Whom you hate is influenced by your intelligence, study says

We human beings are a prejudiced bunch; we often find ourselves hating other people for a variety of reasons (or non-reasons), with those who are different from us the frequent focus of our intolerance. Previous studies have already demonstrated that the lower your overall intelligence, the more hateful you are of others. A recent study, however, suggests that no matter how clever or stupid your brain is, we’re all haters. The only difference is whom we choose to hate.

The study discovered that people possessing higher intelligence have a tendency to be prejudiced against people or groups “perceived as conservative, conventional, and having higher levels of choice over group membership.”

On the other hand, people who are less intelligent are more likely to hate groups “who are perceived as liberal" and "unconventional,” as well as those “having lower levels of choice over group membership.” In other words, they are more likely to hate you for traits you have little to no control over, such as gender, sexual orientation, or race.

“People dislike people who are different from them,” the study’s authors, social psychologists Mark Brandt and Jarret Crawford, explained to Broadly. “Derogating people with different worldviews can help people maintain the validity of their own world view.” Simply put, by putting down others who see the world differently from you, you convince yourself that your own way of seeing the world is the correct one.

Boundaries

Brandt and Crawford arrived at their results after conducting a study involving 5,914 subjects. They measured the cognitive ability of each volunteer by having them undergo a wordsum test, which bears a correlation to the intelligence quotient (IQ) of an individual. They then posed a series of questions to the subjects to gauge their attitudes towards stereotypes about specific groups.

Aside from the inclination to hate groups born with a specific status, such as LGBT and racial minorities, less intelligent people tend to perceive groups as in possession of “clear boundaries” that make them explicitly different from each other. By believing other groups are utterly distinct from their own, they are able to view said other groups as distant, and therefore less threatening.

“Having clear boundaries helps people feel like the opposing group is distinct and far away,” explained the researchers. “That is, they won’t be so much of a threat.”

These findings are in line with those of a previous study that showed how low IQ and conservative beliefs are linked to racism and other types of prejudice.

Haters gonna hate

More cognitively capable individuals might think themselves enlightened, and above petty human things such as hate. Unfortunately, bright bulbs are just as prejudiced as their dimmer cousins.

“People high in cognitive ability express more prejudice against high-choice groups,” stated the psychologists. So while smart people are less likely to hate you for having dark skin, or for having a vagina instead of a penis—both traits you don’t choose to be born with—they might end up hating you for choosing to buy that expensive premium smartphone when you could have used that money to send yourself to school. Or for donating money to extraordinarily wealthy modern-day evangelists who possess their own fleet of helicopters, instead of lending your support to legit charity organizations.

According to the researchers, more intelligent people “may be especially angered by groups that they think should be able to change their minds.”

Fortunately, there are proven ways to change people’s minds. For example, an earlier study demonstrated how having a bigot engage in a 10-minute conversation with a member of a marginalized community can greatly reduce the former’s prejudice against the latter. The reduction in prejudice lasts for a minimum of 3 months, which probably underlines the importance of constant communication between different groups.

Brandt and Crawford’s research was published in the Social Psychological and Personality Science (SPPS) journal. — BM, GMA News