Science Daily reported that a new study finds that more intelligent people are statistically significantly to exhibit social values and atheism preference and are more apt to consider themselves liberal; these preferences are antithetical to the normal evolutionary process.
The study is being published in Social Psychology Quarterly, a peer-reviewed scientific journal. The theory, which was tested and developed at the London School of Economics and Political Science, proposes that people of higher intelligence are more likely than people of lower intelligence to adopt new preferences and values, preferences that don't correlate with older "values" that have been shaped by evolution during the past millions of years. These values are morals that would actually be against the primary evolutionary development of a species.
"General intelligence, the ability to think and reason, endowed our ancestors with advantages in solving evolutionarily novel problems for which they did not have innate solutions," states Satoshi Kanazawa who is an evolutionary psychologist involved in the project. "As a result, more intelligent people are more likely to recognize and understand such novel entities and situations than less intelligent people, and some of these entities and situations are preferences, values and lifestyles."
Kanazawa also discovered that more intelligent individuals are more likely to be nocturnal. Why? Because artificial light is fairly modern, early human beings slept with the sun--they usually woke up shortly before dawn and went to sleep soon after sunset. In this study, he argues that humans, in evolutionary terms are designed to be conservative, caring about their "tribe"(family and friends--those that you know personally), survival of their tribe over the survival of all humans, conservative nature doesn't have the "ability" to care about people/animal/nature in other than a black/white ideal(rather than nuanced).
Kanazawa's theory is supported by the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), a long term study which has found that teens who identifed themselves as "very liberal" have an IQ average of 106 contrasted by teens who identified themselves as "very conservative" ranged an average IQ of 95("normal" IQ is 100).
Similarly, religion also figures in humans' tendency to "be all end all" ideology. We are designed to be paranoid and fearful and the idea of a supreme being gives us someone to place those fears in, to believe that if we do this, "God will provide" and protect us from danger. This paranoia has helped us survive when life was much harder and more "hand to mouth" and extreme vigilance against all potential dangers were literally around every corner.
But, more intelligent offspring tend to be less paranoid, and to look at other "tribes" as less threatening. They also tend to question/explore life and see science, rather than religion as a better way to survive/assist future offspring.
