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. The findings are published in Psychological Science and the study is entitled “Bright Minds and Dark Attitudes: Lower Cognitive Ability Predicts Greater Prejudice Through Right-Wing Ideology and Low Intergroup Contact.”Essentially, the study examines the impact of cognitive ability on social attitudes like prejudice and conservatism. The authors predicted that a lower cognitive ability, as measured by the subject’s intelligence quotient or I.Q., would lead to greater social prejudice in adulthood. The authors also hypothesized beforehand that the social prejudice would lead the subjects to endorse “right-wing ideologies”, namely “social conservatism” and “right-wing authoritarianism.”
like the article suggest this years election cycle tends to indicate the article's integrity, you can't do and say the things we've heard on the right and be smarter than a fifth grader.
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.
sounds like they are saying those in that category have an imbedded fear since childhood of "others" that i think would fall on the parents and what they were taught as far as dealing with their peer groups not of their race.
