AlterNet.orgAFP A new study shows liberals have more gray matter in a part of the brain related to understanding complexity, while the conservative brain is bigger in the section linked to fear.
April 10, 2011 |
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.
The more people who know about this discovery the better. It explains why you can't persuade a conservative with logic. It explains why they don't compromise. It is because they cannot change their minds, once a perception is set. A conservative cannot hold two opposing ideas at the same time. For instance, consider the drawing, often seen, of a vase, OR two human faces facing each other. Conservatives typically cannot see both "takes" of the picture. Liberals easily flip back and forth, seeing both. For more information on this important distinction between people,see The Authoritarian Personality, a book by Adorno, et.al. published after WWII. Based on this book are thousands of studies listed in Psychology Index, under the Fascism or F-scale. The big-right-amygdala people are fearful. Fearful people make war. That's why conservatives will not decrease spending on defense. It's why they don't like minorities ("I am good. He is not like me. So he must be bad. Kill him, or keep him out of the my country.) Tom Tancredo thinking. Conservatives cannot see the use of a pristine forest unless they like guns, so they will permit guns and gas and oil drilling in our national forests. Drill baby drill! So, why spend money to protect our wild national treasures?
ReplyDeleteThere are two breeds of men.
The general idea of conservatives is to kill anybody who disagrees with them, or second best, lie about the opposition to discredit and nullify them and their ideas. That makes it O K to lie, distort, mislabel or whatever it takes to win an election, because the conservative is certain he is right. Wisconsin's governor for instance, who says WI cannot afford trade unions because he is paid by the KOCHS to bust unions to make the Kochs richer. The authoritarian personality will toady to the rich and powerful because his picture of the world is vertical, best and richest at the top. That is why destroying people in the middle class is O K. Middle class is below him on the laddar, so he kicks them off or keeps them down. He licks the boots of those above him. (Recent TV picture of John Boehner bowing to Koch at a Republican dinner.)
Fearful people Carl Rove, Boehner, Connoly will lie, cheat, steal, and take bribes to get power and influence. (Thus they proudly take away from union people and give to the rich people, with no guilt at all.) The physical difference in people is influencing public policy. In preservation of wilderness
In ignoring the plight of the poor
In denying climate change(for Big Oil)
In taking us to WAR to kill Bin Laden
In denying health care for all