Exploring the complicated link between intelligence and discrimination

The long-standing and largely commonly shared belief is that it is those of a lower IQ who discriminate more.

So the more stupid you are, arguably the more likely you are to be racist. 

Or homophobic.

Whilst an easy weapon to throw at those partaking in obvious discrimination, the link is unfortunately not quite as straightforward as low intelligence = more discrimination.

In fact, when the definition of discrimination is extended beyond what it’s typically taken to suggest (race, sexual preference) to a wider grouping, it turns out that both people with a higher IQ and a lower IQ discriminate equally.

Just against different sorts of people.

And although your IQ doesn’t necessarily define intelligence correctly, it has been used in most studies to represent intelligence and measure against a person’s discriminatory practices, so I’ll largely be defining it as such throughout this piece.

Diving into the differences between how people discriminate is complex but necessary in a world in which all people participate in this unjust treatment of others.

Only with awareness and knowledge of how and why we act can we work collaboratively to make changes in both our conscious and unconscious biases and combat discrimination.

So are you ready to get to grips with some uncomfortable truths?

1) We discriminate according to our intelligence (but discriminate we do)

Humans still engage in hatred and discrimination; it just differs according to their intelligence, says a 2016 study by Mark Brandt and Jarrett Crawford.

They investigated the link between the targets of prejudice and cognitive ability of those doing the discriminating.

The study found that those with a lower IQ showed prejudice towards minorities and more liberal groups.

In contrast, those with a higher IQ also showed prejudice but towards more conservative groups, such as religious fundamentalists.

Speaking to Live Science, Mark Brandt explained the results:

“Because our study finds this on both ends of the cognitive ability continuum, it suggests this isn’t just something that’s unique to people with low cognitive ability.

“The simplest explanation for this result is that both people with high and low cognitive ability seem to express prejudice towards people they disagree with.

The bottom line from this research suggests that being cleverer (according to the intelligence quotient at least) doesn’t mean you’re any less likely to discriminate.

Which makes sense, when you think about it.

You might recently have watched Oppenheimer, in which case you’ll have a clearer idea of what I’m talking about.

A room full of the most educated, most intelligent scientists in the world, yet they find reasons to discriminate against each other according to their beliefs or gender.

And whilst one might blindly think that these top-tiered IQ individuals would not partake in discrimination according to older research, gender discrimination remains extremely common in scientific workplaces.

A recent study found that half of women who work in STEM (science, tech, engineering and math) roles reported having experienced some form of discrimination according to their gender.

This was reported as higher than women working in non-STEM jobs, many of which involve colleagues of a lower IQ.

2) The influence of choice upon who we discriminate against

Having confirmed that both low and high IQ individuals partake in discrimination, the study delved further into the who and the why of the target groups.

Choice, interestingly, seems to be the deciding factor.

Those with a lower IQ tended to dislike groups of people (and people within those groups) who had no choice in their inclusion to these groups.

For example, blacks, Asians, Hispanics, and LGBTQ individuals. 

In a nutshell, those of a lower IQ discriminate more against people who have no control over their individuality.

On the other hand, higher IQ individuals took a dislike to groups and individuals who had an active choice in their inclusion; such as Christian fundamentalists, the military, and big corporations. 

Those with a higher IQ seemed to judge more those who had chosen to follow a certain path or belief system.

The conclusion for reasons behind high IQ and low IQ individuals engaging in discrimination boils down to the same concept; a basic disagreement of moral values.

This element of choice however makes it more complicated. 

It might be possible to hypothesize and suggest that high IQ individuals continue to judge and discriminate but more so those who they think can do better in changing their own belief systems to match theirs.

Lower IQ individuals care less for this element of active choice, more plainly for the differences in views with their target groups.

3) But Liberals are exempt, right?

As many liberals pride themselves on being open to all sorts of new ideas and experiences, it would be easy to assume they don’t discriminate.

But surprisingly, they’re no strangers to discrimination. 

Implicit bias affects most of us, and you could say that we’re all a little bit racist. 

Or at the least, discriminatory towards some group whether we’re conscious of it or not – regardless of intelligence.

This can include thinking that all Asian people like rice, so getting confused when your Asian American friend declines it as a side dish.

Or because you grew up in an environment where a woman’s role was deemed to be in the home, you struggle to sometimes see them as candidates for CEOs or business leaders.

Equally, implicit bias and racial prejudice can appear in oddly well-meaning yet discriminatory ways.

A 2018 study, white liberals were found to partake in a ‘competence downshift’ where they dumbed themselves down in writing an email to a subject with a stereotypically Black name versus a stereotypically White name.

White conservatives did not change their wording according to the recipient’s presumed race.

The participants were largely undergraduate university students, so it may be presumed that they have an above average IQ.

The authors stress that the findings were made on limited preliminary evidence.

 However, it highlights some difficult and less obvious yet ironic discriminatory treatments that continue to often go unnoticed and require more attention:

“Whites who may be more affiliative toward Blacks alter their verbal responses toward them in a way that matches negative stereotypes. Despite the patronizing behavior that they enact, these liberal candidates may hold more goodwill toward minorities.”

Whilst white liberals of high IQ might oppose obvious racial stereotyping and discrimination according to these stereotypes, they remain aware of these stereotypes.

In some cases, they employ these discriminatory tactics personally in interactions with individuals of a different race in an attempt to better get on what they consider ‘their level’, in a patronizing yet backward manner.

4) So everyone discriminates? What can we do about it?

I can graze only lightly on what an incredibly complex link exists between intelligence and discrimination.

The takeaway is that pointing fingers and shunning certain groups is not only reserved for low IQ individuals.

True, they might be the ones traditionally discriminating against people who have no choice over the color of their skin or their sexual preferences, but as the above point shows – it’s not even as clear cut as that.

Everyone, on some level, holds a degree of prejudice and discrimination towards another group; be it conscious or unconscious.

Being of higher IQ does not make you exempt from passing judgement.

It just means that you judge and discriminate, but in a much more complex and nuanced manner.

Thankfully, we can grow from awareness and openness, from becoming more conscious of our internal biases and allowing for constructive criticism and feedback.

And whilst being more intelligent does not disavow someone from discriminating completely, those who become more conscious of their own internal prejudices can use that knowledge and combine it with their intelligence.

This can make for a powerful combination for individuals to begin holding each other accountable, combatting their own internal bias, and making others more aware of where they stray into discriminatory practices.

In doing so, in widening their perspective of the world and rewiring their own internal bias, people will also accumulate more of their own intelligence.

Conclusion

The link between intelligence and discrimination remains incredibly muddied and complex, but of a few things you can be certain.

Everyone is guilty of discrimination; whether conscious or not.

Even AI.

People tend to discriminate differently according to their IQ and base this off the target groups choices (or lack thereof).

But there are also intricate ways in which discrimination appears even beyond those simplified brackets, even for those who seemingly try more to ally themselves with minority groups and fight stereotypes…

Yet partake in those same stereotypes themselves.

The bottom line is that discrimination is present in all minds, regardless of intelligence.

Improvements in fighting discrimination require an openness and willingness to learn, even if that means facing some uncomfortable truths about your own internal bias.