Article

2007-09-10 -Short Attention Span Theater-

Homo politicus: brain function of liberals, conservatives differs

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Posted by gorb 2007-09-10 07:50|| || Front Page|| [11134 views ] Top

#1 Is this study an attempt to protect moveon.org from being called traitors?

Posted by 3dc 2007-09-10 10:39|| 2007-09-10 10:39|| Front Page Top

#2 "...respondents who had described themselves as liberals showed 'significantly greater conflict-related neural activity' when the hypothetical situation called for an unscheduled break in routine..."
Then shouldn't "staying the course" keep them calm?

I suspect this is science at the Al Gore level of quality.

Posted by Darrell 2007-09-10 10:45|| 2007-09-10 10:45|| Front Page Top

#3 Or lower.

Posted by Dave D.">Dave D. 2007-09-10 10:54|| 2007-09-10 10:54|| Front Page Top

#4 More evidence that the Roe effect should be good for the nation.

Posted by Nimble Spemble 2007-09-10 10:56|| 2007-09-10 10:56|| Front Page Top

#5 Where is the science? All I see is junk.

Posted by DarthVader">DarthVader 2007-09-10 11:05|| 2007-09-10 11:05|| Front Page Top

#6 Liberal brains tolerate what they find complex or ambiguous - like 'right and wrong' are complex and ambiguous. Conservative brains instruct their bodies to destroy the 'wrong'.

Posted by Glenmore">Glenmore 2007-09-10 11:14|| 2007-09-10 11:14|| Front Page Top

#7 Utter rubbish. Anyone who has known, as I have, a dedicated liberal who has become a dedicated conservative knows that nothing about politics is hardwired. It's all programming. In the case of liberals, you might even call it an infinite loopiness...

Now, liberal traits do tend to track the feminine and conservative traits the masculine. But that is merely a starting point and does not in any way control where you wind up.

Posted by Iblis">Iblis 2007-09-10 12:17|| 2007-09-10 12:17|| Front Page Top

#8 I would say that Liberal brains exist more easily with paradoxes, contradictions and inconsistencies.

Whereas righties tend to be more engineering minded and boil things down to paradigms.

Lefties inability to detect contradiction is a huge flaw, and is a reason they lose online, where it is easy to point out.

Posted by Bright Pebbles 2007-09-10 12:20|| 2007-09-10 12:20|| Front Page Top

#9 I'm reminded of my experience when I started a new job. The drive to work went through miles of forest. There were a number of squirrels in the road making drivers swerve every few miles. I thought I could find a solution to all this swerving. On my second day, I got the record with 27 kills. On the third day, I only saw a dozen squirrels, and I hit five of them. I don't remember squirrels being a big deal after that. I guess the liberals would still be braking and swerving, day after day. It was obvious to me that I was the lone 'hunter' driving that road, so the record doesn't mean much.

Posted by wxjames 2007-09-10 12:26|| 2007-09-10 12:26|| Front Page Top

#10 Liberals, by contrast, show a higher tolerance for ambiguity and complexity, and adapt more easily to unexpected circumstances.

What I suspect is that brain waves show when someone is actively engaged and plans to take some valid action - v/s someone who has no intention of doing anything and is expecting someone else to do the work.

Makes sense to me.

I'm suspect that they can also isolate the brain pattern for the action of bitching about the fact that others didn't do the job perfectly.

I suspect they could also isolate these same brain patterns from a nagging wife.

Seriously, I think a study should be done to see if the brain patterns of liberals can be duplicated simply by taking a sample group of conservatives, confronting them with a problem that is outside their ability and expertise to fix and then telling them that someone else will take care of it for them.

Posted by Unutle McGurque8861 2007-09-10 12:36|| 2007-09-10 12:36|| Front Page Top

#11 Dr. John Ray has a website "Dissecting Leftism". He has probably written more papers on this subject than anyone, and almost always finds fatal flaws in these studies.

Posted by moody blues 2007-09-10 13:15|| 2007-09-10 13:15|| Front Page Top

#12 "Verdict first, trial after!"
-- The Red Queen

Posted by mojo">mojo 2007-09-10 13:35|| 2007-09-10 13:35|| Front Page Top

#13 In most cases Liberals make decisions on Emotions and Conservatives on Facts. That is why liberals are more likely to have conflicting or switching positions and talk about how things made them feel. That is why it matters less of a policy actually works (it may do damage to their cause) but doing something feels good and tryign to change things is bad.

Posted by rjschwarz 2007-09-10 13:38|| 2007-09-10 13:38|| Front Page Top

#14 Its not that Liberals can hold paradoxes and contradictions - conservatives cna do so as well. Its that Liberals insist on sustaining them instead of solving them. They are more concerned with how the feel about such things instead of how to deal with them.

Posted by OldSpook 2007-09-10 15:56|| 2007-09-10 15:56|| Front Page Top

#15 Liberals do tend to make better abstract artists and conservatives do tend to make better engineers.

So IMO it would be fair to say that liberals are better at making the world interesting while conservatives are better at making the world.

Posted by Grumenk Philalzabod0723 2007-09-10 20:59|| 2007-09-10 20:59|| Front Page Top

#16 Libruls got brains?

Who knew?

Posted by Barbara Skolaut">Barbara Skolaut 2007-09-10 22:31|| http://ariellestjohndesigns.com/]">[http://ariellestjohndesigns.com/] 2007-09-10 22:31|| Front Page Top

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