There are different types of intelligence. I'm far left-wing yet not nearly as smart as a number of ppl in my fam who are both certified geniuses and strong right-wingers (Fox News, Limbaugh types). I would also bet that some of the "geniuses" on this board are right-wingers.Generally, however, I'm sure the study's findings are correct.
The only thing the article states is that they administered (probably IQ) tests to a range of students at around 10 or 11 and then went back to those same people 20 years later and asked them about their current political opinions. What they claim the found is that, after controlling for other variables, the people who scored well on the tests at age 10 tended to have "left-ish" political opinions now and the people who scored poorly at age 10 tended to have "right-ish" political opinions now. Of course, it's important to remember that correlation does not imply causation. And it's also important to remember that this is only really significant if you believe that IQ is actually a good measure of intelligence (it isn't).
Ha ha, not sure! I guess just taking a properly administered/supervised IQ test putting you in genius range (i.e. something "official" not one of those "IQ" tests you take during your lunch break in between facebooking and miniclip :))While I think there is merit in the concept of "IQ" and Mensa, I also think Davox is right about IQ not giving a good, all-encompassing picture of your overall intelligence.
It's very interesting to me how this article seemed to define "right wing" as exclusively defined by homophobia and racism. It doesn't really touch on people who may identify as "right wing" on economic or national security-type issues or a libertarian belief in smaller government. It would be more accurate to write that "people with homophobic and racist views have lower intelligence and are drawn to such beliefs because it makes them feel safe," instead of using such a blanket term. Conservative ideology encompasses more than just the tired old black-and-white "family values" issues, and it would be very interesting to see a study like this done on people who identified their political beliefs about the economy or military intervention or some other set of issues. Beyond its bad choice of wording, though, its an interesting study and I think their method seems pretty legit, definitely took someone a lot of work to pull this study off.
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.
^^Nah, I remember reading Simon Baron Cohen's book, Zero Degrees of Empathy, and he reckons that research shows the more intelligent/educated you are, the more empathy you are likely to have. It's empathy that drives a lot of the left's notions of social security or welfare systems and a lack of empathy that drives the more conservative notion of fending for yourself or standing on your own two feet. From the DM:QuoteIn 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.So they were asked questions that are typically associated with right wing belief structures and these were compared with their answers to questions about race and suchlike. Simple really.
I am a firm believer that intelligence comes in many different guises and that the standard cultural definition of it is given far too much weight in the way we judge and value others. Quantifying intelligence fosters this idea in our culture that a person's worth is based on one narrow definition of intelligence that can be measured and compared.