Four Studies: Conservatism the Result of Low-Effort Thinking

Simpletons ...

Good news for conservatives as a compilation of four recent social psychology studies demonstrate that rather than necessarily being pathological, political conservatism is promoted when people rely on low-effort thinking.

In the four studies conducted by Scott Eidelman, Christian S. Crandall, Jeffrey A. Goodman, and John C. Blanchar published by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc, they concluded, “(P)olitical conservatism is promoted when people rely on low-effort thinking. When effortful, deliberate responding is disrupted or disengaged, thought processes become quick and efficient; these conditions promote conservative ideology… low-effort thought might promote political conservatism because its concepts are easier to process, and processing fluency increases attitude endorsement.”

Whether that low-effort thinking comes from being busy, overwhelmed, or inebriated, the study shows that under conditions of what we could call cognitive impairment or limited time resulting in low-effort thinking, people are more conservative politically.

As for those centrists (or, come election time, undecided voters), your suspicions appear to be correct. “People with strong political views—left or right—show more cognitive ability than broadly defined centrists.” (Kemmelmeier, 2008)



http://www.politicususa.com/studies-show-political-conservatism-promoted-people-rely-low-effort-thinking.html

Study methods: “We tested these ideas in four studies. Study 1 was conducted in vivo at a local bar, with alcohol intoxication serving as a hindrance to effortful thinking; political attitudes of bar patrons were correlated with a measure of their blood alcohol content (BAC). In Study 2, we measured participants’ political attitudes under normal working conditions or cognitive load. In Study 3, we manipulated time pressure and measured the endorsement of terms related to liberal and conservative beliefs. We expected alcohol, load, and time pressure to interfere with effortful information processing, leaving participants to lean more heavily on thinking that was easy and efficient. In Study 4, we manipulated effortful processing directly by asking participants to consider political terms in a deliberate or cursory manner. In all studies, we expected low-effort thought to promote conservative ideology.”

Sal wrote:Thanks for that fine example of low-effort thinking, Neko.

One of these so called studies was done in a bar. The others were done using very small samples of psychology students. Now, who's talking about 'low effort' thinking? How much more 'low effort' can you get than going to a bar to do a "study"?

Nekochan wrote:

Sal wrote:Thanks for that fine example of low-effort thinking, Neko.

One of these so called studies was done in a bar. The others were done using very small samples of psychology students. Now, who's talking about 'low effort' thinking? How much more 'low effort' can you get than going to a bar to do a "study"?

It is funny that the narrow minded, quivering, ultra-liberal dimwit who started the thread uses an avatar that appears to be holding a bottle of whiskey. A sedative for the inactive mind or "brain" juice for more ill-conceived ultra-liberal rants?