Brain structure differs in liberals, conservatives: study

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WASHINGTON — Everyone knows that liberals and conservatives butt heads when it comes to world views, but scientists have now shown that their brains are actually built differently.

Liberals have more gray matter in a part of the brain associated with understanding complexity, while the conservative brain is bigger in the section related to processing fear, said the study on Thursday in Current Biology.

"We found that greater liberalism was associated with increased gray matter volume in the anterior cingulate cortex, whereas greater conservatism was associated with increased volume of the right amygdala," the study said.

Other research has shown greater brain activity in those areas, according to which political views a person holds, but this is the first study to show a physical difference in size in the same regions.

"Previously, some psychological traits were known to be predictive of an individual's political orientation," said Ryota Kanai of the University College London, where the research took place.

"Our study now links such personality traits with specific brain structure."

The study was based on 90 "healthy young adults" who reported their political views on a scale of one to five from very liberal to very conservative, then agreed to have their brains scanned.

People with a large amygdala are "more sensitive to disgust" and tend to "respond to threatening situations with more aggression than do liberals and are more sensitive to threatening facial expressions," the study said.

Liberals are linked to larger anterior cingulate cortexes, a region that "monitor(s) uncertainty and conflicts," it said.

"Thus, it is conceivable that individuals with a larger ACC have a higher capacity to tolerate uncertainty and conflicts, allowing them to accept more liberal views."

It remains unclear whether the structural differences cause the divergence in political views, or are the effect of them.

But the central issue in determining political views appears to revolve around fear and how it affects a person.

"Our findings are consistent with the proposal that political orientation is associated with psychological processes for managing fear and uncertainty," the study said.


http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/04/07/b ... ves-study/

It's a small sample size but it does fit in with this study:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn9 ... ngers.html

So that means in order to sway conservatives, we have to make them scared...which apparently isn't too hard.

Are you trying to say conservatives are generally on a spectrum of xenophobia? Who would have thought...

More like a spectrum of general fear.

"People with a large amygdala are "more sensitive to disgust" and tend to "respond to threatening situations with more aggression than do liberals and are more sensitive to threatening facial expressions," the study said. "



Which explains their problems with legislating what other people do in private...because they're more apt to feel a much larger level of disgust than us liberals. I wonder if some dosings of goatse.cx and tubgirl could desensitize them a bit? Puts a new layer of explanation on the whole homophobia thing.

And, FFS, do not make any scary faces around conservatives.

newsflash: Liberal scientists(most scientists are politically liberals) CASUALLY demonstrated right-winger are stupid,evil and without balls.....who have guessed

another reason why true an Aspie should be conservative or libertarian...we don't process well facial expressions

Last edited by LibertarianAS on 08 Apr 2011, 2:48 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Most people with intelligence are.

yeah...but true liberalism aka classic liberalism

US Democrats "liberal" are socialists

They're not socialists. US Democrats are the same as US Republicans: corporatists.

The difference is that the dems occasionally throw a bone to the lower incomes while the republicans look to completely destroy the middle class and lower class.

Explains all of Obama's associations with Socialists.

Dude...I'M a socialist. Obama does not represent socialism; he represents a corporate run state just like every other f*****g president has for the past 60 or so years.

The Democrats are NOT socialists. They have a few vaguely socialist policies but they are nowhere near socialists. In fact, there are hardly any truly socialist parties left anymore. Socialism means that society should have a single class and that manufacture is owned by the workers and/or government (which, if your government is operated properly, would be basicly the same thing--if it is operated improperly than you risk something like the USSR). The Democrats, like the Canadian Liberals and NDP, like the British Liberals and Labour Party, and like any number of left-wing parties around the world, might protect worker's rights some and are willing to spend more on social programs, but they all agree that our society should be essentially based off of capitalism. It makes for rather boring politics. We are so worried about biodiversity, but there is no longer any political-economic diversity left in the world.

Also, I suspect part of the reason so many scientists are liberals is because they are disgusted (for good reason) by the Republican attitude on science. If you are a biologist, why would you vote for someone who wants to cut your funding and tell the world that one of your field's most basic and well supported theories is wrong?

On another note, I guess that all we have to do to cure conservatives (Yay! There is hope!) is make them really afraid of Capitalism, Christianity, and Libertarians. Let's see... "The libertarian anarchists want to destroy the institutions you hold dear with their corporate greed!"

because the democrats have a better attitude toward science

"global warming will DESTROY the earth!! ! economics and evolutionary psycologhy aren't science!! !! we are all equals genetic doesn't count!! !! races don't exists!! ! there is not such thing as human nature ! !! alternative medicine is better than real medicine!! !! "

give me a break democraps are a bunch of power hungry often over-educated elitists

This is a ridiculous study. It's akin to Nazi pseudoscience. You've changed your beliefs in your lifetime ska, correct? Do you think you're brain structure changed?

At least over-education gets you somewhere on the planet. <.< Would you rather not have received basic education? To know where countries are on the globe? To know Pythagoras's theorem? <.< That there are OTHER people out there (oh my! Perish the thought! XD ) ?

Heck, you should know some people live in military dictatorships on the planet, and they can't even read! Methinks education is at least better than living in a war-torn country, but hey, if that's what you seek, whatever floats your boat.

Misrepresentation.


One of the reasons they claim this is that they aren't.


Another straw man.


The burden of proof for the claim that races are biologically different is on the ones making the claim. (Yeah, I know, that's so unfair). It is not science's fault nobody can give any real evidence for this. It is too bad you cannot justify your racism through science, but don't blame science for that.

Your mind is a funny place. I guess this is supposed to be a misrepresentation that somehow proves science wrong about something. But whatever you meant by that got missing somewhere between the moment your brain thought of it and the moment you typed it.



Now I don't think this is a liberal thing.