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Evolutionary psychologist Satoshi Kanazawa at the the London School of Economics and Political Science correlated data on political and religious behaviors with IQ from a large US sample and found that, on average, people who identified as liberal and atheist had higher IQs.

Religion, the theory goes, did not help people survive or reproduce necessarily, but goes along the lines of helping people to be paranoid, Kanazawa said. "Because humans are paranoid, they become more religious, and they see the hands of god everywhere," Kanazawa said.

Humans had a keen interest in the survival of their offspring. The conservative approach -- looking out for the people around you first -- fits with the evolutionary picture more than liberalism, Kanazawa said. "It is unnatural for humans to be concerned about total strangers." he said.

George Washington University professor James Bailey said that these preferences may stem from a desire to show superiority or elitism, which also has to do with IQ. Aligning oneself with "unconventional" philosophies may be "ways to communicate that you are pretty smart," he said.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/02/26/liberals.atheists.sex.intelligence/index.html