Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39130356›Full record

ArticleIntelligence

Predicting political beliefs with polygenic scores for cognitive performance and educational attainment.

Tobias Edwards, Alexandros Giannelis, Emily A Willoughby, James J Lee

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Intelligence. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. The Amygdala and Politics.Brain sciences · 2026
    Review
  2. More thanIntelligence
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Tobias EdwardsDepartment of Psychology, University of Minnesota Twin Cities.
Alexandros GiannelisDepartment of Psychology, University of Minnesota Twin Cities.
Emily A WilloughbyDepartment of Psychology, University of Minnesota Twin Cities.
James J LeeDepartment of Psychology, University of Minnesota Twin Cities.

Funding

A Longitudinal Study of Adopted Youth and Their FamiliesR01MH066140 · NIMH · UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA TWIN CITIES · PI MCGUE, MATTHEW K. · 2003 to 2013
$5.8M
SIBLING MODELS OF ADOLESCENT ALCOHOL USE AND ABUSER01AA011886 · NIAAA · UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA TWIN CITIES · PI MCGUE, MATTHEW K. · 1998 to 2008
$2.5M
NIAAA NIH HHS R01 AA011886NIMH NIH HHS R01 MH066140
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Intelligence is correlated with a range of left-wing and liberal political beliefs. This may suggest intelligence directly alters our political views. Alternatively, the association may be confounded or mediated by socioeconomic and environmental factors. We studied the effect of intelligence within a sample of over 300 biological and adoptive families, using both measured IQ and polygenic scores for cognitive performance and educational attainment. We found both IQ and polygenic scores significantly predicted all six of our political scales. Polygenic scores predicted social liberalism and lower authoritarianism, within-families. Intelligence was able to significantly predict social liberalism and lower authoritarianism, within families, even after controlling for socioeconomic variables. Our findings may provide the strongest causal inference to date of intelligence directly affecting political beliefs.

Indexed as

Causal InferenceGeneticsIntelligencePolitical BeliefPolygenic Score

Identifiers

PMID39130356
PMCPMC11308703

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.