Male students that are from wealthy and known families are more prone to "claim knowledge or expertise in an area where they have little experience at all" than people from another family status, according to recent research. The study, which was studied by the IZA Institution of Labor Economics in Bonn, Germany, includes about 40,000 participants, all were 15 years old.
To gather the needed information for the study, the participants underwent a survey, which was attached to the Programme for International Student Assessment or PISA. Focused on 16 Mathematical concepts, the male students were asked whether they understood these concepts or not. But not all of these concepts are true. As a matter of fact, only 13 of these concepts are based on facts.
After their research, Nikki Shure, one of the authors of the study and an assistant professor of economics in the Department of Social Science at University College London, explained the results of their study to the public. She says that by examining the survey of the participants, male students that are more economically advanced compared to others tend to be more prone to exaggerate the things they know, or as referred to by Urban Dictionary "to BS."
"You're claiming expertise in things you have absolutely no knowledge of," says the expert. "You couldn't. These things don't exist", she added.
The study also reveals several countries that male students are guiltier to BS. According to Yahoo, these countries include the US and Canada, where male students score 0.25 and 0.3, which is above the average of the study's "bullshit scale."
Furthermore, the study also asked more about the student's characteristics. The results showed that students who are more prone to BS also tend to praise themselves for being more persevering, popular, and good problem-solving abilities.
"You can imagine that the people that score high on this bullshit index are good at certain things that might be rewarded," says Shure. "It might be an interview to get into college. It could be an interview for a job or an internship", she added.
With these revelations, the study's author further explained how these results could be linked to major economic inequalities between the gents and the ladies. By also understanding the ability of people to BS, employers and those who are seeking for the best people for a position will also be able to create strategies that could help them determine those who are worthy of the chance or not.
