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Liberalism, atheism, male sexual exclusivity linked to IQ

departuresong

departuresong

Bouncing Off Clouds
(CNN) -- Political, religious and sexual behaviors may be reflections of intelligence, a new study finds.

Evolutionary psychologist Satoshi Kanazawa at the the London School of Economics and Political Science correlated data on these behaviors with IQ from a large national U.S. sample and found that, on average, people who identified as liberal and atheist had higher IQs. This applied also to sexual exclusivity in men, but not in women. The findings will be published in the March 2010 issue of Social Psychology Quarterly.

The IQ differences, while statistically significant, are not stunning -- on the order of 6 to 11 points -- and the data should not be used to stereotype or make assumptions about people, experts say. But they show how certain patterns of identifying with particular ideologies develop, and how some people's behaviors come to be.

The reasoning is that sexual exclusivity in men, liberalism and atheism all go against what would be expected given humans' evolutionary past. In other words, none of these traits would have benefited our early human ancestors, but higher intelligence may be associated with them.

"The adoption of some evolutionarily novel ideas makes some sense in terms of moving the species forward," said George Washington University leadership professor James Bailey, who was not involved in the study. "It also makes perfect sense that more intelligent people -- people with, sort of, more intellectual firepower -- are likely to be the ones to do that."

Bailey also said that these preferences may stem from a desire to show superiority or elitism, which also has to do with IQ. In fact, aligning oneself with "unconventional" philosophies such as liberalism or atheism may be "ways to communicate to everyone that you're pretty smart," he said.
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(full article)
 
Good news for TCoD! ;D

In fact, aligning oneself with "unconventional" philosophies such as liberalism or atheism may be "ways to communicate to everyone that you're pretty smart," he said.
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wtf.
 
Dezzuu said:
like IQ tests are even really an accurate way of measuring intelligence.
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You wouldn't believe how much value the students in my school seem to put on IQ. Even the dumb ones. And they put even more value in exams. I do well in both but I still have to hold up my hands and look at them to tell left from right.
 
Didn't you ever think that there was a reason that, in US state IQ surveys, states like Massachusetts, California, and Oregon always do really well, while states like Louisiana, Georgia, and Alabama always do really badly? (I'm not bad-mouthing all people from those states - I'm just making a point.)
 
rock-ground said:
Didn't you ever think that there was a reason that, in US state IQ surveys, states like Massachusetts, California, and Oregon always do really well, while states like Louisiana, Georgia, and Alabama always do really badly? (I'm not bad-mouthing all people from those states - I'm just making a point.)
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I would imagine that would be the fault of the poor education standards in those states.
 
The Full Article said:
The study takes the American view of liberal vs. conservative. It defines "liberal" in terms of concern for genetically nonrelated people and support for private resources that help those people. It does not look at other factors that play into American political beliefs, such as abortion, gun control and gay rights.
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Now, when we say "concern for nonrelated people", would caring about my Uncle Mike count? He's the father of two of my cousins, but we aren't really related genetically. How vague...
 
i think took an iq test like last week and i haven't gotten the results. but, being a liberal atheist virgin (although that last part is just because i'm awkward as fuck), this raises my hopes a little. :\
 
Dezzuu said:
How are you not related to your uncle? I'm confused.
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A family friend who is simply called 'uncle'? It's not uncommon. I have a lot of unrelated aunts and uncles!

EDIT: Nice to know I can sex up whoever I want without it impacting my intelligence level.
 
I despise evolutionary psychology. All this "this would have benefited our ancestors, so that's why we do X!" has no basis in actual science of any kind (I don't understand why psychology is more of a science than sociology; at least sociologists don't make up "scientific explanations" for things in the form of just-so stories).

Every study reinforces the idea that women are objects of male desire, while men's wallets are the objects of female desire. Women are dumber than men, Africans dumber than Europeans, rape is a perfectly cromulent reproductive strategy, men are driven to cheat while women are driven toward monogany. Every prejudice and retrograde instinct is dressed up neatly as "science," so misogynists and racists can sleep well knowing that women and the darkies really are inferior because science says so.
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It baffles me how many people here demand proof in a religious debate and find it ridiculous to believe in something for which no proof can be offered, and yet accept the evolutionary approach to psychology (I assume) because "it makes sense". Accepting that the world was flat once made sense!

The study's results are interesting, the conclusions drawn from it are absolute rubbish, imo.
 
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