Freedom of Speech: A Right for Everybody, or Only for Like-Minded People? (Heterodox Academy):
Freedom of speech is often considered key to a well-functional democracy. In many countries, freedom of speech is considered a more important democratic value than regular elections. But do people genuinely believe in the virtues of open debates by supporting freedom of speech for every social group? Or do they support free speech only for their own groups? In a recently published paper in Social Psychological and Personality Science, we aimed to answer these questions, and we sought to explore whether higher cognitive ability was associated with more principled positions on free speech. We expected that people with higher cognitive abilities would be more inclined to embrace the open exchange of ideas, wherein viewpoints can be scrutinized and challenged in order to foster informed decision making and knowledge…