PUB - Publikationen an der Universität Bielefeld

Previous research has consistently shown that higher intelligence (IQ) is linked to lower levels of Right-Wing Authoritarianism (RWA) and Social Dominance Orientation (SDO). However, prior studies have been largely correlational, leaving it unclear to what degree these associations are driven by unobserved confounding. This study addresses this gap using longitudinal data from 6144 twins in the German TwinLife survey and employing a discordant-twin design. We estimated latent-variable within--between models, which allowed us to estimate the effect of IQ on RWA and SDO four years later while accounting for unobserved genetic and familial confounding. The pooled results replicate the negative associations reported in prior work, but the within-family estimates using identical twins show that these associations are substantially inflated by unobserved confounding. Specifically, the link between IQ and RWA appears to be partly driven by common genetic influences, whereas the association between IQ and SDO is primarily confounded by shared environmental factors. These findings suggest that the role of cognitive ability in fostering more liberal attitudes is often overstated and underscore the value of genetically informed designs in political psychology.