![\"Monkey-typing\"](\"http:\/\/teensleuth.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Monkey-typing.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
via reverbpress<\/a><\/p>\n There are all types of statistics that could lead one to believe that liberals are smarter than conservatives. These include the fact that \u201cBlue States\u201d have higher graduation rates<\/a> <\/strong>than \u201cRed States\u201d and the fact that most people who seek higher education have liberal ideologies.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n But in reality, these numbers provide circumstantial proof at best. We need something more. Something that fully delves into the minds of conservatives and liberals to see just what\u2019s going on. Though the right-wingers out there might not want you to know it, studies that do just that already exist.<\/p>\n \u201cBright Minds and Dark Attitudes\u201d is a study performed by researchers at Brock University, and it caused quite the commotion when its results were released. The researchers found that having lower general intelligence in childhood could predict conservative and racist ideas as an adult. That\u2019s right: having a low IQ score makes you more likely to vote conservative\u2026 and be a racist.<\/p>\n Now this isn\u2019t to say that all Republicans are stupid. On the contrary: I fully believe that rich Republicans are some of the smartest people in the world. They literally trick poor Republicans into thinking it\u2019s the big bad government\u2019s fault that they\u2019re poor, and in doing so, they make these people vote against their own best interests.<\/p>\n Even though being conservative doesn\u2019t make you stupid, there\u2019s no doubt that being stupid makes you more likely to be conservative.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It\u2019s not like we really needed a study to tell us this, but the survey<\/a> <\/strong>\u201cWhat You Know Depends on What You Watch,\u201d undertaken by Fairleigh Dickinson University, found that watching Fox News results in knowing less about the world. Researchers asked 1,185 respondents which news shows they consumed and then asked general questions about newsworthy events.<\/p>\n Five questions were asked, and those who watch Fox News exclusively got 1.04 correct, on average. Individuals watching MSNBC, on the other hand, got 1.26. NPR listeners? They got an impressive 1.51. The Daily Show? Surely a \u201cfake news\u201d program couldn\u2019t make you more informed than \u201cthe most watched cable news channel in America.\u201d<\/p>\n Yep, as it turns out, The Daily Show viewers scored 1.42 on average. The best thing about this study, though? It asked questions to people who watch no news at all, and those individuals scored 1.22 on average. That\u2019s right: Fox News makes you less informed than watching no news at all. Let that sink in.<\/p>\n We live in a complex world, and understanding this world requires complex thought. It would be easy to look at conservatives who think that all Muslims are terrorists or all Mexicans should \u201cgo home\u201d and say that they\u2019re engaged in simplistic thought. Instead of making that assumption ourselves, though, let\u2019s look towards science.<\/p>\n Researchers over at the University of Arkansas released their study [link opens PDF] \u201cLow-Effort Thought Promotes Political Conservatism,\u201d and things started to make sense. They performed four different studies, all of which reduced subjects\u2019 ability to use \u201ceffortful, deliberate thought,\u201d and they found that situations causing low-effort thought resulted in more conservative beliefs.<\/p>\n Heck, one of the studies found that, as an individual becomes more intoxicated on alcohol, their conservative beliefs increase. Which makes perfect sense, because if you ever saw me vote for Sarah Palin, you can rest assured that I\u2019m drunk.<\/p>\n Scratch that. It\u2019s a catch-22. The amount of alcohol it would require for me to vote for Palin would literally kill me.<\/p>\n Literally.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s get this out of the way first: Yes, there are \u201cliberals\u201d out there who are homophobic. That being said, homophobia is a largely conservative disease. It\u2019s conservatives who usually hold homophobic attitudes and fight against marriage equality. With that being said, let\u2019s look at abstract reasoning skills.<\/p>\n A researcher out of Kent State University undertook a study he would eventually title \u201cAbstract Reasoning as a Predictor of Attitudes Toward Gay Men.\u201d What he found was no big surprise. Those who have lower abstract reasoning skills experience higher levels of anti-gay prejudice.<\/p>\n When they looked at other predictors of anti-gay prejudice, they found that right-wing authoritarian ideas were most strongly related to this prejudice.<\/p>\n So lacking abstract reasoning and being a right-wing nut job increases your prejudice against gays. Like we couldn\u2019t have figured that out on our own.<\/p>\n Some of the aforementioned studies show us that being dumb makes you more likely to be conservative, and unfortunately, watching conservative channels like Fox News can make you even more dumb. Of course, conservatives will likely attack these studies and say that they\u2019re biased.<\/p>\n Unfortunately for them, the study <\/a><\/strong>\u201cPolitical Orientations Are Correlated with Brain Structure in Young Adults\u201d was released. The researchers in this study performed MRI scans on participants. Just so you know, there\u2019s no way to insert liberal bias into an MRI scan.<\/p>\n What they found was that \u201cconservative students had a larger amygdala than liberals.\u201d<\/a><\/strong> Conversely, the anterior cingulate cortex of liberal students had more gray matter than their conservative counterparts. Here\u2019s why that\u2019s important:<\/p>\n \u201cThe amygdala is\u2026 active during states of fear and anxiety. [\u2026] The anterior cingulate cortex [is] a region of the brain that helps people cope with complexity.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n And the best part? This is biological. There\u2019s no arguing the point. Liberals\u2019 brains are biologically more able to handle complex thought, and conservatives base their beliefs on fear. This study isn\u2019t hard to believe when one considers the fear conservatives showcase for immigrants, Muslims, minorities and any of the other million things they\u2019re bigoted towards. Hence the success of the 24-7 fear cycle of Fox News.<\/p>\n These are peer-reviewed studies, by scientists who cumulatively have more degrees than I\u2019ve got houses in my neighborhood. Conservatives can try to say they\u2019re biased all they want, but as we know from their beliefs on climate change, they don\u2019t subscribe much to the area of science.<\/p>\n Conservatives are dumb\u2026 it\u2019s a scientific fact.<\/p>\n Graph courtesy: Fairleigh Dickinson University. Westboro image: WikiCommons<\/p>\n Article republished with permission copyright via reverbpress<\/a> <\/strong>by curtisf<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" via reverbpress There are all types of statistics that could lead one to believe that liberals are smarter than conservatives. These include the fact that \u201cBlue States\u201d have higher graduation rates than \u201cRed States\u201d and the fact that most people who seek higher education have liberal ideologies. But in reality, these numbers provide circumstantial proof […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/teensleuth.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/teensleuth.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/teensleuth.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teensleuth.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teensleuth.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32812"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/teensleuth.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32812\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32821,"href":"https:\/\/teensleuth.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32812\/revisions\/32821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/teensleuth.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teensleuth.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teensleuth.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Conservatism, Racism And Low IQ<\/h2>\n
Fox News Makes You Less Informed<\/h2>\n
![\"news\"](\"http:\/\/teensleuth.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/news.jpg\")
<\/p>\nLow Effort Thought Leads To Conservatism<\/h2>\n
Homophobia Linked To Low Abstract Reasoning Skills<\/h2>\n
It\u2019s All In The Brain, Baby<\/h2>\n