Study: Liberal and atheist men have higher IQs & fewer sexual partners

The study examined a large sample from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), which began with adolescents in grades 7-12 in the United States during the 1994-95 school year. The participants were interviewed as 18- to 28-year-olds from 2001 to 2002. The study also looked at the General Social Survey, another cross-national data collection source.

Evolutionary psychologist Satoshi Kanazawa at the the London School of Economics and Political Science correlated data on these behaviors with IQ and found that, on average, people who identified as liberal and atheist had higher IQs, reports CNN.

The findings will be published in the March 2010 issue of Social Psychology Quarterly.

Researchers explain that sexual exclusivity in men, liberalism and atheism contradict to what would be expected based on humans' evolutionary past. That means, these preferences would not have benefited our human ancestors, but can be associated with higher intelligence.

Kanazawa did not find that higher or lower intelligence predicted sexual exclusivity in women. Having one partner has always been advantageous to women, so sexual exclusivity is not a new trait.

According to George Washington University leadership professor James Bailey, aligning oneself with "unconventional" philosophies like liberalism or atheism may be "ways to communicate to everyone that you're pretty smart."


Read more on CNN.com...