PROOF: Yes, conservatism is a mental disorder

[JJackFlash]

"... conservatism can be explained psychologically as a set of neuroses rooted in "fear and aggression, dogmatism and the intolerance of ambiguity" that leads them to "arrive at premature conclusions, and to impose simplistic cliches and stereotypes".

They suggest that Hitler, Mussolini, Ronald Reagan and the right wing talk show host, Rush Limbaugh all suffer from the same affliction. George Bush appears to be a textbook case as indicated by his need for moral certainty and dislike of nuance."

http://www.wam.umd.edu/~hannahk/conservatism.html

[rocktivity]

1. Lucky for them that they're not big on science.

:evilgrin:
rocknation

[bigbrother05]

2. I think they're lonely.

[JJackFlash]

3. sick bastards

“We consider evidence for and against the hypotheses that political conservatism is significantly associated with
(1) mental rigidity and closed-mindedness, including (a) increased dogmatism and intolerance of ambiguity, (b) decreased cognitive complexity, (c) decreased openness to experience, (d) uncertainty avoidance, (e) personal needs for order and structure, and (f) need for cognitive closure;
(2) lowered self-esteem;
(3) fear, anger, and aggression;
(4) pessimism, disgust, and contempt;
(5) loss prevention;
(6) fear of death;
(7) threat arising from social and economic deprivation; and
(8) threat to the stability of the social system.
We have argued that these motives are in fact related to one another psychologically, and our motivated social–cognitive perspective helps to integrate them. We now offer an integrative, meta-analytic review of research on epistemic, existential, and ideological bases of conservatism” (352).

Psychological needs of conservatives (368) : As evident in Republican ideology
“Resistance to change” : reactionary conservatism
“Endorsement of inequality” : discrimination against minorities, justification of poverty, etc.
“Dogmatism, intolerance of ambiguity” : close-mindedness, “moral clarity”
“Uncertainty avoidance” : simplistic “black and white” perception, hostility to the arts
“Need for order, structure, closure” : anti-union, loathing of antisocial hippies
“Self-esteem” : less stable in conservatives
“Loss prevention” : death anxiety, “chickenhawk” syndrome
“Terror management” : hysterical anti-communism, The War on “Terrorism”
“Rationalization of self-interest” : “Greed is good,” Trickle-Down economic theory
“Group-based dominance” : Jim Crow segregation, country club plutocrats
“System justification” : low-status conservatives such as the working class

In summary, “Our review of the evidence indicates that there is consistent and relatively strong support for the general hypothesis that a specific set of social–cognitive motives are significantly related to political conservatism. Almost all of our specific hypotheses were corroborated … by reviewing the results from many different studies aggregated across various behavioral domains and contexts, we found that a moderate to strong relationship does exist between an interrelated set of epistemic, existential, and ideological motives and the expression of political conservatism” (366).

[smirkymonkey]

4. Kick

:kick:

[JJackFlash]

5. "kick" meaning what?

still kinda new at this

[smirkymonkey]

7. Just kicking the post up so that it gets more attention, I was too

lazy to comment myself, but interested in hearing other people's comments.

It's a way to revive a post that you find interesting, but isn't getting too much attention because of the speed at which certain forums move.

Welcome to DU JJackFlash! :hi:

and this is a "kick" smilie:

:kick:

[JJackFlash]

8. wasn't recommended for Greatest Page

so how did you kick?

[smirkymonkey]

11. A kick just increases the post count .

You actually have to click on recommend to recommend it - which I will now do.

[sendero]

9. Every time..

.... a reply is added to a thread, it gets "kicked" to the top of the listing of threads in the forum main page.

Some boards call it a "bump" :)

[Gman]

6. Not really proof

but the illness is defined.

[JJackFlash]

10. They carried out a thorough, peer-reviewed scientific study

and came to firm conclusions.
Seems like proof to me.

[ismnotwasm]

12. I also think

If someone did a study they would solid correlation between chronic, intractable criminal antisocial thought patterns and conservatives thought patterns.

[drduffy]

13. common knowledge in my profession...

clin psych for a while now. Conservativism is not common in this profession .... but there is always the possibility of the development of a paranoid personality disorder qua religious extremist such as is seen in Dobson. Piece of shit that he is and black mark on psychology.

[atommom]

14. I've read several articles on this subject. One particularly

interesting one concerned dreaming. Apparently progressives enjoy their dreams far more than conservatives do. Conservatives tend to have dreams about losing control that are frightening to them, while progressives tend to "go with the flow" of their dreams. Will see if I can find the abstract...