to think right-wingers are less intelligent than left wingers?

[migratingsouth]

The authors of a study which looked at data from 15,000 people think so.

Here's the link - (with delicious irony it's from the Daily Mail )

It says their analysis found that:

• Children with low intelligence grow up to be prejudiced
  
• Right-wing views make the less intelligent feel 'safe'
  

"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...

"Conservative politics work almost as a 'gateway' into prejudice against others"

Am I / are they BU?

[aldiwhore]

I'm pretty sure that the 'normal' voting public who read the Daily Mail aren't thick but the Sun readers probably have a lower total IQ than say a Guardian reader... hmm, not sure its that simple.

I know some very intelligent bigots in my day, to assume all right wingers are thick is dangerous ground.

I also know some very pleasant very intelligent, compassionate and generally lovely people who are staunch tories.

To dismiss everyone who disagrees with me as thick would ensure that I most probably AM.

I've not got a massively high IQ, but am not thick because I'm more left than right.

Although I think the report probably has some valid (if not obvious) points it certainly isn't representative of the truth I've experienced.

I'd LOVE it if it were that simple.

[JuliaScurr]

Yes, aldi but it's still funny (and we all know it is true really )

[BoulevardOfBrokenSleep]

YABU to gloat about it!

It's just a general trend, it doesn't mean that if you pick one random tory and one random liberal, the latter will necessarily be smarter.

And it can't be a total shock that less intelligent people are more likely to be racist!

[fanjoforthemammaries7850]

YANBU

[diabolo]

That's a bit extreme OP - clearly they are referring to fascists, not regular right
of centre voters, or do you really think that all Tory voters (or indeed people who voted for Tony Blair), are racist and homophobic?

[BoulevardOfBrokenSleep]

I'll chuck in at this point that they are only asking about social conservatism not fiscal

The paper is here if you don't like your world-view filtered through a Daily Mail lens.

[migratingsouth]

So you agree it's a general trend then?

They're not talking exclusively about fascists, diabolo.

It says

"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 also claim that conservative politics is part of a complex relationship that leads people to become prejudices." (sic)

"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."

And they agree it's not clear cut ...

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

[migratingsouth]

Thanks for the link BoulevardOfBrokenSleep :)

[migratingsouth]

"I know some very intelligent bigots in my day, to assume all right wingers are thick is dangerous ground."

Very true.

[aldiwhore]

Oh yes JuliaScurr it IS funny and at some point I may refer to the paper in good company and after wine to bolster my arguments!

[diabolo]

Well, you left wing lot on here will link to anything to prove you're superior.

[EdithWeston]

It doesn't actually matter one tiny bit though, does it?

Or will there be an outbreak of support for praising G&T to the skies and deciding that IQ is important after all?

[MrsTerryPratchett]

I don't care if it's true or not. I'm carrying it around in my bag in case of arguments with Tories and other conservatives. Mmmm, vengeance is mine.

[migratingsouth]

[OTheHugeManatee]

If the Tories are the party of the rich, and Tories are apparently less intelligent, then it must follow that the rich are likely to be less intelligent than the poor.

Are you sure that's how it works?

[MrsTerryPratchett]

Perhaps they're the party of the immoral rich and the stupid poor. You can't jsut have the rich vote for them or they can't be elected (except that they weren't, of course).

[MrsTerryPratchett]

*just, damn it.

[HumphreyCobbler]

jesus wept, who decided that right wing meant racist and homophobic?

I utterly refute this assertion and would argue that anyone who made such a sweepingly specious statement is rather stupid.

I would assume that racist and homophobic people are stupid though.

[Chateauneuf]

It's often cited that higher the IQ the less likely that person is to have kids. So if we accept that all the 'clever' people are left-wing, but 'clever' people don't breed, we're doomed as a population to get ever-more right-wing...

[EdithWeston]

It's a complete fail in terms of the academic rigour of proper logic to attempt to make this case, and that should be obvious if on stopped for two seconds to think about it.

"Many X have the characteristic Y" is simply not a basis to say "many who have the characteristic Y are X"; and it's so obviously wrong in this example on the most cursory factoring in of the relative numbers of people who are X (small) or profess characteristic Y (currently higher than an other) and add the confounder that the vast majority are average (bell curve distribution of IQ).

[OTheHugeManatee]

The problem with this kind of broad brush reporting is that studies like this are generally meaningless unless you read the actual paper and see in detail how the research was done.

For example it's not clear whether the research was into socially or economically right-wing views. They 're quite different and many economic right-wingers are socially pretty liberal. But this is a distinction that gets swept aside when peoe start on the 'Tories are evil ' thing.

[Bonsoir]

No sensible, intelligent adult who has lived a bit and had some success with life could possibly be left-wing.

[BoulevardOfBrokenSleep]

Manatee I refer you to my post of 18.07.48

[BoulevardOfBrokenSleep]

Bonsoir, I refer you to my arse.

I love an intelligent debate, me

[notnowImreading]

Enoch Powell was possibly the finest classicist of the twentieth century, but no one could call him a reasonable human being leftie.