Intelligence as a Function of Conservatism among White South African Students

This study examined the relationship between general conservatism and components of intelligence in a White South African student sample. The results indicated no significant difference for full-scale IQ as measured by the South African Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) between subjects who achieved higher or lower scores on the conservatism variables. However, those subjects who had more conservative scores on measures of sociopolitical attitudes and traditionalism achieved higher scores on the block design and digit symbols subtests of the scale. A similar pattern emerged for performance IQ, with those with more conservative scores on the measure of traditionalism achieving higher scores than the less conservative subjects. In addition, disordinal interactions emerged when the relationship between the significant variables underlying conservatism and scores on the South African WAIS was examined.