Low IQ & Conservative Beliefs Linked to Prejudice

[caraher]

14. Boy, this one is easy to misconstrue!

As I understood the research, the main finding was that less intelligent people are more likely to prejudiced, and that political conservatism seemed to be the most powerful factor in explaining which unintelligent people were prejudiced. In other words, if those with low intelligence who adopt conservative political beliefs are were significantly more likely to express racist or prejudiced views than those of low intelligence who do not adopt conservative beliefs.

Contrary to the DU front page graphic (featuring the "Get a brain, morans!" dude), the study did not find that conservatives were less intelligent, or even that being conservative, in itself, meant you were more likely to be prejudiced. (This may be so; it's just not one of their findings). It's worth noting that one limitation is that their measure of prejudice/racism was admitting agreement with various statements. It's quite likely that more intelligent racist conservatives are simply too smart to express that side of themselves so clumsily as to agree with the statements their stupider counterparts accept.