Revisiting the link between low verbal intelligence and ideology

Beyond the Cultural Mediation Hypothesis: A reply to Dutton (2013)

“…CMH prediction 3 is also disconfirmed, as the GFP does not appear to substantially mediate the association between IQ and leftism, which replicates the findings of other studies (e.g. Leeson, Heaven, & Ciarrochi, 2012).…”

“…It is simply that they must learn to identify and espouse the 'correct' orientation-a process that takes time. Sophisticated ideologies may serve as indexes of both high g and specialized cognitive abilities, such as verbal ability for example (Heaven, Ciarrochi, & Leeson, 2011;Leeson et al, 2012) and certain components of political orientations can serve as costly signals of intelligence also, such as altruism (Millet & Dewitte, 2007). When the intelligent develop ideology that pushes the normative center of gravity in a direction approved by other intelligent individuals, this yields even greater potential fitness returns in the form of social status elevation (Deary et al, 2008;Geher & Gambacorta, 2010).…”