Study finds Conservative views linked to "low effort" thinking

Originally posted by WhoDat09
I think the study, and the Huffington Post are both flawed....

I think it is very true, I also get very frustrated with conservatives because
the reasoning for positions is very shallow as if the conclusion was reached
after thinking for three or four seconds.

LOL.

You idiots realize that the Huffington Post only reported this, right?

They didn't actually do the study.

Apparently you can add "poor reading comprehension" to those outcomes.

reply to post by sageofmonticello

I would bet on a conservative over a liberal any day of the week on an IQ test.

I find it hilarious that you said that, while having a link to a thread in your signature titled "Left vs Right... A Plea to Stop the Madness "

This may come as a surprise but conservative is a catch all term that literally paints a large brush over a great number of people who have very different political thoughts and views.

And what exactly do you think you are doing when you say crap like:

I would bet on a conservative over a liberal any day of the week on an IQ test.

Seriously, if you are gonna preach, you'd better at least pretend to practice.

title is misleading, these "studies" are a dime a dozen. But the fact remains, it's partially true. Conservative politics tends to dip towards low effort thinking.

Don't take my word for it, put on ANY conservative radio host, tv host, news caster, and just listen to them for a few minutes.

Of course, this goes no way towards being a true generalization, just like you assuming everyone with "liberal" views is an idiot.

P.S. google "liberalism" read the wiki on it, then reflect on your conservative views. You, my friend, outside of the US of A are a liberal. Only in the US is it a slur, republicans stand more towards liberalism than the democrats do.

But hey, you'd have to analyze the facts, and that requires "effort thinking" you game bro?

Strange, I didn't need a study to notice this!

Since conservative are individual thinkers and liberals social thinkers it's easy to point out that,
limiting our thinking to us as an individual requires much less effort than thinking for everyone at the same time.

Conservatives = Everyone should be like me
Liberals = Everyone should be happy

Oh and to require even less thinking, we can just look at the constitution to make decisions.
100% of it is still up to date with 2012, yes of course...

Edit : This doesn't mean that conservative are stupid or have lower IQ, they just aren't that good with social measures.

AHHHH the ol...

"you dont think the same as me , so you must be either stupid, or mentally unstable" approach....


IMO people who buy INTO this sort of drivel have an issue with low effort thinking......

I find it highly ironic that they would post a piece like this, knowing the only people that would believe it, would have to lack critical thinking skills themselves

Originally posted by CB328
This is exactly what I have been saying for a while. People who don't want to have to think for themselves adopt conservative positions, because they are quick and simple, and don't require much analysis. I think they also don't want to take responsibility for their own decisions, so they adopt the conventional views, whether they make sense or not.

Your post, the flawed study, and your assumption of superiority by mere political association; Rings reminicent of past Governments and current police-states. I've often found those who espouse "tolerance" to others, are often themselves the most intolerent people i've ever met.

If there is something idealogical, that stands in the way of of a ruler or a leadership-class it needs be removed. How do you go about this ? Direct confrontation with an idea or belief is impossible, and while physical suppression of people or peoples who share this believe is possible, it often leads to backlash. Sympathy from the majority ruled, towards the victimized believers is one such backlash. A deeper engraved believe of pre-mentioned idealogy is another. Indeed suppressing the believer, leads to others hearing of such ideas and causes it to spread further.

So what to do ? Enter propaganda. You convince the people that THEY don't like the idealogy/belief. You entertain them with the concept that they are mentally greater/superior AND/OR establish the "group-think" that such beliefs can only be held by the mentally-ill or the mentally inferior.

Much like how the NAZIS related physical-deformity, with being like a rabit who was too slow to avoid the wolves; And is a drag to the rest of the population. They should be culled because thier physical-deformity is a drain on the rest of the system. They must go. And as such soo too should the mentally-ill. But before one can cull the mentally-ill and the mentally retarded, a standard of who exactly falls under those catagories must be established..... Once again, enter propaganda... Those who do not share MY belief are clearly mentally inferior due to one reason or another. Those who do not view the ruling-class as justified & trusted leaders, are clearly mentally-ill/insane.

Once the public at large is convinced that NOT sharing a certain belief is insane, removing dissent becomes much easier; As the public at large does not want to be pulled down by those mentall-ill and inferior conservatives, in this case.


In short, claiming someone to be mentally challenged due to them sharing a different political belief is extremly dangerous ground. One that man has tread before at the cost of genocide.

Originally posted by CB328
This is exactly what I have been saying for a while. People who don't want to have to think for themselves adopt conservative positions, because they are quick and simple, and don't require much analysis. I think they also don't want to take responsibility for their own decisions, so they adopt the conventional views, whether they make sense or not.

In related news, black people all have grilles on their teeth and wear their pants halfway down their butts, Latinos are all illegal aliens that drive lowriders and Jewish people are all money-grubbers. Seriously, do your part to stop the divide-and-conquer mentality by not posting uninformed drivel like this.

Jesus Christ, not another political bait thread quoting another bullsht "study" by some liberal group.

Not biased at all.

Originally posted by satron
Political ideology has nothing to do with thoughtfulness.

How do you figure? So how do people come up with views, do they flip a coin? Of course some thought is put into it, though I do agree that in most cases not enough thought is put into the decision.

Originally posted by Chewingonmushrooms

Originally posted by satron
Political ideology has nothing to do with thoughtfulness.

How do you figure? So how do people come up with views, do they flip a coin? Of course some thought is put into it, though I do agree that in most cases not enough thought is put into the decision.

World experience.

reply to post by User8911


BRAVO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Originally posted by satron

Originally posted by Chewingonmushrooms

Originally posted by satron
Political ideology has nothing to do with thoughtfulness.

How do you figure? So how do people come up with views, do they flip a coin? Of course some thought is put into it, though I do agree that in most cases not enough thought is put into the decision.

World experience.

World experience is just that experience. But to make a decision you must have thought, because you cannot choose one or another without knowing the differences (which also involves thought) and then choosing, which in itself implies thinking.

Originally posted by beezzer
As for your terms, yes, "classic/traditional liberalism" called for smaller government and personal responsibility. All things that today, modern conservatives espouse.

Todays more modern liberal-leftist? Um, not so much.

There is no left-wing in main stream politics.

There is only different degrees of right, some more liberal than others. Liberalism is not automatically a left-wing ideology.

Problem is because the MSM has twisted terms it doesn't mean you have to hate the ideology. If everyone who called themselves left-wing supported Hitler I would still consider myself left-wing, because I don't base my understanding of terms on others misunderstanding.

What the true left stands for and what true leftists want has nothing to do with the liberal garbage that goes on in media and politics. I don't want to increase taxes, I want a change of the whole system so taxes are not required.

A lot of 'lefties' make the mistake of trying to change laws to make things more fair, but that doesn't work, but it also doesn't make left-wing ideology bad. You shouldn't base your beliefs on what people do or say, you should base it on the true definitions, and make sure you don't contradict yourself like others do.

Also in reality conservatives in power are not for smaller government for your benefit, only to benefit themselves, so they can exploit you more easily.

If you look at the history of politics it's easy to see that the right appropriated left wing terms in order to confuse the people into supporting something that is not in their best interest. Nazi Germany, and Communist Russia, did the same thing. True right-wing ideology is for more authority, more laws, more government control for their benefit.

In left wing ideology there is no government required. Anarchism is a left-wing socialist ideology.

"Anarchism is stateless socialism", Mikhail Bakunin.

Ultimately the left is NO government, the right is authoritative government. Just because the terms have been twisted in the MSM, and misused by people, it doesn't mean they don't still apply as they originally did. The right calling for smaller government is not a good thing while we still have capitalism. Capitalism requires large government for our protection, and the capitalists require it to protect themselves from us. Small government under capitalism is an unattainable goal, the real unreachable utopia.

The only way we can have no government is if the workers owned and controlled the means of production, otherwise nothing would stop the capitalists from being the government/state, as they already are.

There are a lot of "conservatives are stupid" threads, citing some scientific studies or research. There are hardly any similar threads done by conservatives.

Why? Because liberals thrive on ad-hominem attack. They are not motivated by reason but by hate only. All these threads by liberals are living proof of that.

Originally posted by Chewingonmushrooms

Originally posted by satron

Originally posted by Chewingonmushrooms

Originally posted by satron
Political ideology has nothing to do with thoughtfulness.

How do you figure? So how do people come up with views, do they flip a coin? Of course some thought is put into it, though I do agree that in most cases not enough thought is put into the decision.

World experience.

World experience is just that experience. But to make a decision you must have thought, because you cannot choose one or another without knowing the differences (which also involves thought) and then choosing, which in itself implies thinking.

edit on 11-4-2012 by Chewingonmushrooms because: (no reason given)

Yes but the point is that thoughtfulness won't determine you to be one political ideology over another.

There is the 'left' and 'right' of mainstream politics, and there is the true left and right. Political ideas have been twisted from their original, and true, definitions and ideals, and those falsehoods have become the common, or mainstream, understanding, or misunderstandings of those terms. But in the real world the original definitions are still valid and relevant. Once you understand the true definitions, then what I'm waffling on about makes sense.

Most people only understand the mainstream because they are either naive, ignorant of anything else, or too lazy to find out for themselves.

It's so easy to take a position based on the mainstream. You pick a label and the media tells you how to feel, how to think, what to be interested in. It gives you the illusion of thinking for yourself because the mainstream perpetuates that thinking, and offers positive confirmation for it. The media also perpetuates the desire to fit in, making it easier to direct your thoughts into accepting mainstream ideas.

It's all done to make someone else profit. Your whole life is directed towards you making someone else profit. Why do people become famous? Because they make lots of profit for someone else.

It's not hard to spot those who are really not thinking for themselves, when they think they understand a particular political, or economic, idea but fail to understand it's real meaning, and argue from the mainstream point of view. All these silly arguments against socialism wouldn't even exist if they actually read a book, or two. But most are scared to even crack a cover, because they fear being wrong. I know that from experience.

Being 'left-wing' means nothing more than you are for government reform, from smaller to no state at all. The extreme being anarchism, libertarian

Being right-wing means you support the state system, and more authority. It's extreme being fascism.

That is how it has been everywhere in the world until the US right appropriated left-wing terms, and twisted their meanings. It was what Hitler did in the 1930's. Some uninformed Americans still try to claim Hitler was left-wing because of his use of the term 'socialism'. Which was of course a lie perpetuated by the American right in order to distance themselves from fascism. Not that it matters, only on the superficial level. Even IF Hitler was a socialist (he wasn't) it doesn't mean socialism is bad. A hammer is a hammer, whether it's used to hit nails, or hit heads. We don't hate hammers because someone used one for evil.

In their true definition everyone is either right, or left wing. It's not a label you choose, it's how you feel about authority and the state. It's not a set of rules. The mainstream make it a set of rules. My left is not the mainstream left, but the true left who's goal is ultimately free association. Free of the restrictions of state, social class and authority, true liberty. The only logical, practical, way to do that is through worker ownership.

The original political meanings of ‘left’ and ‘right’ have changed since their origin in the French estates general in 1789. There the people sitting on the left could be viewed as more or less anti-statists with those on the right being state-interventionists of one kind or another. In this interpretation of the pristine sense, libertarianism was clearly at the extreme left-wing.

www.la-articles.org.uk...

reply to post by lucid eyes


I wouldn't say conservatives are stupid, but they do tend to be people who don't think beyond what the mainstream is telling them. But the same thing goes for liberals.

The MSM caters for both 'sides', sides they perpetuated in the first place. They have put you all in boxes in order for someone else to make profit.

That is the point of my more long winded posts.

reply to post by CB328




Not much difference between this kind of bigotry and political spin and things like Racism is there?

I expect lots more of this sort of nonsense until the election. Narcissism is rampant these days.

People who don't want to have to think for themselves adopt conservative positions, because they are quick and simple, and don't require much analysis. I think they also don't want to take responsibility for their own decisions, so they adopt the conventional views, whether they make sense or not.

reply to post by CB328


If that's the case, there's huge generation of school aged children that meet this same criteria. So I guess we have a whole generation of conservatives coming our way.

Um......no

My thought patterns are much more complicated than you would think. First off i am conservative but only because it lends to being more practical. yes simple is good.....and the simpler your life is the better IMO.

2nd, I find most people that aren't conservative tied up with petty tangiable worries that drive their existance. not to mention most of them are busy bodies who have some stupid need to involve themselves with business that is not theirs to begin with. Most people who are not conservative do not know how to live within their means in a plausable sense.

Conservatism doesn't always equal some bible thumper from the south who holds narrow views of the world. I am very educated and I didn't need to go into a huge amount of debt to do it. Through much effort and hard work I got my degree without having to borrow a dime from ole uncle sammy.........doesn't seem to fit the articles borders of what a conservative would do.