Conservative Politics, 'Low-Effort' Thinking Linked In New Study

[UrbScotty]

As The Huffington Post reported in February, a study published in the journal "Psychological Science" showed that children who score low on intelligence tests gravitate toward socially conservative political views in adulthood--perhaps because conservative ideologies stress "structure and order" that make it easier to understand a complicated world.

Ouch.

And now there's the new study linking conservative ideologies to "low-effort" thinking.

"People endorse conservative ideology more when they have to give a first or fast response," the study's lead author, University of Arkansas psychologist Dr. Scott Eidelman, said in a written statement released by the university.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/07/conservative-politics-low-effort-thinking_n_1410448.html?ir=Politics

[Xipe Totec]

1. Thinking is hard work. nt

[FiveGoodMen]

16. It's also the original sin

Adam & Eve ate from the "Tree of Knowledge".

The church has been trying to wipe out thinking ever since.

[psydev]

2. social justice warriors?

How then do we account for the low-effort thinking of those postmodern, white privilege theory-loving reactionaries?
You know, the children who never think before they speak?

[cyberswede]

3. What are your views on white privilege? nt

[saras]

4. It's a fundamentally flawed racist concept. There are better theories for understanding racism

That's MY take on pomo theory being shoved down my throat by professors who still take Freud and Marx seriously for their psychology and sociology, and utterly reject neurobiology as a way of understanding mind as an "invasive white technology."

In particular, there are theories and practices that help racist people change their thinking, that create more balanced education systems, that do a better job of predicting and explaining human behavior, and don't require a mystical religious conversion of the entire planet before they can start to improve anything.

Of course, I am also a racist myself, in that if I think an activity is stupid and destructive enough that I will spend scarce resources fighting it in my own life and culture, I see little or no advantage to society in helping minorities gain access to that activity, even if it is very profitable. UNLESS they are planning on going into the system and sabotaging or monkeywrenching it, in which case I will support them no matter what color they are.

The problem with "white privilege" in theory is that whites don't exist as a race either, and so it isn't REALLY white privilege - and people who settle for this term never seem to get around to talking about whose privilege it is exactly, probably because they're a lot more interested in getting into that group than they are in dismantling the source of its power.

The problem I have with "white privilege" in practice is that around 80%-90% of the people I encounter who use the term a lot are batshit crazy. They are socially incompatible with the Tea Party, usually about gender or race issues, but emotionally and intellectually would fit in just fine.

[SemperEadem]

12. thanks, but I'll stick to Tim Wise's writings on the issue

of white priviledge:
http://www.timwise.org/2011/05/trump-card-white-denial-racial-resentment-and-the-art-of-the-heel/

This white resentment is the modern manifestation of racism: it isn’t necessarily the old-school bigotry to which the nation was accustomed back in the day; rather, it’s the kind that views black and brown folks as taking things that are rightfully ours, as whites. So the brown-skinned immigrants are taking “our” jobs; the black and brown welfare cheats are taking “our” tax dollars; the affirmative action beneficiaries are taking “our” kids’ slots at Princeton, or for that matter, the state university down the road. We are entitled to these things, says the narrative; we earned them. But they didn’t.

Never mind that according to a Century Foundation study from a few years back, for every student of color who benefitted at all from affirmative action at a selective college there are two whites with lower scores and grades than the average, but who were admitted anyway because of family connections or parental alumni status.

Never mind that even when job applicants are equally qualified in terms of experience and education, applicants with white-sounding names are 50 percent more likely than those with black-sounding names to get a callback for an interview.

Never mind that white male job applicants with criminal records are more likely to get called back for an interview than black men without one, even when all other qualifications are indistinguishable.

[pscot]

13. What reading would you recommend

that explains and rationalizes your outlook?

[Zoeisright]

5. That's not surprising, but it's good to see it confirmed.

I don't know who said it, but this is certainly true: "Not all conservatives are stupid, but all stupid people are conservatives."

[mac56]

7. John Stuart Mill

[Bill USA]

9. Unfortunately there are those on the right who are still crafty enough to get suckers to vote

against their own self interest - e.g. voting for more advantages for the already advantaged, such as voting for those who want to give more tax cuts for the wealthy who already got tax cuts from Cheney's puppet.

[Doctor_J]

15. Crafty? No

Just in possession of a complete media monopoly

[Jamaal510]

6. This explains why they repeat talking points

and resort to shouting matches and name-calling in order to get their point across.

[caraher]

8. Bear in mind this applies to progressives as well

What their study showed was that anyone operating under conditions that make it hard to think carefully will express increased agreement with conservative views - not just self-identified conservatives. They looked at inebriation, time pressure, distractions - situations where "low-effort thought" was essentially all that was available to subjects.

It really didn't address whether conservatives habitually engage in this kind of thought more than those on the left.

[pscot]

14. Shoot first, ask questions later

Words to live by, in a truely hostile environment.

[Bill USA]

10. recommended. Bookmarked!

[Riverman]

11. Wow, Duh! I knew that @14 without a pinhead university study

Newsflash! Neanderthals had no creative brain capacity and did not evolve. See Pandora's Seed