Conservatives - They Scare Easily »
Posted By Neophile 1 year, 3 months ago in Science & TechnologyAn experiment in the United States has revealed that a person’s political leanings tend to correspond remarkably closely with physiological traits, indicating that nature, as well as nurture, could play a defining role.
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Neophile
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leftylemn1 year, 3 months ago
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Candida1 year, 3 months ago
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leftylemn: "CONSERVATIVES SEE DANGER AND REACT ACORDINGLY"
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You forget that there was absolutely no real danger in the experiments.
We should keep in mind that these studies were correlational, so they indicate no causal relationship. It is unlikely that conservatism leads to a heightened perception of danger, but it's not impossible. if you tend to like the status quo, the usual, the things you are accustomed to, then anything extraordinary could evoke fear.
The other possibility is what the author suggests that fear leads to conservatism. If you are easily frightened, then sticking to the usual is the safe option.
Of course, it is also possible that some third factor is responsible for both. It is possible that conservative parents are more strict with their children and while instilling conservative values in them, they also punish them more than liberals, with could lead to fearfulness. I've noticed that conservatives often confuse fear of someone and respect for someone. For the liberals I know, these are two completely different things. -
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chuck-the-canuck1 year, 3 months ago
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Right like they were about the earth being the centre of the universe and the stars being painted on the holy firmament?
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About the looming threat, it always existed and will continue to exist as long as there are delusional morons attempting to force their imaginary friend on the rest of humanity. -
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tanglangComment removed: Spam
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chevydog1 year, 3 months ago
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To the extent that our political leanings are biological, I would not expect them to change much over a lifetime. Believe that this conflicts with reality in more than a few cases.
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Folks, it's only politics. Not like a disease or anything.-
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nostalgia1 year, 3 months ago
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Chevydog
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This is another study in a growing list that looks at how those in the political extremes process information
Emory Uni did one which was published in 2006
They all seem to come to the same conclusion - political ideology may be be more the result of nature than nurture
In the Emory Study:
The research sheds light on why staunch Democrats and Republicans can hear the same information, but walk away with opposite conclusions.
The investigators used functional neuroimaging (fMRI) to study a sample of committed Democrats and Republicans during the three months prior to the U.S. Presidential election of 2004. The Democrats and Republicans were given a reasoning task in which they had to evaluate threatening information about their own candidate. During the task, the subjects underwent fMRI to see what parts of their brain were active
"We did not see any increased activation of the parts of the brain normally engaged during reasoning," says Drew Westen, director of clinical psychology at Emory who led the study. "What we saw instead was a network of emotion circuits lighting up, including circuits hypothesized to be involved in regulating emotion, and circuits known to be involved in resolving conflicts.
Once partisans had come to completely biased conclusions -- essentially finding ways to ignore information that could not be rationally discounted -- not only did circuits that mediate negative emotions like sadness and disgust turn off, but subjects got a blast of activation in circuits involved in reward -- similar to what addicts receive when they get their fix, Westen explains.
"None of the circuits involved in conscious reasoning were particularly engaged," says Westen. "Essentially, it appears as if partisans twirl the cognitive kaleidoscope until they get the conclusions they want, and then they get massively reinforced for it, with the elimination of negative emotional states and activation of positive ones."
The investigators hypothesize that emotionally biased reasoning leads to the "stamping in" or reinforcement of a defensive belief, associating the participant's "revisionist" account of the data with positive emotion or relief and elimination of distress. "The result is that partisan beliefs are calcified, and the person can learn very little from new data," Westen says.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/01/06013...
It would certainly explain some of the reactions you see every day right here on Propeller when some extreme partisans are confronted with information that conflicts with what they have come to believe about their political party
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jordan111 year, 3 months ago
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Do we need a repeat of the Carter years?>>>>
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i see CONS have a new mantra for y'all. How about a repeat of the Reagan years? if you look at the stuff conservatives have pulled....Increasing military, bullying the world, cutting taxes, huge deficits, deregulation, trashing unions....Guess what you've got? Reagan reincarnated. Yeah, we're doing just great. Banks failing, the dollar in the toilet, hated by the world, crumbling infrastructure being sold to the highest foreign bidder, high food costs, high energy costs. Hey, vote for mcbush. You must love the way things are going. Masochist?
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Poulenc1 year, 3 months ago
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Jeeeze...it's hardly news that authoritarian personality types--those who tend to view the world dichotomously (good/bad, right/wrong, friend/foe, etc.); who value (despite contrary claims) strong centralized power; who require certainty; who prize loyalty above fairness; etc.--are inclined to see danger everywhere.
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Having enemies makes it possible to exercise and re-exercise demonstrations of power, of might--necessary to reassure these guys and gals that they're protected.
Safe.
From enemies.
Temporarily. -
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DoseASpinoza1 year, 3 months ago
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This explains the entire Bush administration. They got years of war out of one terrifying event, by stoking the fear of things they knew Iraq had nothing to do with. Meanwhile they let the real threat go, so there's a big fear cannon whenever they need it.
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Now they are using the same tactic to bail out their Wall Street pals. They keep repeating the mantra that not bailing out the banks and AIG would be worse, but I have not heard a reasoned case for that. Just topline assertions that capital markets would freeze up. Nothing about how that would actually happen, or why foreign banks would be eager to do business with a government-owned shaky enterprise vs. a privately owned one, or how owning AIG will make the sale of its assets any more orderly than it would be under court supervision.
The one thing this administration has mastered is getting a free pass to do anything, take over anything, by fanning the flames of fear to get support. Like Bush's war, the real cost of this bailout will only be apparent after it's too late. -
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