Are racists dumb? Do conservatives tend to be less intelligent than liberals? A provocative new study from Brock University in Ontario suggests the answer to both questions may be a qualified yes.
The study, published in Psychological Science, showed that people who score low on I.Q. tests in childhood are more likely to develop prejudiced beliefs and socially conservative politics in adulthood.
I.Q., or intelligence quotient, is a score determined by standardized tests, but whether the tests truly reveal intelligence remains a topic of hot debate among psychologists.
Dr. Gordon Hodson, a professor of psychology at the university and the study's lead author, said the finding represented evidence of a vicious cycle: People of low intelligence gravitate toward socially conservative ideologies, which stress resistance to change and, in turn, prejudice, he told LiveScience.
Why might less intelligent people be drawn to conservative ideologies? Because such ideologies feature "structure and order" that make it easier to comprehend a complicated world, Dodson said. "Unfortunately, many of these features can also contribute to prejudice," he added.
Dr. Brian Nosek, a University of Virginia psychologist, echoed those sentiments.
"Reality is complicated and messy," he told The Huffington Post in an email. "Ideologies get rid of the messiness and impose a simpler solution. So, it may not be surprising that people with less cognitive capacity will be attracted to simplifying ideologies.".....
and somehow this isn't surprising......
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I think it makes perfect sense, religious people want an easy, definite answer, they don't want "I don't knows" and the world is full of things we don't know but are working to find out, it's easy to say the earth is the center of the universe, diseases/famines/floods are the result of bad behavior, man "poofed" into existence, but it's complex to understand the details of why it really happens. less intelligent people want simple answers they can understand.
I think this shows in how conservatives seem to be swayed by attack ads more then democrats.
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Interesting, but far from a blind study. I did notice in the university that liberal arts professors had socialistic viewpoints though seemingly intelligent. It is true that one side or the other has to have the greatest number but it's possible that academia is more prone to peer pressure.
The liberals in my circle of friends seem to stop listening when I point out the perils of Obama's debt. They don't seem to want to be bothered with the details of seeking a solution.
Then again an Obama sticker on a Jeep or pick-up is rare indeed.
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When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty. Thomas Jefferson
The liberals in my circle of friends seem to stop listening when I point out the perils of Obama's debt. They don't seem to want to be bothered with the details of seeking a solution.
*Bush's debt combined with the republicans blocking everything unless the rich got their bush tax cuts extended
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Then again an Obama sticker on a Jeep or pick-up is rare indeed.
and what do you conclude from this? that liberals work more with their minds then their hands and thus don't need pickup trucks?
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The liberals in my circle of friends seem to stop listening when I point out the perils of Obama's debt. They don't seem to want to be bothered with the details of seeking a solution.
Being one of the liberals to whom you have repeatedly raised your "Obama's debt" issue, I know that you either don't understand or comprehend the criticism brought against your position, or you refuse to or are incapable of defending your position against even minor criticism. I know that I don't particularly want to be bothered with the details to the "solution" to a "problem" that either doesn't exist, you don't understand yourself, or you have been unable to articulate.
Some of the counter arguments you've never defended against include the nature of the problem itself - you've repeatedly argued that debt is nothing but a waste of money, and have completely ignored that the borrowed money was used to purchase things that have benefited us since they were originally purchased. You've misrepresented the nature of debt by ignoring inflation, and the inability for the government to earn significant amounts of interest. You ignore the nature of American debt in the global economy. In short, your position on debt has been challenged on a wide variety of points, you have not rebutted those challenges, and you seek to provide solutions to problems that you haven't demonstrated exist.
I know you raised your position on debt to try to rebut the OP, but I think it supports it very well.
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We work together every damn day. --Jon Stewart
IMHO, I find that those with "hard" science degrees tend to be more conservative and those with liberal arts degrees tend to be more, well, liberal. Why? Because a liberal arts degree teaches how to think. A science degree teaches what to think.
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"Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal. Never forget that everything the Founding Fathers did was not." Martin Luther King, Jr.
IMHO, I find that those with "hard" science degrees tend to be more conservative and those with liberal arts degrees tend to be more, well, liberal. Why? Because a liberal arts degree teaches how to think. A science degree teaches what to think.
That's not what I experienced at the university.
I wonder if the study included union members?
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When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty. Thomas Jefferson
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