Tommy Tainant
Diamond Member
People with extremist views less able to do complex mental tasks, research suggests
Cambridge University team say their findings could be used to spot people at risk from radicalisation
www.theguardian.com
Well , I think that deep down we all knew this. But scientific evidence like this will help our society combat the rise of extremist filth in years to come. It explains the herd mentality behind trumpism. The Capitol insurrection. The abusive and aggresssive stance and the overwhelming fear of "other".
Read the report's findings and find yourself nodding in agreement.
A key finding was that people with extremist attitudes tended to think about the world in black and white terms, and struggled with complex tasks that required intricate mental steps, said lead author Dr Leor Zmigrod at Cambridge’s department of psychology.
And
“Individuals or brains that struggle to process and plan complex action sequences may be more drawn to extreme ideologies, or authoritarian ideologies that simplify the world,” she said.
Interestingly the Scientists distinguish between conservatives and the reall extremist loons.
The UK has seen the damage that this causes and can reference brexit as an outcome, a disastrous outcome of stupid people being unable to process facts.
Now I would ask my many American friends to consider the value of discussing any complex issue with an extremist. Is there any point ? Climate change is a complex issue that requires more than one sentence to explain it. Is this character likely to grasp it even if you speak slowly and use small words ?
Of course not. He will grasp at some simplistic nonsense that he has read on the internet because of course it must be true.
So I submit that this Cambridge study answers the big question.
Why do extremists believe such stupid shit ?
The answer,of course, is because they are stupid.