"Specifically, they believe that liberals are much more open to change than conservatives, more tolerant of differences, more motivated by the public good and, maybe most of all, smarter and better informed. The evidence for these beliefs is not good. Liberals turn out to be just as prone to their own forms of intolerance, ignorance and bias. But the beliefs are comforting to many."
Those "comforting beliefs" (at least the part regarding tolerance of differences and change) have also roots in research that have conducted much better studies in much better labs, having used far better methodologies and exploited much more representative samples than the research the author cites. That part coming from a professor (and not a journalist or reporter) makes it even more strange to me.