'Right-wingers are less intelligent than left wingers', says study

Mr.Biscuits

Yes, believe it or not, here's an article regarding it today:

Right-wingers are less intelligent than left wingers, says study

Right-wingers tend to be less intelligent than left-wingers, and people with low childhood intelligence tend to grow up to have racist and anti-gay views, says a controversial new study.

Conservative politics work almost as a 'gateway' into prejudice against others, say the Canadian academics.

The paper analysed large UK studies which compared childhood intelligence with political views in adulthood across more than 15,000 people.

The authors claim that people with low intelligence gravitate towards right-wing views because they make them feel safe.

The survey, which compared childhood intelligence with political views, is bad news for David Cameron, the Conservative Party Prime Minister but should give a lift to Labour Party leader, Ed Miliband.

Crucially, people's educational level is not what determines whether they are racist or not - it's innate intelligence, according to the academics.

Social status also appears to play no part.

The study, published in Psychological Science, claims that right-wing ideology forms a 'pathway' for people with low reasoning ability to become prejudiced against groups such as other races and gay people.

'Cognitive abilities are critical in forming impressions of other people and in being open minded,' say the researchers.

'Individuals with lower cognitive abilities may gravitate towards more socially conservative right-wing ideologies that maintain the status quo.

'It provides a sense of order.'
The study used information from two UK studies from 1958 and 1970 , where several thousand children were assessed for intelligence at age 10 and 11, and then asked political questions aged 33.
The 1958 National Child Development involved 4,267 men and 4,537 women born in 1958.

'Individuals with lower abilities may gravitate towards right-wing ideologies that maintain the status quo.
It provides a sense of order,' say the academics.

The British Cohort Study involved 3,412 men and 3,658 women born in 1970.

It's the first time the data from these studies has been used in this way.

In adulthood, the children were asked whether they agreed with statements such as, 'I wouldn't mind working with people from other races,' and 'I wouldn't mind if a family of a different race moved next door.'
They were also asked whether they agreed with statements about typically right-wing and socially conservative politics such as, 'Give law breakers stiffer sentences,' and 'Schools should teach children to obey authority.'

The researchers also compared their results against a 1986 American study which included tests of cognitive ability and questions assessing prejudice against homosexuals.

The authors claim that there is a strong correlation between low intelligence both as a child and an adult, and right-wing politics.

The authors also claim that conservative politics is part of a complex relationship that leads people to become prejudices.

'Conservative ideology represents a critical pathway through which childhood intelligence predicts racism in adulthood,' says the paper.
'In psychological terms, the relation between intelligence and prejudice may stem from the propensity of individuals with lower cognitive ability to endorse more right wing conservative ideologies because such ideologies offer a psychological sense of stability and order.'

'Clearly, however, all socially conservative people are not prejudiced, and all prejudiced persons are not conservative.'

Wonder if the Daily Mail will have an article on the study?

Hang on, the above article was from the Daily Mail.

Perhaps they think that only BNP members are right wing - study's contention spot on so.

Dudess

Yeah obviously people with views that stem from the knee jerking but the brain not engaging are thick, but people with moderate, well-thought-out conservative views don't deserve to be lumped in with the dribblers.

Hasmunch

Left-wingers are poo-poo heads, says Right-wingers

amacachi

People who have low childhood IQ tend to end up conservative but then they save political conservatism leads to racism etc. Bit of a disconnect there.

I'd also be interested in exactly how they identified "left" and "right".

dlofnep

Didn't need a study to figure that out.

FinnLizzy

Spare some thought for the libertarians! Won't someone PLEASE think to the libertarians!

Captain_Generic

amacachi wrote: »

I'd also be interested in exactly how they identified "left" and "right".

I used to have socks which clarified this

Overheal

FinnLizzy wrote: »

Spare some thought for the libertarians! Won't someone PLEASE think to the libertarians!

Please show me using this image whether Libertarianism falls on the Left, or the Right wing.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/36/European-political-spectrum.png

Chuck Stone

Although it is not true that all conservatives are stupid people, it is true that most stupid people are conservative.

John Stuart Mill (1806-1873)

Mill was one the most influential English-speaking philosophers of the nineteenth century.

Incidentally... 'He supported reform of the Irish land tenure system in order to relieve the poverty of the peasants. During his period in Parliament, he denounced English methods in Ireland'

Source.

Doc Ruby

And in other news, the image of psychology as a science rather than a hobby for charlatans has taken a blow today as it emerges that left and right positions are just media talking points intended to keep people who would otherwise be following football teams happy, says Doc Ruby.

southsiderosie

Overheal wrote: »

Please show me using this image whether Libertarianism falls on the Left, or the Right wing.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/36/European-political-spectrum.png

If the study's main point is that people who lack the ability to engage in critical, rational thought are more likely to end up as conservatives, then wouldn't we exclude libertarians from this pool? Libertarianism is based on rational (individualistic) choice.

This isn't to say that libertarians are by default geniuses (or that it is an ideology that I support), but rather the basis for that political philosophy goes far beyond 'that's the way it was and always should be' as a basis for policy.

Capt'n Midnight

FinnLizzy wrote: »

Spare some thought for the libertarians! Won't someone PLEASE think to the libertarians!

Let's send them to Somalia.

It sounds like their kind of place.

Louthdrog

Anyone else see this and expect a Ryan Giggs vs David Beckham article??

amacachi

dlofnep wrote: »

Didn't need a study to figure that out.

If it was a leftist who did that data analysis it might be an idea to double-check the figures, lefties tend not to understand that one number being bigger than another can be a problem.

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

Let's send them to Somalia.

It sounds like their kind of place.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBBdyVQchWQ

RichieC

Overheal wrote: »

Please show me using this image whether Libertarianism falls on the Left, or the Right wing.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/36/European-political-spectrum.png

Most of the "libertarians" on here are right wing American style libertarians. Though certainly not the knuckle dragging right wingers of whom we have many here.

amacachi

Louthdrog wrote: »

Anyone else see this and expect a Ryan Giggs vs David Beckham article??

Leave it a while, it'll go through the usual phase of being about drugs, then be a debate about The Daily Mail and then eventually racism and foreigners. There might be a quick detour towards social welfare but when it becomes about Giggs and Beckham it'll be shoved over to the soccer forum.

grizzly

Doc Ruby wrote: »

And in other news, the image of psychology as a science rather than a hobby for charlatans has taken a blow today as it emerges that left and right positions are just media talking points intended to keep people who would otherwise be following football teams happy, says Doc Ruby.

Bravo sir.

I'd like to read the original study to see how left/right is defined. It must be highly contextual depending on the culture you're raised in, making these board conclusions seem foolish.

Eric Cartman

Based on averages really , a lot of the smartest and richest oeople in the workd have fairly right wing views , but the likes of BNP members and neo nazis drag down the average. A lot of very successful people who would be intelligent but might not complete college due to business commitments wouldnt seem intelligent on paper

In the same way That a lot of 'left wing' individuals have arts degrees or have been through other further education courses , yet still are not that intelligent outside of having learned off their coursework verbatim.

AskMyChocolate

Louthdrog wrote: »

Anyone else see this and expect a Ryan Giggs vs David Beckham article??

Bastard. Just ahead of me. I was just about to post, that, I was sure Beckham was skewing the statistics.

later12

Man, as an animal, is hardwired for self-preservation. In that sense, it makes sense that he initially tries to conserve his own situation, preserve social structures that he finds comfortable, and even shelters himself from a liberal philosophy that casually picks up the world, and turns it on its vertex, just to see what it looks like from that position.

For having a fear of liberal thought is an entirely simple and animalistic instinct. No wonder, then, as Chuck Stone posted earlier, JS Mill said that "most stupid people are conservative". I think JS Mill's language may be a little provocative, but the essence of what he said is that Conservatism is a very easy idea. We are innately conservative. Conservatism tends to be the first thing that occurs to us.

But only a very foolish man, when faced with a question, bases his response on the first solution that occurs to him.

We should each of us always be in conflict with our own intellect. Always challenging our deepest held beliefs. That, to my mind, is the true mark of a liberal. And yes, I think that doing so requires exercising one's grey matter.

But it must be said, in fairness, that some individuals have more important and more practical concerns than sitting at a keyboard in internal conflict with their minds. They may adhere to conservative ideals simply because they have 'bigger things to worry about' as they see it. They aren't necessarily stupid.

And then of course, there will be an inevitable cohort of individuals who have analysed various arguments and adapt a "conservative" philosophical or political outlook nevertheless, although if they truly give consideration to ideas which don't suit their natural inclinations, I'm not sure I'd be comfortable calling them "conservative" as such.

Jesus Wept

[ ] Controversial.

AskMyChocolate

Eric Cartman wrote: »

Based on averages really , a lot of the smartest and richest oeople in the workd have fairly right wing views , but the likes of BNP members and neo nazis drag down the average. A lot of very successful people who would be intelligent but might not complete college due to business commitments wouldnt seem intelligent on paper

In the same way That a lot of 'left wing' individuals have arts degrees or have been through other further education courses , yet still are not that intelligent outside of having learned off their coursework verbatim.

Did you even read the article? The analysis had nothing to do with educational attainments. It was based on childhood intelligence and views held in adulthood.

Also, success is very subjective.

Anyway, without a clear definition of what constitutes right wing/left wing views the debate is meaningless.

After all, a capitalist/feudalist/communist/libertarian can be conservative or radical depending on where they're from and whether they arrived at their position due to being brainwashed by the establishment/media/parents or as a personal informed choice based on rational thinking and personal morality.

It's far too complex imo to come to any definitive "conclusion".

K-9

And you get more right wing as.........................


Nope, you just affirm your prejudices more, hence the ould racist Granny who everybody just nods at. The younger version is the silent majority, that's just people nodding along with you, like the ould Granny, humouring you!

The older you get, the more right wing you get, the more people just nod knowingly in a, "he's just going mad" type of way!

KeithAFC

Any man who is under 30, and is not a liberal, has not heart; and any man who is over 30, and is not a conservative, has no brains.

- Winston Churchill

K-9

KeithAFC wrote: »

Any man who is under 30, and is not a liberal, has not heart; and any man who is over 30, and is not a conservative, has no brains.

- Winston Churchill

Churchill was into his whiskey at that stage.

Jesus Wept

K-9 wrote: »

And you get more right wing as.........................


Nope, you just affirm your prejudices more, hence the ould racist Granny who everybody just nods at. The younger version is the silent majority, that's just people nodding along with you, like the ould Granny, humouring you!

The older you get, the more right wing you get, the more people just nod knowingly in a, "he's just going mad" type of way!

K-9 wrote: »

Churchill was into his whiskey at that stage.

/nods knowingly.
:pac:

Scanlas The 2nd

later10 wrote: »

Man, as an animal, is hardwired for self-preservation. In that sense, it makes sense that he initially tries to conserve his own situation, preserve social structures that he finds comfortable, and even shelters himself from a liberal philosophy that casually picks up the world, and turns it on its vertex, just to see what it looks like from that position.

For having a fear of liberal thought is an entirely simple and animalistic instinct. No wonder, then, as Chuck Stone posted earlier, JS Mill said that "most stupid people are conservative". I think JS Mill's language may be a little provocative, but the essence of what he said is that Conservatism is a very easy idea. We are innately conservative. Conservatism tends to be the first thing that occurs to us.

But only a very foolish man, when faced with a question, bases his response on the first solution that occurs to him.

We should each of us always be in conflict with our own intellect. Always challenging our deepest held beliefs. That, to my mind, is the true mark of a liberal. And yes, I think that doing so requires exercising one's grey matter.

But it must be said, in fairness, that some individuals have more important and more practical concerns than sitting at a keyboard in internal conflict with their minds. They may adhere to conservative ideals simply because they have 'bigger things to worry about' as they see it. They aren't necessarily stupid.

And then of course, there will be an inevitable cohort of individuals who have analysed various arguments and adapt a "conservative" philosophical or political outlook nevertheless, although if they truly give consideration to ideas which don't suit their natural inclinations, I'm not sure I'd be comfortable calling them "conservative" as such.

What is conservatism?

Annasopra

amacachi wrote: »

People who have low childhood IQ tend to end up conservative but then they save political conservatism leads to racism etc. Bit of a disconnect there.

I'd also be interested in exactly how they identified "left" and "right".

http://pss.sagepub.com/content/early/2012/01/04/0956797611421206.full.pdf+html

biko

Interesting and it kinda doesn't surprise me. Right-wingers generally are conservative and reactionary and left-wingers generally progressive so that in itself means that anyone who likes things "the way they are" or "the way they used to be" is right-wing.
Anyone with a bit less intelligence would not like change so that forces them right.

Greentopia

southsiderosie wrote: »

If the study's main point is that people who lack the ability to engage in critical, rational thought are more likely to end up as conservatives, then wouldn't we exclude libertarians from this pool? Libertarianism is based on rational (individualistic) choice.

Not so much rational in the U.S. IMO... Libertarianism there means precisely the opposite of what it means in the rest of the world (aside from a few fan boys of Right U.S. style Libertarianism here) and has historically meant-Left Libertarianism.

I would consider myself more Libertarian in recent years but on the Left (think Chomsky). I consider myself a rational person but I would favour a communal approach rather than American style individualism.

lastlaugh

Jesus! I must start thinking more librally having red that!

gcgirl

Louthdrog wrote: »

Anyone else see this and expect a Ryan Giggs vs David Beckham article??

No
Perhaps it's because I'm a lefty

Balmed Out

What this says is people with a lower level of intelligence as children grow up to be more prejudiced.

The way some academically challenged individuals like to equate this with being of a right wing economic outlook is baffling.

Sgt Hartman

KeithAFC wrote: »

Any man who is under 30, and is not a liberal, has not heart; and any man who is over 30, and is not a conservative, has no brains.

- Winston Churchill

I was told by someone once that if Winston Churchill really came up with all the quotes that have been attributed to him then he wouldn't have found the time to do anything else in his life:)

xsiborg

for those, like myself really, who were never bothered too much about all this left/right nonsense-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left%E2%80%93right_politics

so many times i see on these boards the whole "left-wing looper", "right-wing racist" et al being bandied around, i have to say having read that article, im a little bit from column A, a little bit from coumn B, but i wouldn't strive to identify myself with either ideology.

from what i can see and from some opinions i have seen on boards, both sides are more than adept at judgemental fúckwittery.

Deus Ex Machina

Is there a study which compares left and right wingers to those who don't have a predetermined response to political issues?

Greentopia

Sgt Hartman wrote: »

I was told by someone once that if Winston Churchill really came up with all the quotes that have been attributed to him then he wouldn't have found the time to do anything else in his life:)

That quote always struck me as a load of nonsense.
And just because Churchill said it doesn't mean what he said is true. And let's not forget he was a Conservative so would have been biased against liberals anyway.

Deus Ex Machina

Greentopia wrote: »

And just because Churchill said it doesn't mean what he said is true.

Don't EVER say that again! :mad::mad::mad:









:P

44leto

I don't have to be a genius to know left wingers are delusional twats who believe there are unlimited resources.

southsiderosie

44leto wrote: »

I don't have to be a genius to know left wingers are delusional twats who believe there are unlimited resources.

Given the behavior of right wingers under the Bush administration, it is not clear to me that they have a basic understanding of economics either. But, sure, carry on with ridiculous stereotypes.

Greentopia

Deus Ex Machina wrote: »

Don't EVER say that again! :mad::mad::mad:









:P

Yikes! ok ((whelp))

Greentopia

Balmed Out wrote: »

What this says is people with a lower level of intelligence as children grow up to be more prejudiced.

The way some academically challenged individuals like to equate this with being of a right wing economic outlook is baffling.

Not just economic outlook though but social too:

"Right-wingers tend to be less intelligent than left-wingers, and people with low childhood intelligence tend to grow up to have racist and anti-gay views, says a controversial new study."

I don't recall the last time I ever heard any lefty friends of mine IRL or online espousing racist or anti-gay views, from my experience that seems to be the preserve of the right.

Though I'm not saying that all right-wingers are homophobes or racists of course.

Greentopia

44leto wrote: »

I don't have to be a genius to know left wingers are delusional twats who believe there are unlimited resources.

Because ad-hominum remarks like that support your argument so well /sarcasm :rolleyes:

Lazy stereotyping unsupported by facts do not constitute a cogent well thought out and persuasive point of view.

44leto

Greentopia wrote: »

Because ad-hominum remarks like that support your argument so well /sarcasm :rolleyes:

Lazy stereotyping unsupported by facts do not constitute a cogent well thought out and persuasive point of view.

I am right wing and therefore of lesser intelligence , I don't have to persuade anyone, I just have to believe in hardwork and individual rights over societal rights.

old hippy

My fave right wits are the ones who sermonise against sex (hetero or gay) and end up getting caught out. Usually the zealous evangelicals.

Balmed Out

Greentopia wrote: »

Not just economic outlook though but social too:

"Right-wingers tend to be less intelligent than left-wingers, and people with low childhood intelligence tend to grow up to have racist and anti-gay views, says a controversial new study."

I don't recall the last time I ever heard any lefty friends of mine IRL or online espousing racist or anti-gay views, from my experience that seems to be the preserve of the right.

Though I'm not saying that all right-wingers are homophobes or racists of course.

Re-read what I said.

Long term professional welfare scroungers id bet are more likely to have prejudiced attitudes.

(i have no proof im just being prejudiced :-) )

Do you reckon they vote left or right wing?

xsiborg

Greentopia wrote: »

I don't recall the last time I ever heard any lefty friends of mine IRL or online espousing racist or anti-gay views, from my experience that seems to be the preserve of the right.

Greentopia wrote: »

Lazy stereotyping unsupported by facts do not constitute a cogent well thought out and persuasive point of view.

*cough cough*

SlipperyPeople

rabble rabble Ryan giggs is a great left winger rabble rabble

Kells...

I thought this was about soccer......

Greentopia

44leto wrote: »

I am right wing and therefore of lesser intelligence

Ok

44leto wrote: »

, I don't have to persuade anyone, I just have to believe in hardwork and individual rights over societal rights.

I'm left wing. I believe in hard work. That's not the preserve of the right.

The second part is the opposite of what I believe, but you won't find me resorting to crude insults like "delusional twat" because you think differently. But that's me.

44leto

Greentopia wrote: »

Ok




I'm left wing. I believe in hard work. That's not the preserve of the right.

The second part is the opposite of what I believe, but you won't find me resorting to crude insults like "delusional twat" because you think differently. But that's me.

But I will be condescended upon, but I suppose that is you aswell.