General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAre Liberals Smarter? Study Indicates The Answer Is YES

Two interesting new studies have come out during this election season, which might have liberals and conservatives at odds more than ever. Last year, a study done at Brock University suggested that a lower I.Q. goes hand in hand with both racism and conservative beliefs.

Turns out, the authors were right on all counts. In the U.K., people with lower I.Q.s in childhood were accurately predicted to be racists in adulthood and were also generally politically conservative. A second set of data from the U.S. found that people with lower cognitive abilities possessed more homophobic sentiments. Interestingly, the results were controlled for education and socioeconomic status, making the results applicable to a wider spectrum of people. The authors wound up suggesting a heightened focus on cognitive ability in research on prejudice and a better integration of cognitive ability into prejudice models.
The lead author, Dr. Gordon Hodson, believes that the results are cyclical: people with lower I.Q.s tend to be more prejudiced, which leads them more readily toward conservatism, which is resistant to change, which eventually, leads to more prejudice. Another recent study gives us an idea of why these results might be so: ProCon.org assembled a list of 13 different peer-reviewed studies which conclude that liberals and conservatives might not just have different talking points, they actually have different brains.







Each of the studies examined different elements of dissimilarity between liberals and conservatives and had interesting results. Democrats, it seems, have a greater tolerance for uncertainty have because of their larger anterior cingulate cortexes, and Republicans are more sensitive to fear, because of their larger right amygdalas.


cont'
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2012/11/19/are-liberals-smarter-study-indicates-the-answer-is-yes/
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RKP5637
(67,112 posts)Segami
(14,923 posts)

Zorra
(27,670 posts)BERKELEY Politically conservative agendas may range from supporting the Vietnam War to upholding traditional moral and religious values to opposing welfare. But are there consistent underlying motivations?
Four researchers who culled through 50 years of research literature about the psychology of conservatism report that at the core of political conservatism is the resistance to change and a tolerance for inequality, and that some of the common psychological factors linked to political conservatism include:
Fear and aggression
Dogmatism and intolerance of ambiguity
Uncertainty avoidance
Need for cognitive closure
Terror management
"From our perspective, these psychological factors are capable of contributing to the adoption of conservative ideological contents, either independently or in combination," the researchers wrote in an article, "Political Conservatism as Motivated Social Cognition," recently published in the American Psychological Association's Psychological Bulletin.
catbyte
(36,297 posts)Jim__
(14,578 posts)Ikonoklast
(23,973 posts)No lizard stands a chance with three or four kitties in the house.
gkhouston
(21,642 posts)Republicans? Big asses.
hollysmom
(5,946 posts)I know several people who have started and run successful businesses, but they are just not interested in things like science or finding out the truth or facts. It is like all their energy goes into their businesses and/or families.
My one republican sibling insists his boys are in 2 sports per season and it seems they are all running all over the place to get them to their practices and games, there is not a book or newspaper in the house - they don't like clutter and have white rugs, no pets too much trouble - And they get very upset when I talk about politics because they really have no facts to argue back with. They listen to Rush Limbaugh and other talk shows when they are driving around.
I don't think they are stupid, they both did well in school. I just think they don't make understanding politics a priority, And science, they would ot read an article on science, that wold take time away from being exhausted all the time.
eta - edited fo fix typos and spelling - gah
progressoid
(50,940 posts)Looking back, a lot of people I knew that are now conservative, were often quite intelligent (at least by testing standards) but not intellectually curious or creative. Thinking outside of the box wasn't really done.
eridani
(51,907 posts)octoberlib
(14,971 posts)This also ties in with a lack of intellectual curiosity .
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021706544
hollysmom
(5,946 posts)I feel like I am very family oriented in personality, but because of my exposure at college and work and my curiosity about people, most of my friends are from out of the country or from different areas of the country. As I get older and my family is dying out or moving to other parts of the country, I am getting more and more "friends" dependent.
no_hypocrisy
(50,038 posts)theoldman
(3,674 posts)Most Chinese and Jews vote Democrat and they are the most educated people in the US. I will admit that a lot of uneducated people vote Democrat but they are outnumbered by the uneducated Republicans.
randome
(34,845 posts)Democracyinkind
(4,015 posts)Buns_of_Fire
(18,068 posts)Segami
(14,923 posts)

Egalitarian Thug
(12,448 posts)

ailsagirl
(24,002 posts)
rock
(13,218 posts)
malaise
(280,632 posts)
rivegauche
(601 posts)What a waste of money on these so-called studies. I coulda told them all this stuff for free, and I bet you could have too.
malaise
(280,632 posts)
jtuck004
(15,882 posts)Xyzse
(8,217 posts)Because a lot of people in management positions fall in the conservative category.
That says a lot of things.
librechik
(30,801 posts)
CoboWowbo
(32 posts)arthritisR_US
(7,729 posts)

HiPointDem
(20,729 posts)liberals are actually kind of reactionary in a lot of ways.
one of the more stupid things about them is their obsession with their own smartness and other people's stupidity. they're convinced their pov is correct and they have nothing to learn from their supposed inferiors.
which is why they easily slip into things like harmful campaigns of pseudo-scientific moral uplift, which manifest differently in different historical epochs but are identifiable in all.
they don't recognize their own prejudices, is all. the claim their prejudice as truth, which is why they can be dangerous, just like conservatives, to whom they inevitably relate as reversed mirror image, as all factions are defined against their other.
imo. of course.
ailsagirl
(24,002 posts)Though, admittedly, I don't know a lot about him, I don't recall hearing anything that wasn't positive. It's the post-Eisenhower repukes who have come under fire.