hardship, education, and gullibility

folk theory says that adversity in early life toughens you up, makes you hardened and "streetwise." it turns out, however, to be just the opposite. early-life adversity may make people second-guess themselves instead, and therefore be more susceptible to persuasion.

this counterintuitive study reminds me of a recent survey that found that the more education one has, the more likely s/he is to believe in the possibility of paranormal activity. this is interesting, esp. given the inverse relationship between education and religiosity.

the relationship makes me wonder the cause of the alleged correlation between education level and ideology. it doesn't necessarily take smarter people to appreciate the nuances of theories on paranormal activity (although mulder was quite hot intelligent). this seems to partially refute the theory that the more erudite are liberal because they are more well-educated and intelligent.

but can we relate this study to the belief that an earthly "higher power," i.e. the government, almost paranormal in capability, can solve society's woes?

Labels: ideology, social