I’ve also observed that people who come to believe that there are significant differences between the sexes/races/whatevers on average begin to discriminate against all individuals of the disadvantaged sex/race/whatever, even when they were only persuaded by scientific results they believed to be accurate and were reluctant to accept that conclusion. I have watched this happen to smart people more than once. Furthermore, I have never met (or read the writings of) any person who believed in fundamental differences between the whatevers and who was not also to some degree a bigot.

This is something I haven't observed, but it's seemed plausible to me anyway. Have there been any studies (even small, lightweight studies with hypothetical trait differences) showing that sort of overshoot? If there are, why don't they get the sort of publicity that studies which show differences get?

I would also be interested in hearing if there are any studies on this subject. For me, much of WrongBot's argument hangs on how accurate these observations are. I'm still not sure I'd agree with the overall point, but more evidence on this point would make me much more inclined to consider it.

Also, WrongBot, it seems possible that the observations you've made could have alternate explanations; e.g., the people that you have witnessed change their behavior based on scientific results may not have been as originally unbiased or reluctant to change their minds on these subjects as you had believed them to be.

In other words, there may be a chicken/egg problem here. Did these people that you observed really become more bigoted/discriminatory after accepting the truth of certain studies, or did (perhaps subconscious) bigotry actually lead them to accept (and even seek out) studies showing results that confirmed this bigotry and gave them "cover" to discriminate?