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Do Stained Clothes Mean You Have A High Level Of Intelligence? Study Reveals

You are biting into a juicy burger, and the next thing you know, there are sauces everywhere - and you now have to wipe it off. On most occasions, this just ends up with you making more of a mess - leaving you feeling stupid.

But as a (seemingly) breath of fresh air comes a study finding stating that 'food stains on clothes may be a sign of someone's high level of intelligence.' Yes, you read that right. So let's take a look at how accurate this is.

Do Stained Clothes Mean You Have A High Level Of Intelligence? Study

Are Stained Clothes An Indication Of Higher Intelligence?

As ambiguous as it sounds, the study carried out by Steve Johnson tailors a connection between intelligence and stains [1]. This is what the study says:

Science indicates that even if you feel clumsy sometimes, it may only be a symptom of intelligence. This explains why you may have stains on your clothing.

You tend to use your brain differently when you are highly intelligent. For example, raising a glass to your mouth requires using your brain in calculation mode. As you drink, you are constantly calculating the weight of the glass, how to hold it, how quickly to move it to your mouth, and what to do to prevent spills. When you have exceptional intelligence, you may concentrate on other things rather than how the glass will contact your lips, which is why you tend to spill more frequently.

So, how much of this is factual?

According to a fact-checker site, there is absolutely no scientific proof for the statement that intelligent people are more likely to have stains on their clothes [2].

Instead of providing factual proof, the study author lists examples of people being clumsy and getting stains on their clothes as well as some pretty strong claims such as "Even if many people think your klutzy habit is a weakness, it has been proven by now that people who get a lot of stains are intelligent."

In addition to offering various vague explanations (a klutz gene, feedforward, a quote from author Steve Johnson...), there are no references to any studies or papers that link those things to intelligence.

According to the study, "the more disorganised your brain is, the more intelligent you are." However, Johnson's focus is on how creativity results from a disorganised brain constantly clashing and mixing ideas.

Do Stained Clothes Mean You Have A High Level Of Intelligence? Study

In reference to the results of a neuroscience experiment by Robert Thatcher [3], Steven Johnson claims that the more disorganised your brain is, the smarter you are. However, there is no indication that this has anything to do with being clumsy or intelligent.

According to NewsGuard, a company that ranks the reliability of websites, reports that the initial site which posted the study fails to meet basic standards of accuracy and accountability [4].

On A Final Note...

Regardless of your level of intelligence -messy or not-the article is not based on facts but ambiguous statements that tbh, sound nice but should not be misconstrued as actual scientific information.

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