Study confirms the obvious: haters are dumb,... • Quick Hits Headlines

Study confirms the obvious: haters are dumb, conservative.

LiveScience:

There’s no gentle way to put it: People who give in to racism and prejudice may simply be dumb, according to a new study that is bound to stir public controversy.

The research finds that children with low intelligence are more likely to hold prejudiced attitudes as adults. These findings point to a vicious cycle, according to lead researcher Gordon Hodson, a psychologist at Brock University in Ontario. Low-intelligence adults tend to gravitate toward socially conservative ideologies, the study found. Those ideologies, in turn, stress hierarchy and resistance to change, attitudes that can contribute to prejudice, Hodson wrote in an email to LiveScience.

“In another study, this one in the United States, Hodson and Busseri compared 254 people with the same amount of education but different levels of ability in abstract reasoning,” the report tells us. “They found that what applies to racism may also apply to homophobia. People who were poorer at abstract reasoning were more likely to exhibit prejudice against gays. As in the U.K. citizens, a lack of contact with gays and more acceptance of right-wing authoritarianism explained the link.”

If this report gets traction in the media, expect conservatives to play the victim card; “Ivory tower eggheads look down their noses at patriotic Americans!”

Unfortunately, they’ll be too dumb to fully appreciate the irony in that.

Source: livescience.com