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[antonz]

I have a hard time buying this because there are so many people whose political views shift either over time or relative to changes in their own socio-economic status. I don't think I know a single person who hasn't undergone at least a couple of profound changes in political philosophies.

Indeed after all the famous saying is

Show me a young Conservative and I'll show you someone with no heart. Show me an old Liberal and I'll show you someone with no brains.

 

[ZealousD]

On the downside, liberal's lack of a normal fear response (the purpose of a fear emotion is the preservation of one's life and offspring) could explain their willingness to abuse drugs, have unprotected sex with strangers, inability to adhere to any sort of moral code, credit abuse and fiscal irresponsibility, and self-destructive lack of a sense of danger in general.

You know, I was with you when you started talking about drugs, but then you started that crazy talk.

 

[RustyNails]

Don't mind Trent. He's wanting to get his account suicided for a while.

 

[TL4E]

Don't mind Trent. He's wanting to get his account suicided for a while.

1. spam threads with goatse
2. ban

 

[Trent Strong]

You're the only one claiming liberals lack a normal fear response.

I'm guessing, according to this 'study', that conservaties have the most active 'fear center', moderates have fear center activity somewhere in the middle, and liberals the least fear center activity of all. The ideal would be a healthy dose of fear, but not too much (i.e., a moderate's fear.)

one of these is not like the other.

normal fear response => moral code?
how so?

I.....don't know. Maybe I'm wrong.

 

[Staccat0]

On the downside, liberal's lack of a normal fear response (the purpose of a fear emotion is the preservation of one's life and offspring) could explain their willingness to abuse drugs, have unprotected sex with strangers, inability to adhere to any sort of moral code, credit abuse and fiscal irresponsibility, and self-destructive lack of a sense of danger in general.

When was the last time conservatives proved themselves to be fiscally responsible?
When they controlled the house, senate and executive branch, but ran us further into debt and did nothing to stop the recent collapse?
When they refused to pay their bills by raise taxes or making serious cuts?
Maybe you are referring to the private citizens who call themselves conservative... except, math hasn't bore that out...

Neither party is fiscally responsible. We didn't go into debt yesterday, or even 16 years ago.
If they were, one would be willing to cut programs AND pay more towards their debt. They aren't. Maybe when we're on the brink shit will get serious. In the meantime, no one wants to feel the sting of the wars and luxuries we asked for.

"You can count on American's to do the right thing... after they have exhausted every other option first." -Winston Churchill... I think. Or something.
Sounds right still...

 

[Trent Strong]

Don't mind Trent. He's wanting to get his account suicided for a while.

But surely there's a grain of truth in what I said?

 

[RustyNails]

1. spam threads with goatse
2. ban

There's no glory in that. That's lame.

 

[TL4E]

I'm guessing, according to this 'study', that conservaties have the most active 'fear center', moderates have fear center activity somewhere in the middle, and liberals the least fear center activity of all. The ideal would be a healthy dose of fear, but not too much (i.e., a moderate's fear.)

Just because conservatives have a larger-than-average amygdala =/= liberals have an undersized amygdala.

 

[harriet the spy]

on topic, i wonder if there is a relation with being liberal/conservative and being infected with some behavior changing parasite, like toxo.

 

[empty vessel]

On the downside, liberal's lack of a normal fear response (the purpose of a fear emotion is the preservation of one's life and offspring) could explain their willingness to abuse drugs, have unprotected sex with strangers, inability to adhere to any sort of moral code, credit abuse and fiscal irresponsibility, and self-destructive lack of a sense of danger in general.

Looks like somebody is lacking the capacity to understand complexity and nuance.

 

[Steelrain]

Wait....are people buying this? lol

 

[astroturfing]

i almost feel like subject matter like this should be too taboo to talk about.. i dunno.

 

[hateradio]

Wait....are people buying this? lol

Are you scared?

i almost feel like subject matter like this should be too taboo to talk about.. i dunno.

Are you scared?

 

[NEOPARADIGM]

I would like to see more results before making a definitive judgment.

Definitive judgements are overrated.

 

[Zaptruder]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudoscience#Over-reliance_on_confirmation_rather_than_refutation

I think burden of proof and selection bias apply most here. Selection bias used to come up with two political types of brains, which is beyond ridiculous. What do UK gaffers think of this with there various political parties?

Really I'd have to read the entire study to pinpoint it exactly. Without specifics I'm inclined to believe that the world is more complex than 2 personalities. Such a black and white sort of picture of humanity gives me a picture of a researcher being flexible with political affiliation terminology or looking for confirmation of brain structures to fit a preconceived hypothesis while subconsciously ignoring data that refutes it. That seems more reasonable than two types of people.

A crappy study is different from pseudo science.

Just because it divides political spectrum into two broad categories, rather than providing a nuanced view of political spectrums doesn't mean the method in which the data was gathered or study was conducted was bullshit itself.

Pseudo science is a different beast; it is intuition and make belief masquerading as science... typically without the backing of studies, or of manufactured studies.

 

[Steelrain]

Are you scared?


Are you scared?

Lol and what would I be scared about? If anything I would be feeling confident. However I don't really buy into pseudoscience.

 

[mj1108]

BUT THEM LIBERALS IS THEM SCIENTISTS

THINK WHAT NOW

Obviously this study has liberal bias... AM I RITE???

 

[RobotChant]

actually I think there was a study a few years ago that proved just that.

Of course I think it was sorta a kin to conservatives being more like "What could possibly go wrong?!" where as liberals were willing to point out everything that could.

Ignorance is bliss.

 

[Enosh]

It's easy to be optimistic when you reject the reality of your situation and decide to just fabricate one instead.

a yes the rejection of reality, liberals never do this

*insert laugh.gif*

 

[Trent Strong]

Looks like somebody is lacking the capacity to understand complexity and nuance.

But I'm not a conservative. Which is odd because my anxiety/fear levels are through the roof.

 

[jakershaker]

Some more from the paper abstract:

Political Orientations Are Correlated with Brain Structure in Young Adults
Purchase
$ 31.50

Ryota Kanai1, Corresponding Author Contact Information, E-mail The Corresponding Author, Tom Feilden2, Colin Firth2 and Geraint Rees1, 3

1 University College London Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, 17 Queen Square, London WC1N 3AR, UK

2 BBC Radio 4, Television Centre, Wood Lane, London W12 7RJ, UK

3 Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, University College London, 12 Queen Square, London WC1N 3BG, UK
Received 11 January 2011;
revised 10 February 2011;
accepted 4 March 2011.
Published online: April 7, 2011.
Available online 7 April 2011.

Summary

Substantial differences exist in the cognitive styles of liberals and conservatives on psychological measures [1]. Variability in political attitudes reflects genetic influences and their interaction with environmental factors [[2] and [3]]. Recent work has shown a correlation between liberalism and conflict-related activity measured by event-related potentials originating in the anterior cingulate cortex [4]. Here we show that this functional correlate of political attitudes has a counterpart in brain structure. In a large sample of young adults, we related self-reported political attitudes to gray matter volume using structural MRI. 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. These results were replicated in an independent sample of additional participants. Our findings extend previous observations that political attitudes reflect differences in self-regulatory conflict monitoring [4] and recognition of emotional faces [5] by showing that such attitudes are reflected in human brain structure. Although our data do not determine whether these regions play a causal role in the formation of political attitudes, they converge with previous work [[4] and [6]] to suggest a possible link between brain structure and psychological mechanisms that mediate political attitudes.
Highlights

► Political liberalism and conservatism were correlated with brain structure ► Liberalism was associated with the gray matter volume of anterior cingulate cortex ► Conservatism was associated with increased right amygdala size ► Results offer possible accounts for cognitive styles of liberals and conservatives

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6VRT-52JV2HC-2&_user=10&_coverDate=04%2F07%2F2011&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=browse&_origin=browse&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=3235b4db2147fe21e239245eb9333f1a

Pretty sure it can be accessed if you have a university account or something like that.

 

[_Bro]

the article left out how conservatives have increased brain activity in the area that respresents closet homosexuality versus the increased brain activity in the openly gay liberals.

knowing this, i can only come to the conclusion that the writer of this article, and those behind the study, are nerds who are happy having never been kissed.

 

[thekad]

How does a larger region "that monitor(s) uncertainty and conflicts" translate to "better able to handle complexity and nuance"?

You wouldn't understand.

 

[AniHawk]

You wouldn't understand.

amazing.