Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-lnqnp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T06:19:50.088Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Intelligence, competitive altruism, and “clever silliness” may underlie bias in academe

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 March 2017

Guy Madison ,
Edward Dutton  and
Charlotta Stern
Guy Madison
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Umeå University, SE-901 87 Umeå, [email protected]://www.psy.umu.se/english/about-the-department/staff/?uid=guma0006
Edward Dutton
Affiliation:
Ulster institute for social research, London, [email protected]
Charlotta Stern
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, Stockholm University, SE-114 18 Stockholm, Sweden. [email protected]://su.avedas.com/converis/person/4221
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Why is social bias and its depressing effects on low-status or low-performing groups exaggerated? We show that the higher intelligence of academics has at best a very weak effect on reducing their bias, facilitates superficially justifying their biases, and may make them better at understanding the benefits of social conformity in general and competitive altruism specifically. We foresee a surge in research examining these mechanisms and recommend, meanwhile, reviving and better observing scientific ideals.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 40 , 2017 , e9
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alvesson, M. (2013) The triumph of emptiness. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Baron-Cohen, S. (2011) Sex differences – a welcome dialogue. The Psychologist 24:3–4. Available at: https://thepsychologist.bps.org.uk/volume-24/edition-1/letters Google Scholar
Berggren, N., Jordahl, H. & Stern, C. (2009) The political opinions of Swedish social scientists. Finnish Economical Papers 22:75–88.Google Scholar
Charlton, B. G. (2009) Clever sillies: Why high IQ people tend to be deficient in common sense. Medical Hypotheses 73:867–70.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Charlton, B. G. (2011) Thought prison – The fundamental nature of political correctness. University of Buckingham Press.Google Scholar
Charlton, B. G. (2012) Not even trying: The corruption of real science. University of Buckingham Press.Google Scholar
Crawford, J. T., Jussim, L., Cain, T. & Cohen, F. (2013) Right-wing authoritarianism and social dominance orientation differentially predict biased evaluations of media reports. Journal of Applied Social Psychology 43:163–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Del Giudice, M. (2013) Multivariate misgivings: Is D a valid measure of group and sex differences? Evolutionary Psychology 11:1067–76.Google Scholar
Del Giudice, M., Booth, T. & Irwing, P. (2012) The distance between Mars and Venus: Measuring global sex differences in personality. PLoS ONE 7:e29265.Google Scholar
Dutton, D. G. (2012) The case against the role of gender in intimate partner violence. Aggression and Violent Behavior 17:99–104.Google Scholar
Dutton, E. (2013) The cultural mediation hypothesis: A critical examination. Intelligence 41:321–27.Google Scholar
Dutton, E. (2014) Religion and intelligence. Ulster Institute for Social Research.Google Scholar
Dutton, E. & Lynn, R. (2014) Intelligence and religious and political differences among members of the U.S. academic elite. Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion 10:1–29.Google Scholar
Dutton, E. & van der Linden, D. (2015) Who are the “Clever Sillies”? The intelligence, personality, and motives of clever silly originators and those who follow them. Intelligence 49:57–65.Google Scholar
Frisell, T., Lichtenstein, P. & Långström, N. (2011) Violent crime runs in families: A total population study of 12.5 million individuals. Psychological Medicine 41:97–105.Google Scholar
Jussim, L. (2012) Social perception and social reality: Why accuracy dominates bias and self-fulfilling prophecy. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Jussim, L., Crawford, J. T., Anglin, S. M. & Stevens, S. T. (2015a) Ideological bias in social psychological research. In: Social psychology and politics, ed. Forgas, J. P., Fiedler, K. & Crano, W., pp. 91–109. Psychology Press/Taylor & Francis.Google Scholar
Kahneman, D. (2011) Thinking, fast and slow. Farrar, Straus, and Giroux.Google Scholar
Klein, D. B. & Stern, C. (2005) Professors and their politics: The policy views of social scientists. Critical Review 17:257–303.Google Scholar
Klein, D. B. & Stern, C. (2009) By the numbers: The ideological profile of professors. In: The Politically Correct University : Problems, scope, and reforms, ed. Maranto, R., Redding, R. E., & Hess, F. M., pp. 15–37. AEI Press.Google Scholar
Långström, N., Rahman, Q., Carlström, E. & Lichtenstein, P. (2010) Genetic and environmental effects on same-sex sexual behavior: A population study of twins in Sweden. Archives of Sexual Behavior 39:75–80.Google Scholar
Lewis, J., DeGusta, D., Meyer, M., Monge, J., Mann, A. & Holloway, R. L. (2011) The mismeasure of science: Stephen Jay Gould versus Samuel George Morton on skulls and bias. PLoS Biology 9:e1001071.Google Scholar
Lippa, R. (2010) Sex differences in personality traits and gender-related occupational preferences across 53 nations: Testing evolutionary and social-environmental theories. Archives of Sexual Behavior 39:619–36.Google Scholar
Maranto, R., Redding, R. E. & Hess, F. M. (2009) The politically correct university: Problems, scope, and reforms. AEI Press.Google Scholar
Merton, R. K. (1973) The normative structure of science. In: The sociology of science: Theoretical and empirical investigations, pp. 267–80. University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Miller, G. F. (2011) The mating mind. Doubleday.Google Scholar
Mosing, M. A., Madison, G., Pedersen, N. L., Kuja-Halkola, R. & Ullén, F. (2014) Practice does not make perfect: No causal effect of music practice on music ability. Psychological Science 25:1795–803.Google Scholar
Sesardic, N. (2010) Race: A social destruction of a biological concept. Biology and Philosophy 25:143–62.Google Scholar
Söderlund, T. & Madison, G. (2015) Characteristics of gender studies publications: A bibliometric analysis based on a Swedish population database. Scientometrics 105:1347–87.Google Scholar
Stanovich, K. E. (2009) What intelligence tests miss. Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Stanovich, K. E. (2011) Who is rational? Routledge.Google Scholar
Woodley, M. A. (2010) Are high-IQ individuals deficient in common sense? A critical examination of the ‘clever sillies’ hypothesis. Intelligence 38:471–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Woodley, M. A. & Dunkel, C. S. (2015) Beyond the cultural mediation hypothesis: A reply to Dutton (2013). Intelligence 49:186–91.Google Scholar
Zahavi, A. (1975) Mate selection – A selection for a handicap. Journal of Theoretical Biology 53(1):205–14.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed