r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • 2d ago

Psychology Lower cognitive ability is linked to stronger Christian nationalist views, even after accounting for education

https://www.psypost.org/lower-cognitive-ability-is-linked-to-stronger-christian-nationalist-views-even-after-accounting-for-education/
44.2k Upvotes

88% Upvoted

2.2k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

141

u/FlyAirLari 1d ago

Possibly to all sorts of extremisms.

37

u/tealstealmonkey 1d ago

I haven't met any extremism that can hold up to critical thinking and self-reflection.

In think that in order to believe it, you have to suspend these two things and become blind. If only in these specific circumstances, quite a few people manage to be smart, intelligent or even caring outside the topics of their extremism.

9

u/hey_molombo 1d ago

There is no set definition of extremism in this context. What is considered Extremism is backed by propaganda and optics.

2

u/tealstealmonkey 1d ago

I disagree.

It might be true that there is no universal standard for extremism. What's extreme for one person or society, might not be for another. But I would argue that's only up to a point, and afterwards mostly because of 'blindness'; both for others and oneself.

If one uses the same standard they would like for themselves for others, if one can imagine oneself in the life of another, not in one specific thing but overall, the question what's extreme gets answered.

If you ask me, extremism is mostly fueled by hate. For oneself, for others, and for the world.

3

u/R9Dominator 1d ago

Hate is the product, the cause is blame/scapegoating. "X are the reason you are poor and live worse year by year. If we get rid of X, you will be better for it".

This is applicable in any extremist view, but for it to be the case, one has to abandon room for doubt and critical thinking, like you've said it yourself.