R i g h t a r d i a: Conservative IQ test

Monday, September 26, 2011

Conservative IQ test

Shane Frederick is a MIT Sloan professor who developed a new intelligence test. The test measures the ability of people to resist their first instinct sometimes referred to as "common sense."

Remember the truism about trusting your first or gut instinct? This is the way many conservatives think.

The New York Times Magazine, had a revealing interview and identified three operational principles of George W. Bush's leadership:

(1) GUT INSTINCT to reach a decision;

(2) FAITH AND PRAYER to give him the absolute, unwavering, unquestioning certainty that it's the right decision; and

(3) BOILERPLATE--simplistic, uninformative, endlessly repeated boilerplate--to explain and defend the decision.

Of course, that's not the whole picture, but the article covered a lot of ground on the way Bush operates.

MIT Sloan Professor Shane Frederick, who has developed a simple, three-item test that measures people's ability to resist their first instinct. Shane added:

“Do you want someone running your company who doesn't think beyond their first impulse,” asks Frederick, “or do you want someone who is willing to ask herself, 'Does this response really make any sense?'”

Here is one of Shane's IQ test questions:

A bat and a ball cost $1.10 in total. The bat costs $1 more than the ball. How much does the ball cost?

Many people will go for the simplistic 'gut instinct " answer that the bat costs $1 dollar and the ball 10 cents. What is interesting is that many conservatives and religious people will insist the preceding answer is correct even after they are given the correct answer. Keep in mind that the bat must cost 1 dollar more than the ball.

The question is really a 6th to 8th grade algebra question. The math that follows is proof of the correct answer.

X (bat) + Y (ball) = 110

X - Y = 100

Y = 110 - X

Y = 100 + X

Transposing and then simplifying

100 + Y = 110- Y

10 = 2Y

Y = 5 or 5 cents. The bat must therefore cost $1.05 (X + Y = $1.10)

Rightardia has talked about liberals and progressives being out of the box and conservatives being firmly in the box. Conventional wisdom is that we need need "common sense" people like ourselves as leaders.

Rightardia would contend people who are more visionary and have "uncommon sense" make better leaders.

We tried the conservative IQ test on a Teabagger in the the major's family. He wouldn't answer the question because he thought it was a "trick question." The Major provided him with some of the intro algebraic equations.

The major finally gave him the answer, but the rightard insisted that answer had to be wrong.

This is why progressives and conservatives have communications problems. There are huge intellectual and perceptual gaps between many Republicans and Democrats. The move of the GOP to the far right has widened the gap.

sources: http://mitsloan.mit.edu/newsroom/newsbriefs-0605-frederick.php

http://www.amnation.com/vfr/archives/002710.html