Let's Study The Study

[g5000]

Since the "Low-Effort Thought Promotes Political Conservatism" study keeps coming up on this forum and in various print media, it will probably be cited frequently in the future.

The last topic on this study got stupid, and so let's have a rational discussion about it.

I have yet to see a single article or forum topic actually link to the study itself. All kinds of spin and interpretations and jokes are made about it, but no one ever seems to go to the trouble to examine the actual study, which is pretty ironic when you consider the judgements of mental capacity that are made based on it.


Soooooo...in one part of the study, the people doing the study got some people drunk and then put some statements to them and asked them how strongly they agreed or disagreed with those statements. It turns out the more drunk the people were, the more likely they were to give a "politically conservative" answer.

After reading and talking about all this, no one has yet thought to ask what the questions were?

Here's the paper on the study: Low-Effort Thought Promotes Political Conservatism

Participants completed
a short survey that contained 10 items drawn from
Eysenck (1951, 1975) that tapped various aspects of political
conservatism (e.g., “Production and trade should be free of
government interference” and “Ultimately, privately property
should be abolished”). All items were answered on
9-point Likert-type scales (1 = strongly disagree; 9 = strongly
agree) and combined to form an index of political conservatism
(α = .62) with higher numbers, reverse-scored where
necessary, indicating more conservative political attitudes.

10 items from the Eysenck survey. Okay.

H. J. Eysenck, POLITICS AND PERSONALITY

About halfway down are the 60 items of the Eysenck survey, from which 10 were drawn for the study which is the subject of this thread.

1. The nation exists for the benefit of the individuals composing it, not the individuals for the benefit of the nation.

2. Coloured people are innately inferior to white people.

3. War is inherent in human nature.

4. Ultimately, private property should be abolished and complete Socialism introduced.

5. Persons with serious hereditary defects and diseases should be compulsorily sterilized.

6. In the interests of peace, we must give up part of our national sovereignty.

7. Production and trade should be free from government interference.

8. Divorce laws should be altered to make divorce easier.

9. The so-called underdog deserves little sympathy or help from successful people.

10. Crimes of violence should be punished by flogging.

11. The nationalization of the great industries is likely to lead to inefficiency, bureaucracy, and stagnation.

12. Men and women have the right to find out whether they are sexually suited before marriage (e.g. by trial marriage).

13. 'My country right or wrong' is a saying which expresses a fundamentally desirable attitude.

14. The average man can live a good enough life without religion.

15. It would be a mistake to have coloured people as foremen over whites.

16. People should realize that their greatest obligation is to their family.

17. There is no survival of any kind after death.

18. The death penalty is barbaric, and should be abolished.

19. There may be a few exceptions, but in general, Jews are pretty much alike.

20. The dropping of the first atom bomb on a Japanese city, killing thousands of innocent women and children, was morally wrong and incompatible with our kind of civilization.

21. Birth control, except when recommended by a doctor, should be made illegal.

22. People suffering from incurable diseases should have the choice of being put painlessly to death.

23. Sunday-observance is old-fashioned, and should cease to govern our behaviour.

24. Capitalism is immoral because it exploits the worker by failing to give him full value for his productive labour.

25. We should believe without question all that we are taught by the Church.

26. A person should be free to take his own life, if he wishes to do so, without any interference from society.

27. Free love between men and women should be encouraged as a means towards mental and physical health.

28. Compulsory military training in peace-time is essential for the survival of this country.

29. Sex crimes such as rape and attacks on children, deserve more than mere imprisonment; such criminals ought to be flogged or worse.

30. A white lie is often a good thing.

31. The idea of God is an invention of the human mind.

32. It is wrong that men should be permitted greater sexual freedom than women by society.

33. The Church should attempt to increase its influence on the life of the nation.

34. Conscientious objectors are traitors to their country, and should be treated accordingly.

35. The laws against abortion should be abolished.

36. Most religious people are hypocrites.

37. Sex relations except in marriage are always wrong.

38. European refugees should be left to fend for themselves.

39. Only by going back to religion can civilization hope to survive.

40. It is wrong to punish a man if he helps another country because he prefers it to his own.

41. It is just as well that the struggle of life tends to weed out those who cannot stand the pace.

42. In taking part in any form of world organization, this country should make certain that none of its independence and power is lost.

43. Nowadays, more and more people are prying into matters which do not concern them.

44. All forms of discrimination against the coloured races, the Jews, etc., should be made illegal, and subject to heavy penalties.

45. It is right and proper that religious education in schools should be compulsory.

46. Jews are as valuable citizens as any other group.

47. Our treatment of criminals is too harsh; we should try to cure them, not punish them.

48. The Church is the main bulwark opposing the evil trends in modern society.

49. There is no harm in travelling occasionally without a ticket, if you can get away with it.

50. The Japanese are by nature a cruel people.

51. Life is so short that a man is justified in enjoying himself as much as he can.

52. An occupation by a foreign power is better than war.

53. Christ was divine, wholly or partly in a sense different from other men.

54. It would be best to keep coloured people in their own districts and schools, in order to prevent too much contact with whites.

55. Homosexuals are hardly better than criminals, and ought to be severely punished.

56. The universe was created by God.

57. Blood sports, like fox hunting for instance, are vicious and cruel, and should be forbidden.

58. The maintenance of internal order within the nation is more important than ensuring that there is complete freedom for all.

59. Every person should have complete faith in some supernatural power whose decisions he obeys without question.

60. The practical man is of more use to society than the thinker.

This is clearly not an aptitude test.

The paper does not indicate which 10 questions were used.

Some questions are obviously phrased in such a way that if you answer in the affirmative, you are Conservative. Others are phrased in such a way that if you answer in the affirmative, you are a Liberal. So the "grading" of the test is not done by how many affirmatives you give, but by which specific items you agree with in the affirmative.

So let's take the question, "It is wrong to punish a man if he helps another country because he prefers it to his own." This is one phrased in such a way that a negative response is the Conservative position.

I would strongly argue that someone who believes punishing traitors is the right thing to do is not a stupid person. And it certainly does not take a lot of mental effort to see why punishing traitors is the right answer.

So you see, this test does not gauge intelligence. It gauges one's political beliefs.

The people doing the study noticed the more drunk people were, the more they gave "politicaly conservative" answers. And since the subjects were drunk, they correlated the mental incapacitation that comes with drunkeness with political conservatism. They committed a basic post hoc ergo propter hoc logical fallacy.

There is another problem, as well.

Suppose the study used this item from the Eysenck survey: "Compulsory military training in peace-time is essential for the survival of this country."

Is an affirmative answer really the Conservative position? Eysenck thought so at the time he created this question shortly after WWII at the peak of the Cold War. But very few people today, not even Conservatives, believe in conscription.

So that is no longer an accurate gauge of the Conservative position. Therefore, if that item, or other such superannuated items, were used on the drunks in the study, the results are plainly erroneous.

 

[occupied]

This is not the kind of academic study that definitively answers a question but rather the kind that suggests a course of further study although no conservative on this board should be a stranger to accusations of being intellectually lazy.

 

[g5000]

...no conservative on this board should be a stranger to accusations of being intellectually lazy.

 

[Ravi]

You've misinterpreted the study. Low effort thought is merely operating on an emotional level.

You didn't put much thought in to this, did you?

 

[ThinkCritically]

I thought drinking just makes you more honest.....I mean conservative

 

[Quantum Windbag]

This is not the kind of academic study that definitively answers a question but rather the kind that suggests a course of further study although no conservative on this board should be a stranger to accusations of being intellectually lazy.

Accusations are only proof in the minds of lazy people.

Are you lazy? If not, why don't you condemn studies that are not scientific studies that are not scientific? How does a non scientific study suggest further study?

 

[Quantum Windbag]

You've misinterpreted the study. Low effort thought is merely operating on an emotional level.

You didn't put much thought in to this, did you?

Who misinterpreted the study? Have you ever met anyone who, after getting drunk, became more conservative? Do frat boys at colleges typically go out and vote for conservatives after a kegger?

Given that the study somehow linked an increase in alcohol levels in blood to conservative political thought the only people that could possibly be accused of misinterpreting it would be people who know other people who, after getting drunk, are less likely to sleep with each other. Frankly, I doubt people like that actually exist.

 

[Ravi]

You've misinterpreted the study. Low effort thought is merely operating on an emotional level.

You didn't put much thought in to this, did you?

Who misinterpreted the study? Have you ever met anyone who, after getting drunk, became more conservative? Do frat boys at colleges typically go out and vote for conservatives after a kegger?

Given that the study somehow linked an increase in alcohol levels in blood to conservative political thought the only people that could possibly be accused of misinterpreting it would be people who know other people who, after getting drunk, are less likely to sleep with each other. Frankly, I doubt people like that actually exist.

Are you drunk?

 

[Quantum Windbag]

You've misinterpreted the study. Low effort thought is merely operating on an emotional level.

You didn't put much thought in to this, did you?

Who misinterpreted the study? Have you ever met anyone who, after getting drunk, became more conservative? Do frat boys at colleges typically go out and vote for conservatives after a kegger?

Given that the study somehow linked an increase in alcohol levels in blood to conservative political thought the only people that could possibly be accused of misinterpreting it would be people who know other people who, after getting drunk, are less likely to sleep with each other. Frankly, I doubt people like that actually exist.

Are you drunk?

I had a glass of wine about 4 years ago, I doubt it.

 

[daveman]

"It's true because I WANT it to be true!!"

/leftist