Accurate Story in the Daily Mail !?

[pjclarke]

Right-wingers are less intelligent than left wingers, says controversial study - and conservative politics can lead people to be racist | Mail Online

[DodgyAgent]

Right-wingers are less intelligent than left wingers, says controversial study - and conservative politics can lead people to be racist | Mail Online

Quit right John Prescott certainly makes David Willets, Oliver Letwin and William Hague look stupid

[BlasterBates]

That's interesting; a similar survey on comparing groups who believe that climate change is a serious threat and those who don't.

Believers in climate change being a serious threat less intelligent than those who don't

[Old Greg]

Quit right John Prescott certainly makes David Willets, Oliver Letwin and William Hague look stupid

Dodgy, you illustrate the point perfectly.

For what it's worth, I suspect the point around intelligence is nonsense.

The question of racism may be true in correlation, but the causality would be hard to demonstrate. It seems more likely IMO that racism is used by the élite to divide the powerless.

There are some interesting studies about political views and an increased ability to process fear (right wing) or complex information (left wing), but they are just studies and don't 'prove' anything. Mrs OG is an academic cognitive neuroscientist and finds it all amusing that people try to draw such conclusions. But then she's an intelligent leftie who is good with complex information.

Biology and political orientation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[BrilloPad]

"people with low childhood intelligence tend to grow up to have racist and anti-gay views"

They certainly are bigoted. It is just a question of which group(s) they pick on. If not the above it would probably be fat people or something.

[pjclarke]

a similar survey on comparing groups who believe that climate change is a serious threat and those who don't.

Interesting paper. Did you read it or just copy-paste the spin? It's more about how political, cultural and 'tribal' prejudices prevent even scientifically literate people from assessing the evidence rationally.

Our study results belie the conventional view that controversy over policy-relevant science is rooted in the public’s lack of scientific knowledge and its inability to engage in technical reasoning. As ordinary people learn more science and become more proficient in modes of reasoning characteristic of scientific inquiry, they do not reliably converge on assessments of climate change risks supported by scientific evidence. Instead they more form beliefs that are even more reliably characteristic of persons who hold their particular cultural worldviews. Indeed, far from a symptom of how poorly equipped ordinary individuals are to reach rational conclusions on the basis of complex scientific data, disputes overissues like climate change, we’ve argued, are evidence of how remarkably well equipped they are to discern what stances toward such information satisfy their expressive interests. The high degree of rationality individuals display in forming risk perceptions that express their cultural values can itself inhibit collective welfare rationality by blocking citizens from converging on the best available scientific evidence on how to secure their common interests in health, safety, and prosperity.

[Arturo Bassick]

Right-wingers are less intelligent than left wingers, says controversial study - and conservative politics can lead people to be racist | Mail Online

The problem with all this bulltulip is that the "right wing" politics they talk about are actualy much more aligned with what would be seen as far left than they are with Tory.
There is an idea of a political compass that compares attitudes in 4 directions rather than 2 which ends up with the far right incredibly close in ideology to the far left though their reasons for being there are somewhat different.

[BlasterBates]

Interesting paper. Did you read it or just copy-paste the spin? It's more about how political, cultural and 'tribal' prejudices prevent even scientifically literate people from assessing the evidence rationally.

I think the reason why this is the case is because believers in CAGW tend to be autocratic, which fits in with the survey you posted. i.e. believers tend to want to believe in it, as it would justify a very autocratic society. So probably there are similar reasons, a feeling of insecurity and so on. Very leftwing thinkers, as CAGW believers tend to be, are very similar to very rightwing thinkers, blinkered. I think you'll find most intellectuals somewhere in the centre.

[DodgyAgent]

Dodgy, you illustrate the point perfectly.

For what it's worth, I suspect the point around intelligence is nonsense.

The question of racism may be true in correlation, but the causality would be hard to demonstrate. It seems more likely IMO that racism is used by the élite to divide the powerless.

There are some interesting studies about political views and an increased ability to process fear (right wing) or complex information (left wing), but they are just studies and don't 'prove' anything. Mrs OG is an academic cognitive neuroscientist and finds it all amusing that people try to draw such conclusions. But then she's an intelligent leftie who is good with complex information.

Biology and political orientation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Very bright people are indeed very good at processing complex information. However not so many possess either the emotional Intelligence or the means of communication to understand and deal with the complexities of human nature. Your wife, with respect, may well be "left wing" but I would suggest that this is more to do with her reluctance to engage with people at the bottom end of the social spectrum and the fact that maybe she finds people at the top of the pile intimidating. I do not know, so I am making a guess. Being "left wing" to many simply shows you care. It is a patronising gift to those not as privileged as you.

"left wing" is a badge worn by many academics. Wearing this means they don't have to confront the dirty question of privilege. The badge (which is all it is) is nothing more than an empty symbol of "showing you care". It has nothing to do with an objective intellectual assessment of how society should work.

[scooterscot]

So how come all the non-intellgent right wingers are rich?

Perhaps because the banks put them there in the first place.