Brain type may dictate politics

[Blue Velvet]

Which is a relief; means we can close down these forums as all our views are hardwired, no room for compromise. ;)


Political differences might be explained by a fundamental variation in how our brains are "wired" to process information, according to a study published today.

Scientists have found that the brains of people calling themselves liberals are more able to handle conflicting and unexpected information than the brains of their conservative counterparts. The study points to a likely neurological basis for complex personality and behavioural traits.

David Amodio, of New York University, writing in the journal Nature Neuroscience, says conservatives were found to be "more structured and persistent in their judgments"; in tests they had "higher average scores" on measures of the personal need for "order, structure and closure". Liberals showed "higher tolerance of ambiguity and complexity".

Dr Amodio asked 43 volunteers to press a button on seeing a frequent cue - that caused an habitual response. A less frequent cue required no button pressing. Electroencephalograms revealed liberals were more likely to withhold the habitual response and had more activity in a part of the brain involved in conflict monitoring.

The study is not conclusive, Dr Amodio says, but it is possible that political orientation to some degree reflects a person's style of information processing.



The liberal link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2007/sep/10/1

The conservative link: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2007/09/10/scifestival2.xml

:D

[Ugg]

It's truly fascinating!

One thing I've always wondered is why some gay people can be so supportive of conservative politics when one aim of the conservatives is to deny gay people their rights.

It would make sense that those people are simply hard wired to be conservative.

I just wonder how much this is influenced by environment.

[skunk]

How does that explain people who change sides? And if it is true, then every penny spent on elections is wasted, as the outcome would be a foregone conclusion.

[Blue Velvet]

I should add that I take this as seriously as iPhone-unlocking software that works. ;)

[leekohler]

Is this what they mean by "right-brained" and "left-brained"? :)

[PlaceofDis]

while i'm sure there is some sort of disposition inherent in any given person, i think that a lot of this comes down to one's environment and personal experiences.

[mkrishnan]

Is this what they mean by "right-brained" and "left-brained"? :)

I think most of us generally gave up on that concept... that concept was based loosely on the idea that the left hemisphere was better at processing local relationships, symbolic information, sequences of events in time, etc, and the right hemisphere of most individuals is more oriented to overall patterns and themes (the "gestalt").

At one point, I think people thought that one of these hemispheres dominated thinking and reasoning processes in a given person, so some people were more analytical (left brain) and some more holistic, integrative, or creative (right brain).

But, it seems more accurate to say that some people have very highly localized ways of solving problems -- i.e. you give them a certain kind of question, and they use just one set of cognitive resources to solve it -- and some people are much more diffuse, drawing in many different aspects of the brain. There have been some patterns found in the literature about this...

- Women tend to be less localized than men (this is important for stroke rehab, because localized damage to the brain often causes less severe functional problems in women for this reason)

- I think that, related to the corpus callosum literature, the brains of gay men tend to be less localized also

- Left handed people also tend to be less localized than right handed people

- Most people have language localized to certain structures in the left hemisphere (in epilepsy, for instance, there's a test that's sometimes done where half of the cortex is put to sleep at a time, to see what functions that half of the brain is needed for)... people who don't have language localized to the left (seems to be about 10-15% of of right handed individuals and maybe 50% of lefties) are also less localized in general.

I dunno... I haven't looked at this article yet, but it might well be that liberals are less localized than conservatives. :D

Either that, or you give them a fracking task, over and over again, and they're still pausing and trying to figure it out each time. :eek: :o

[mactastic]

Lol... funny stuff.

[Much Ado]

Rubbish. Upbringing and personal experience far outweigh any 'hard-wired' viewpoints.

[mkrishnan]

Rubbish. Upbringing and personal experience far outweigh any 'hard-wired' viewpoints.

This sounds logical, but one thing that is always very difficult to account for is self-selection. Even within any given environment, there is a large degree of flexibility. As a result, it's always hard to account for the extent to which a person's sub-slice of the environment was shaped by them.

[solvs]

I was going to post this a few days ago when I first read it, but decided against it. For the record, it doesn't mean people can't change their minds, or that environment doesn't play a factor. Just that certain brain patterns can affect how we view things, which can affect the way we vote. Or at least lean towards. There's still choice, and still other reasons behind those beliefs than just what you're born with. It just says that generally Liberals are more open to new and evolving ideas, and generally Conservatives prefer consistency, plus some other stuff that anyone could tell you. Read the articles a little more closely, and you'll see what they're trying to say. ;)

I was going to make a joke about they can't help it, it's something they're born with, trying to link it to how some people think homosexuality is a choice, but it wasn't very funny, so I didn't.

[miloblithe]

The idea is that it's a factor, not the sole determinant.

It always amazes me that people can't seem to grasp this concept.

[Don't panic]

How does that explain people who change sides? And if it is true, then every penny spent on elections is wasted, as the outcome would be a foregone conclusion.

by definition, a conservative cannot change side, while a 'liberal' does that all the time.
it follows that the ones changing sides continuously are the true liberals, who periodically join the conservative-conservative or the liberal-conservative groups.


On election day, the educated conservative elector will have naturally concluded that s/he should change and vote liberal, but when it comes to it, the hard-wired brain resists change and, in the spur of the moment, s/he votes conservative.
Meanwhile, the educated liberal elector will have naturally concluded that s/he should keep voting liberal, but when it comes to it, the hard-wired brain chooses change and, in the spur of the moment, s/he votes conservative.

To balance this inherent bias against liberalism, progress, and a brighter future for mankind, the only fair solution would be that the conservative votes should only count 1/2.

[mactastic]

To balance this inherent bias against liberalism, progress, and a brighter future for mankind, the only fair solution would be that the conservative votes should only count 1/2.
How about 3/5 instead? :D

[KingYaba]

A little of nature a little of nurture. If I were to bet on one, I would bet on nurture.

[skunk]

How about 3/5 instead? :DThat would be constitutionally appropriate.

[2jaded2care]

Gee, and all this time I thought I was just evil and wanted poor people to die slow, painful deaths! Science sure has a way of taking all the fun out of things...

To balance this inherent bias against liberalism, progress, and a brighter future for mankind, the only fair solution would be that the conservative votes should only count 1/2.

Until this can be officially achieved, liberals will have to be content with striking down voter ID laws... ;)