New research suggests that gifted men are less conservative in their political views than men of average cognitive ability. A study conducted in Germany found that men with higher IQs are less incline...

A study conducted in Germany found that men with higher IQs are less inclined to traditional values, but the lead author, psychologist and intelligence researcher Maximilian Krolo of Saarland University, said the researchers did not find these differences among women.

  • rekabis@lemmy.ca
    2·
    10 days ago

    Do we know that?

    Ran across a paper years ago that did confirm this, but laid out various reasons why, including:

    1. Many courses that employ debate/reports and the weight of proof, especially the humanities, requiring the student to even moderately master bullshit detection and critical thinking in order to pass those classes.
    2. Higher education being much more of a “melting pot”, putting the student into direct, personal contact of people coming from a wide variety of other backgrounds that they would have normally never interacted with, forcing them to directly confront personal biases and assumptions.
    3. STEM courses, in particular, being wholly dismissive of opinions and feelings in favour of facts and evidence, thereby setting up a way of interacting with, and evaluating reality, that tends to favour facts and evidence over feelings and emotions.

    As the saying goes, your kid didn’t become a “dirty leftist/commie” because they were indoctrinated by their professors. They became one as a reaction to being exposed to the wider world and all of its variety.

    • doctordevice@lemmy.ca
      1·
      10 days ago

      But was causality established? That’s a very difficult thing to do. I’d like to read the paper if you can find it.

      Because it’s just as plausible that people predisposed to think critically are more likely to both go to college and move left politically in early adulthood.