Society/Culture Why do less intelligent people gravitate to conservative/right wing ideology.

[Mofra]

The Daily Mail article reports upon a study by Gordon Hodson, a psychologist at Brock University in Ontario, Canada. (another Canadian Academic Psychologist but without a youtube presence). He looked at data from 2 UK studies testing child development. The subjects were
(a) 4,267 boys and 4,537 girls born in 1958;
(b) 3,412 boys and 3,658 girls born in 1970.

The tests were of
(c) verbal and non verbal intelligence; and
(d) cognitive abilities (number recall, shape-drawing tasks, defining words and identifying patterns and similarities among words).

In both surveys, 23 years later, the same groups were asked to answer a series of questions about traditions, authority and attitudes toward other races. Hodson then postulated a definition of conservatism which is undefined but looks to be based upon attitudes towards Authority and other races and concluded that low-intelligence adults tend to gravitate toward socially conservtive ideologies.

I’d very cautious about accepting the conclusions drawn by Grin and his gaggle of applauders from the article helpfully posted by Mofra

So would I.

Here's a meta-analysis that's far more wide ranging.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/55893129.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwiZksKNiq38AhWmwjgGHVyFAdQQFnoECC0QAQ&usg=AOvVaw2xHhvNmp4MW8yHxMsywA_c

There is a significant body of work on the subject. Assuming the entire concept is based off a single study is folly.

 

[bzparkes]

Never happened. It was a Van Gogh, and the painting wasn't harmed.

Luckily it turns out it was behind glass.

The OP claim is about a general tendency to gravitate towards one end of the political spectrum, related to intelligence.

Oh which, I've since been enlightened, there's already a thread for.

So why does this one exist instead of being merged into the other, older thread?

 

[mcnulty]

Never happened. It was a Van Gogh, and the painting wasn't harmed.

Yes this happened.

Emergency services said they had other routes to take and none were blocked.

And in the end, this is a post referencing individual acts you saw as unintelligent, and one outcome that never happened.

The OP claim is about a general tendency to gravitate towards one end of the political spectrum, related to intelligence.

If your argument is that low intelligence people gravitate to right wing ideologies, how is pointing out moronic behaviour from the left off topic?

 

[bzparkes]

The graph of cognitive decline with age, roughly corresponds with the left to right, or progressive to conservative political drift, with age.

Genuine question - Why do you believe this happens?

 

[ElectricG]

Genuine question - Why do you believe this happens?

He never experienced higher education, you see.

 

[Ghost Patrol]

Genuine question - Why do you believe this happens?

I'm not sure. I'm drifting further left, the older I get. Many friends of similar age are drifting to the right.

Gen X.

 

[Chief]

letting in undocumented migrants to a country en masse.

Let's break this one down, too.

"Letting in" - This is a phrase indicating taking actions to allow people in. Where is this happening? What actions are being taken to let people in? When people specify a country, it never stacks up.

"en masse" - If anybody gives number, the numbers given usually don't add up, or are misinterpreted by the poster and aren't evidence of a comparative "masse".

 

[bzparkes]

I'm not sure. I'm drifting further left, the older I get.

Gen X.

I'd say that most people start of idealistic and believe the world to be a fantastic place, where people are fair to each other and want to live harmoniously, etc, if not for big government and, greedy corporations, etc(which does of course have an element of truth to it.

When you're older, you get exposed to the harsh reality of life via interactions with people and you tend to associate behaviours with said groups, whether they deserve it or not.

Them unwittingly, you end up consuming news and current affairs from news sources which confirm your bias and you end up going further down the rabbit hole.

This goes for both the left and the right, because people find it immensely uncomfortable to challenge their own belief system and want it validated instead.

This is human nature and nobody is immune from it.

Good on you if you find yourself becoming more tolerant as you get older.

 

[bzparkes]

Let's break this one down, too.

"Letting in" - This is a phrase indicating taking actions to allow people in. Where is this happening? What actions are being taken to let people in? When people specify a country, it never stacks up.

Well, here's one particular story: https://www.timesofisrael.com/in-ge...mediterranean-migrant-rescue-missions-afloat/

"en masse" - If anybody gives number, the numbers given usually don't add up, or are misinterpreted by the poster and aren't evidence of a comparative "masse".

This is just last year along - Migrant arrivals in Italy have more than tripled from last year. Why?

Just under 27k illegals arriving on Italy's shores in the first 3 months of 2023, including 1k on a small Sicilian island in just one day.

I'd consider these types of arrivals to be en masse.

But anyway, this is off-topic so if you want to continue, happy to do so in a relevant thread.

 

[Grin]

He has a point though. If you are going to point out egregious idiocy from one side of the political spectrum, it’s fair enough to do that for the other side. Saying it’s not the thread topic seems like a dodge.

I know I've only explained this a few times, so this time I'm typing even slower:
Say, for example, you started a thread to discuss potential solutions to man made global warming, would your thread not be derailed if it became a debate about the existence of man made global warming in the first place. There might be another thread to debate the existence of man made global warming, your thread was a discussion about potential solutions.
That derailment would be attempted in this thread was very predictable, right wing conservatives are, by nature predictable. Thus I framed the question carefully.
Sulking and crying and getting shouty and whinging to moderators has proven fruitless. Not that I expect our right wing conservatives to learn from their previous failures as again, it's simply not in their nature to learn and adapt. So doubtlessly I will need to explain again in future

 

[Ghost Patrol]

I'd say that most people start of idealistic and believe the world to be a fantastic place, where people are fair to each other and want to live harmoniously, etc, if not for big government and, greedy corporations, etc(which does of course have an element of truth to it.

When you're older, you get exposed to the harsh reality of life via interactions with people and you tend to associate behaviours with said groups, whether they deserve it or not.

Them unwittingly, you end up consuming news and current affairs from news sources which confirm your bias and you end up going further down the rabbit hole.

This goes for both the left and the right, because people find it immensely uncomfortable to challenge their own belief system and want it validated instead.

This is human nature and nobody is immune from it.

Good on you if you find yourself becoming more tolerant as you get older.

In regards to news/current affairs, it's become apparent that it's mostly conservative right wing propaganda. A play thing for billionaires to exert influence.

Social media - which includes this forum, is helping to break that stranglehold.

 

[mcnulty]

I know I've only explained this a few times, so this time I'm type even slower:
Say, for example, you started a thread to discuss potential solutions to man made global warming, would your thread not be derailed if it became a debate about the existence of man made global warming in the first place. There might be another thread to debate the existence of man made global warming, your thread was a discussion about potential solutions.
That derailment would be attempted in this thread was very predictable, right wing conservatives are, by nature predictable. Thus I framed the question carefully.
Sulking and crying and getting shouty and whinging to moderators has proven fruitless. Not that I expect our right wing conservatives to learn from their previous failures as again, it's simply not in their nature to learn and adapt. So doubtlessly I will need to explain again in future

I’ll type this glacially. How is a counter argument that low intelligence people are also susceptible left wing ideology not relevant to this thread?

I can try crayons if you’re still struggling.

 

[bzparkes]

In regards to news/current affairs, it's become apparent that it's mostly conservative right wing propaganda. A play thing for billionaires to exert influence.

Social media - which includes this forum, is helping to break that stranglehold.

Yes and no.

Plenty of liberal news outlets out there also.

Russian troll farms don't help things though.

The entertainment industry, Hollywood in particular, has gone far too far the other way, to the point that even Bob Iger from Disney admitted they are trying to push the 'message' too much instead of telling good stories.

Social media in general is a complete shit-show and a cesspit of extremist ideologies. Algo rhythms will also continue to serve you stuff that reinforces your ideology to you, because it keeps you longer on their respective platforms, which = higher ad revenue.

Forums like Bigfooty are outliers in this regard, because it simply serves you the most recent posts.

 

[bzparkes]

I know I've only explained this a few times, so this time I'm typing even slower:
Say, for example, you started a thread to discuss potential solutions to man made global warming, would your thread not be derailed if it became a debate about the existence of man made global warming in the first place. There might be another thread to debate the existence of man made global warming, your thread was a discussion about potential solutions.
That derailment would be attempted in this thread was very predictable, right wing conservatives are, by nature predictable. Thus I framed the question carefully.
Sulking and crying and getting shouty and whinging to moderators has proven fruitless. Not that I expect our right wing conservatives to learn from their previous failures as again, it's simply not in their nature to learn and adapt. So doubtlessly I will need to explain again in future

Why are you so concerned over right-wing ideology when extremism from either side poses a problem?

If you can address that, then you can kill 2 birds with one stone(or feed 2 birds with one scone, depending on your political leaning...).

If you're only concerned with right-wing ideology and not extremism itself as an issue, it means you've simply picked one side and disapprove of the other. This means you have no interest in engaging/understanding what appeals to being who gravitate towards conservative ideology in the first place and simply want to stamp out things you disagree with.

 

[Ghost Patrol]

Yes and no.

Plenty of liberal news outlets out there also.

Russian troll farms don't help things though.

The entertainment industry, Hollywood in particular, has gone far too far the other way, to the point that even Bob Iger from Disney admitted they are trying to push the 'message' too much instead of telling good stories.

Social media in general is a complete s**t-show and a cesspit of extremist ideologies. Algo rhythms will also continue to serve you stuff that reinforces your ideology to you, because it keeps you longer on their respective platforms, which = higher ad revenue.

Forums like Bigfooty are outliers in this regard, because it simply serves you the most recent posts.

Even the so called liberal news outlets seem to have been influenced by the Far Right Israeli lobby groups. ABC being a recent example. What other groups influence the content on these platforms?

Seems they aren't all that liberal after all. More Conservative Lite.

 

[Grin]

I’ll type this glacially. How is a counter argument that low intelligence people are also susceptible left wing ideology not relevant to this thread?

I can try crayons if you’re still struggling.

Sigh. Read post 1659 very slowly. Get mum to read the big words. And sure, copy it using crayons if that helps

F*** me

 

[mcnulty]

Sigh. Read post 1659 very slowly. Get mum to read the big word. And sure, copy it using crayons if that helps

F*** me

I read it. It‘s embarrassing.

 

[bzparkes]

Even the so called liberal news outlets seem to have been influenced by the Far Right Israeli lobby groups. ABC being a recent example. What other groups influence the content on these platforms?

Seems they aren't all that liberal after all. More Conservative Lite.

Well, I won't deny they're extremely good at 'persuading' to get their message across in a positive light.

 

[Grin]

Why are you so concerned over right-wing ideology when extremism from either side poses a problem?

If you can address that, then you can kill 2 birds with one stone(or feed 2 birds with one scone, depending on your political leaning...).

If you're only concerned with right-wing ideology and not extremism itself as an issue, it means you've simply picked one side and disapprove of the other. This means you have no interest in engaging/understanding what appeals to being who gravitate towards conservative ideology in the first place and simply want to stamp out things you disagree with.

Why do you steadfastly refuse to discuss your issue in the appropriate threads, rather than proving the premise for this one which is not even up for debate in this thread?

 

[Ghost Patrol]

Well, I won't deny they're extremely good at 'persuading' to get their message across in a positive light.

I'd suggest they were, but it has backfired spectacularly in recent months.

Social media has blown their narrative wide open.

 

[Grin]

I read it. It‘s embarrassing.

I'm embarrassed for you too.

 

[bzparkes]

Why do you steadfastly refuse to discuss your issue in the appropriate threads, rather than proving the premise for this one which is not even up for debate in this thread?

Because you are misguided.

 

[mcnulty]

Why are you so concerned over right-wing ideology when extremism from either side poses a problem?

If you can address that, then you can kill 2 birds with one stone(or feed 2 birds with one scone, depending on your political leaning...).

If you're only concerned with right-wing ideology and not extremism itself as an issue, it means you've simply picked one side and disapprove of the other. This means you have no interest in engaging/understanding what appeals to being who gravitate towards conservative ideology in the first place and simply want to stamp out things you disagree with.

“bUt yOu Can’t tAlK aBouT That hEre”

Unbelievable stuff.

 

[mcnulty]

Because you are misguided.

Generous

 

[ElectricG]

Why do you steadfastly refuse to discuss your issue in the appropriate threads, rather than proving the premise for this one which is not even up for debate in this thread?

Despite your insistence to do this:

it is the right thread

 

[Ghost Patrol]

Why are you so concerned over right-wing ideology when extremism from either side poses a problem?

If you can address that, then you can kill 2 birds with one stone(or feed 2 birds with one scone, depending on your political leaning...).

If you're only concerned with right-wing ideology and not extremism itself as an issue, it means you've simply picked one side and disapprove of the other. This means you have no interest in engaging/understanding what appeals to being who gravitate towards conservative ideology in the first place and simply want to stamp out things you disagree with.

Even ASIO has come out and said that far right extremism is the biggest problem we face.

ASIO certainly aren't lefties, and this was said under Dutton's watch.