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?

I think that people with autistic traits are more likely to have extreme political views. People on the autism spectrum tend to view the world in black and white. I think that left wing extremists are very similar to extreme right wingers. Boths groups of people have a complete and utter lack of empathy for those who disagree with their position.

A person with good empathy and social skills will decide who to vote by policies. I don't think that voting tory or labour is a sign of low IQ. Not everyone is moviated by personal wealth. Some auturistic individuals think of the good of the country.

I was going to disagree with Bonsoir, but then realised that i am not sensible.

Political persuasion is down to education (nobody thoroughly educated could be right wing, unless they are twats) and socalisation.

Seriously though, I think we might need a social scientist's help to understand the paper (gah! words I thought I'd never say). I can't find a P value or anything that would make me feel comfortable.

I think they're saying that low childhood IQ is only a predictor of racism if it's accompanied by conservative ideology. But I could be wrong.

"Of the total predictive effect of childhood cognitive ability on adult racism, between 92% and 100% was indirect, mediated via conservative ideology (see Table 2)."

Anyone able to untangle that...?

Nick Griffin went to Cambridge. So not always, no.

And John Prescott is VERY stupid! I have had the displeasure of meeting him.

The only thing at all worth reading on this oh-so-predictable thread is this

BoulevardOfBrokenSleep Fri 03-Feb-12 18:31:40

Bonsoir, I refer you to my arse.

Brilliant!

I'm reading family Britain by David kynaston at the moment - social history of Britain 51 - 57.

He does refer at one point to a fairly widely held perception at that time that you couldn't be Tory and intelligent - I'll try and dig out the reference.

Indirect discrimination, means through policies and laws, such as unfair benefit cuts (an attack on the working class or low paid) etc

I suppose you could have put Hitler in that class and a lot of SS soldiers.

YANBU

what a surprise-not!!

I'd bet my bottom dollar that research would show vegetarians are are more intelligent than non-vegetarians. Doesn't mean there aren't some very intelligent carnivores around, just that not many thick people are vegetarians.

Can you tell I've been on the ?

well if age is any indicator, my mother started out as quite left wing and as she has gotten older gets even more and more radical. She's just completed her Ph.d, so not short of brain cells....

NICK GRIFFIN only got a Desmond mind!

Well, you don't sound too clever yourself OP.

Why the link between right wingers and racism and homophobia?

I believe in small government, that makes me right wing. I am not a racist nor a homophobe.

gordylovesheep How deliciously ironic that NG got a class of degree named after a black anti-aparthied campaigner who is VERY pro-gay rights!

i know! wonderful isn't it

There are reasons to think Conservatives are more homophobic than lefties

Agree with chandon.

I am fiscally conservative and believe in small government and fewer laws. That also makes me socially and morally liberal; I would not legislate to restrict people's freedoms in terms of sexuality or anything else.

I do actually think some of what the article suggests is correct, though the left / right split is not as simple as Labour / Conservative. There are huge numbers of die-hard Labour supporters who hold very right-wing views on social and moral issues. I have often heard complaitn about foreigners coming and taking all the jobs from those who have never worked a day in their life. I think the true left wing intelligentsia are actually Liberal Democrats (I am not a Lib Dem by the way!); the "debating society" left winger.

If you take away the 'right wing/left wing' stuff, what this study basically seems to be telling us is 'A tendency to make blanket generalisations, ignore nuance and filter the world through a rigid set of beliefs tends to go hand in hand with lower cognitive abilities'.

Well slap my arse and call me Sally, what a remarkable revelation

I think people too far either way are dumb and pretty much the same.

There ain't a lot of difference between the extreme right and the extreme left as far as I can see, they all want to control what others do and even think.

I am firmly in the middle. I like it here, it is where all the clever sensible people are.

Peppapig put it quite eloquently

The most prejudice on this thread appears to have been posted by those who wish to stereotype in perforative terms vaguely defined "right wingers".

I applaud however the posters who have pointed out a more nuanced view.

YABU

Many right-wingers are quite clever but sometimes their success is driven by their bigotry inv. Many left-wingers are a bit dim intellectually but they often don't have that nasty streak which renders them incapable of empathizing with others.

YABU

Many right-wingers are quite clever but sometimes their success is driven by their bigotry . Invoking Godwins but oh well - many top scientists/ engineers etc have been attracted to various fascist points of view, both in the past century and quite recently. Many left-wingers are a bit dim intellectually but they often don't have that nasty streak which renders them incapable of empathizing with others.

I can see some truth in this. As I think people who tend to see things in black and white and don't appreciate the nuances of life tend to be less intelligent and tend to be right wing.

BUT I think there is the rest of the population, who do see nuances. Some of them are right wing and some of them are left wing.