News Finding: For instance, people with low cognitive ability tended to express prejudice towards groups perceived as liberal and unconventional, such as atheists, gays, and lesbians, as well as groups of people perceived as having low choice over group membership, such as ethnic minorities.
Paper Finding: This implies that there is a similar psychological mechanism for people higher and lower in cognitive ability, such as the effects of attitude dissimilarity or in-group/ out-group distinctions on prejudice .
News Context: Analyzing the results, the researchers found that people with both relatively higher and lower levels of cognitive ability show approximately equal levels of intergroup bias, but towards different groups. For instance, people with low cognitive ability tended to express prejudice towards groups perceived as liberal and unconventional, such as atheists, gays, and lesbians, as well as groups of people perceived as having low choice over group membership, such as ethnic minorities. People with high cognitive ability showed the reverse pattern, according to the study's findings.
Paper Context: Second, positive and negative correlations are consistent with a ''crossover interaction,'' where people both lower and higher in cognitive ability express intergroup bias, but toward different sets of groups. This implies that there is a similar psychological mechanism for people higher and lower in cognitive ability, such as the effects of attitude dissimilarity or in-group/ out-group distinctions on prejudice . Similar comprehensive knowledge-based tests had the strongest associations with prejudice in past research compared to other types of measures .