Tobias Edwards Quoted in Psypost Article on Cognitive Abilities and Political Participation

In a recent article on Psypost, graduate student Tobias Edwards was quoted about his research on cognitive abilities and political attitudes. Edwards and co-authors found verbal intelligence predicted political participation and liberal political attitudes twice as well as non-verbal intelligence. This suggests our ability to consider verbal arguments might alter our political beliefs. The study used data collected by the Minnesota Center for Twin and Family Research.

Psypost concluded their piece with a quote from Tobias Edwards calling for careful consideration in how the results are interpreted: 

Those with greater verbal ability report voting more and being more engaged in civic affairs, suggesting they may have more influence over society,” Edwards added. “An apocryphal quote, often ascribed to the intelligence researcher Edward Thorndike, states: ‘Colors fade, temples crumble, empires fall, but wise words endure.’ The power of wise words is reassuring to those sympathetic to the wordsmiths, although others will wonder whether the gift of gab is all too easily confused with wisdom

 

Tobias Edwards, graduate student, advised by Dr. James Lee in the Personality, Individual Differences, and Behavior Genetics (PIB) program in the Department of Psychology at the University of Minnesota.

Composed by Madison Stromberg, communications assistant.

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