – they’re least likely to live up to the reputation they’ve built for themselves.
Using data from nine predominately English-speaking countries, researchers found that North Americans were more likely to BS than people in other parts of the world – and Canadians are worse than Americans.
By comparison, in Europe the BS trait was much more specific to men and the rich.
The study used data from the Program for International Student Assessment, which is taken by tens of thousands of 15-year-olds around the globe. The dataset included students’ demographic information and preferences for different subjects they were studying – including the fake math knowledge questions.
Boys were more likely than girls to pretend they knew what the fabricated math subjects – a finding that was consistent across all nine countries (file photo)
Boys were more likely than girls to pretend they knew what the fabricated math subjects – a finding that was consistent across all nine countries.
For men, this ‘could help them earn higher wages and explain some of the gender wage gap,’ study co-author Nikki Shure told The Post. ‘This has important implications for thinking about tasks in job interviews and how to evaluate performance.’
However, the gap between men and women was smallest in the United States, suggesting that gender equality is a little more balanced here when it comes to BS.
Researchers also found a major difference between socioeconomic classes, with the people living in richest households more likely to overstate their expertise – and the poorest least likely to indulge in BS.
However, again, the gap was smallest in the U.S.
The study also suggests that BS could sometimes manifest as a useful life skill, for example during job interviews and college applications.
