Left-wing" people are more intelligent, according to study

There seems to be a correlation between educational level and ideology.

People who support right-wing political ideology tend to be less intelligent than those on the left, and people with low intelligence during childhood, when they grow up, have racist and anti-gay views, says a controversial study recently conducted in Ontario, Canada.

Political ideology and intelligence: is there a link?

It seems that people on the left are more intelligent, and those on the right stand out less for their IQ level. At least, this is what a controversial study claims.

Conservative politicians are facilitators of bias against other individuals or groups, say Canadian academics. The paper analyzes massive U.K. studies (of more than 15,000 people) in which they compared the child intelligence with the political opinions in adulthood of these subjects.

The authors claim that people with low intelligence position themselves with the political right because they feel more secure with that line of discourse. Fundamentally, it is not people's educational level that determines whether they are racists or not, but rather their innate intelligence. innate intelligenceaccording to the authors.

Belonging to a certain social class does not predict ideology

Nor does social status play an important role as a predictor. The study, published in Psychological Sciencestates that right-wing ideology forms a pathway for people with low reasoning ability to become racists and xenophobes.

The researchers claim that cognitive abilities are fundamental in forming impressions of other people, and are key to being open-minded.

"Individuals with lower cognitive abilities tend to advocate more conservative right-wing ideologies, as they maintain the status quo. The right provides a sense of order, of continuity with the status quo. A higher cognitive level is required to detect what is going wrong in a political system and therefore be able to make a criticism and a proposal for improvement."

Research and results

The study, conducted by Brock University in Ontario, Canada, used data from two UK studies conducted in 1958 and 1970, where the intelligence of several thousand 10- and 11-year-olds was assessed. When they reached the age of 33, they answered questions about politicsThe bulk of the data for the report could then be extracted.

In the first British study, which was carried out in 1958 by the National Organization for Child Development National Child Development OrganizationIn the first study, 4,267 men and 4,537 women born in 1958 participated.

The second research conducted in the United Kingdom, the British Cohort Study, involved 3,412 men and 3,658 women born in 1970.

As adults, they were asked whether they agreed with statements such as, "I wouldn't mind working with people of other races," and "I wouldn't mind if a family of a different race lived next door to me."

They were also asked if they agreed with the political ideology of the conservative right, such as, "I would give lawbreakers harsher sentences," and "Schools should teach children to obey authority."