Just as I suspected! Homo politicus: brain function of liberals, conservatives diffe

Elta

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Homo politicus: brain function of liberals, conservatives differs:
Spoiler :
The brain neurons of liberals and conservatives fire differently when confronted with tough choices, suggesting that some political divides may be hard-wired, according a study released Sunday.

Aristotle may have been more on the mark than he realised when he said that man is by nature a political animal.

Dozens of previous studies have established a strong link between political persuasion and certain personality traits.

Conservatives tend to crave order and structure in their lives, and are more consistent in the way they make decisions. Liberals, by contrast, show a higher tolerance for ambiguity and complexity, and adapt more easily to unexpected circumstances.

The affinity between political views and "cognitive style" has also been shown to be heritable, handed down from parents to children, said the study, published in the British journal Nature Neuroscience.

Intrigued by these correlations, New York University political scientist David Amodio and colleagues decided to find out if the brains of liberals and conservatives reacted differently to the same stimuli.

A group of 43 right-handed subjects were asked to perform a series of computer tests designed to evaluate their unrehearsed response to cues urging them to break a well-established routine.

"People often drive home from work on the same route, day after day, such that it becomes habitual and doesn't involve much thinking," Amodio explained by way of comparison in an e-mail.

"But occasionally there is road work, or perhaps an animal crosses the road, and you need to break out of your habitual response in order to deal with this new information."

Using electroencephalographs, which measure neuronal impulses, the researchers examined activity in a part of the brain -- the anterior cingulate cortex -- that is strongly linked with the self-regulatory process of conflict monitoring.

The match-up was unmistakable: respondents who had described themselves as liberals showed "significantly greater conflict-related neural activity" when the hypothetical situation called for an unscheduled break in routine.

Conservatives, however, were less flexible, refusing to deviate from old habits "despite signals that this ... should be changed."

Whether that is good or bad, of course, depends on one's perspective: one could interpret the results to mean that liberals are nimble-minded and conservatives rigid and stubborn.

Or one could, with equal justice, conclude that wishy-washy liberals don't stick to their guns, while conservatives and steadfast and loyal.

As to the more intriguing question of which comes first, the patterns in neuron activity or the political orientation, Amodio is reluctant to hazard a guess.

"The neural mechanisms for conflict monitoring are formed early in childhood," and are probably rooted in part in our genetic heritage, he said.

"But even if genes may provide a blueprint for more liberal or conservative orientations, they are shaped substantially by one's environment over the course of development," he added.

Obscuring causal links even more is the fact that the brain is malleable and neural functions can change as a result of new experiences.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070909/hl_afp/scienceneuroscience_070909173324

Conservatives: need routines to be exact and such, it is the only way they can handle things ^^

j/k
 
So what if someone converted to one side or another? Is that the result of brain damage? :p

And where be the libertarians!?
 
So what if someone converted to one side or another? Is that the result of brain damage? :p

And where be the libertarians!?

I would say Libertarians favor even less structure, so they are probably farther on the liberal side.

What does everyone else think?
 
interesting. this is a completely new source of ad hominem attacks to toss around during a debate. I'll take it.
 
I've wondered for some time about the effect on political outlook of varying serotonin levels, too. Does anyone happen to have seen this studied?
 
People should concentrate less into this:
"The neural mechanisms for conflict monitoring are formed early in childhood," and are probably rooted in part in our genetic heritage, he said.

And more into this:
"But even if genes may provide a blueprint for more liberal or conservative orientations, they are shaped substantially by one's environment over the course of development," he added.

Obscuring causal links even more is the fact that the brain is malleable and neural functions can change as a result of new experiences.

So all they actually proved was that the brain functions differently between those quite low number of people who claimed to be liberals and conservatives that were checked.
 
C-G is mostly right I think. Your growing environment certainly has more effect on your brain than your opinions on taxes. ;)
 
Now if they could show that a person's brain tends to become more 'conservative-like' over time, I'd be really impressed!
 
I've wondered for some time about the effect on political outlook of varying serotonin levels, too. Does anyone happen to have seen this studied?
Very little effect, I would guess. No, I haven't seen it studied. Why would someone take a look?
 
Well, it occurred to me that since serotonin is very important for an organism's social behaviour, it may play a role in a person's political assumptions. Dominant wolves and apes, for example, have higher serotonin levels than their submissive fellow group members. I just wonder if each person's political outlook might be partly determined by such factors as their tendencies to confidence or anxiety, to belligerence or submissiveness, etc. It strikes me that a conservative is more likely to be optimistic about the state of his society than is a social democrat, for example.

Clearly I have no scientific support for this, it's just idle wondering, but it would be interesting to see a study.
 
In the end, this has absolutely no effect on my life, whatsoever.
 
Conservative brains are well structured and ordered while liberal brains can't think straight or properly YUP SOUNDS ABOUT RIGHT! :lol:
 
I would say Libertarians favor even less structure, so they are probably farther on the liberal side.

What does everyone else think?

For what it's worth, when I was commuting, I usually had a few different routes on the way to/from school (suburbs, downtown, and back) but I had no idea exactly how I was going to get there. However, I think this had much more to do with my impatience than any political leanings.
 
For what it's worth, when I was commuting, I usually had a few different routes on the way to/from school (suburbs, downtown, and back) but I had no idea exactly how I was going to get there. However, I think this had much more to do with my impatience than any political leanings.

I kinda was asking specifically about the Libertarian issue but okay >.<
 
I would say Libertarians favor even less structure, so they are probably farther on the liberal side.

What does everyone else think?

Disagree. Liberals at least in the modern sense are more for the empowerment of the central government through entitlement programs, meaning more structure rather than less. Libertarians want the central government to be considerably weaker than it is today.
 
This is just what I needed for my social psy class tomorrow. We were talking about how people's personality effect the interpretation of facts.

But as A whole I agree with studies like this (not this badly written paper by AFP). I would also bet if you post a paper that didn't make conservative look bad, more people would agree.
 
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