Are right wingers less intelligent than left wingers?

Your political stance could be related to your intelligence. Or so claims a study published in Psychological Science, which claims that right-wing ideology forms a ‘pathway’ for people with low reasoning ability to become prejudiced against groups such as other races and gay people. [caption id=“attachment_202926” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Individuals with lower cognitive abilities may gravitate towards more socially conservative right-wing ideologies that maintain the status quo: Reuters”]  [/caption] Quoting the study, The Daily Mail said, “Crucially, people’s educational level is not what determines whether they are racist or not - it’s innate intelligence, according to the academics. Social status also appears to play no part. The study had been conducted on a sample of around 15000 people and analysed large UK studies which compared childhood intelligence with political views in adulthood. The paper said, “‘Cognitive abilities are critical in forming impressions of other people and in being open minded. Individuals with lower cognitive abilities may gravitate towards more socially conservative right-wing ideologies that maintain the status quo. It provides a sense of order.” However the authors while maintaining that there was a strong correlation between intelligence and conservatism, they said, “Clearly, however, all socially conservative people are not prejudiced, and all prejudiced persons are not conservative.” Read more