Conservative Brains Fearful, Unable To Understand Complexity, Science Shows

[upstatecajun]

In a study commissioned by Colin Firth “while serving as a guest host of the BBC Radio 4′s Today program in London last year,” so you know it’s good, British researchers found people who describe themselves as liberal have “a larger anterior cingulate cortex–a gray matter of the brain associated with understanding complexity,” whereas people who describe themselves as conservative have “a larger amygdala, an almond-shaped area that is associated with fear and anxiety,” which is a marvel, considering most conservatives probably declined to participate because they were worried they’d be asked to prove their penis size.

(No word if there’s a part of bloggers’ brains that makes them likely to dismiss editing a run-on sentence paragraph by making a joke about it the next line.)











http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Liberal-Ohioan/195130570504421

[Drale]

1. Sometimes scientists waist their own time

because that conclusion could have been found by asking any liberal.

[Safetykitten]

2. Well republicans really focus on nuts and who they can steal them from..

and which branch to use their prehensile tail on.

[DeSwiss]

3. This study is an extension.....

...of others that arrived at similar conclusions:

Study finds left-wing brain, right-wing brain
Even in humdrum nonpolitical decisions, liberals and conservatives literally think differently, researchers show.

LATimes
September 10, 2007

Exploring the neurobiology of politics, scientists have found that liberals tolerate ambiguity and conflict better than conservatives because of how their brains work. In a simple experiment being reported today in the journal Nature Neuroscience, scientists at New York University and UCLA show that political orientation is related to differences in how the brain processes information.

Previous psychological studies have found that conservatives tend to be more structured and persistent in their judgments whereas liberals are more open to new experiences. The latest study found those traits are not confined to political situations but also influence everyday decisions. The results show "there are two cognitive styles -- a liberal style and a conservative style," said UCLA neurologist Dr. Marco Iacoboni, who was not connected to the latest research.

*snip*

Frank J. Sulloway, a researcher at UC Berkeley's Institute of Personality and Social Research who was not connected to the study, said results "provided an elegant demonstration that individual differences on a conservative-liberal dimension are strongly related to brain activity." Analyzing the data, Sulloway said liberals were 4.9 times as likely as conservatives to show activity in the brain circuits that deal with conflicts, and 2.2 times as likely to score in the top half of the distribution for accuracy.

Sulloway said the results could explain why President Bush demonstrated a single-minded commitment to the Iraq war and why some people perceived Sen. John F. Kerry, the liberal Massachusetts Democrat who opposed Bush in the 2004 presidential race, as a flip-flopper for changing his mind about the conflict.

http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-politics10sep10,0,5982337.story?coll=la-home-center">MORE

- My conclusion is that conservatives should never be put in positions of power or authority because they're physiologically incapable of handling complexity. As long as their decision-making requirements are limited to "Yes" or "No" you're okay. But the moment you start hitting those gray areas that life is full of, they don't have a fucking clue......

K&R