The Relationship between Political Ideology and Information as a Function of Participation

Abstract

Summary The relationship between two measures of intellectual competence and political ideology was estimated at two levels of political activism. Undergraduate subjects, N = 753, were classified on the basis of their position along the liberal-conservative continuum, and according to whether the subject had or had not been active in political affairs. The results indicated that no general statement concerning the intellectual competency of those possessing a particular ideology was justified. Rather, both level of activism and dimension of intellectual competence had to be taken into consideration.