Neuroscientists have found that there's a difference in brain chemistry between conservatives and liberals. In conservatives the emotional side was more dominant whereas in liberal brains there was more activity in the areas that deal with decision making and analysing of information. Conservatives were more reliant on emotions and more resistant to new ideas and tended to cling to what they had learned previously - therefore to what their emotions were telling them.
This explains a lot to me. I would consider myself more of a liberal leaning person than anything else, and it has often totally mystified me how some conservative people can so adamantly defy and deny logics, reason and facts. Now here we finally have some kind of explanation. They simply seem to be hard-wired that way and their learned beliefs and emotions are to them more important than facts and logic.
I've often wondered how e.g. GWB or the Dark Prince Mr. Cheney can live with themselves and what they've done, but apparently they believe so strongly in what they've done that no simple facts bother them. That would also explain why their off-spring is oriented in the same way - they have clearly been subjected all their live to similar ideas, beliefs and values than their parents and therefore their brains are similarly hard-wired.
Interesting, if a tad scary... Here are a couple of articles on the subject and some excerpts:
Independent: Konservatiiveilla on erilaiset aivot
Political affiliation could be all in the brain
Right-wing brains 'different'
Study finds left-wing brain, right-wing brain
Exploring the neurobiology of politics, scientists have found that liberals tolerate ambiguity and conflict better than conservatives because of how their brains work.
In a simple experiment reported todayin the journal Nature Neuroscience, scientists at New York University and UCLA show that political orientation is related to differences in how the brain processes information.
Previous psychological studies have found that conservatives tend to be more structured and persistent in their judgments whereas liberals are more open to new experiences. The latest study found those traits are not confined to political situations but also influence everyday decisions.
The results show "there are two cognitive styles -- a liberal style and a conservative style," said UCLA neurologist Dr. Marco Iacoboni, who was not connected to the latest research.
...
Sulloway said the results could explain why President Bush demonstrated a single-minded commitment to the Iraq war and why some people perceived Sen. John F. Kerry, the liberal Massachusetts Democrat who opposed Bush in the 2004 presidential race, as a "flip-flopper" for changing his mind about the conflict.
Based on the results, he said, liberals could be expected to more readily accept new social, scientific or religious ideas.
...
"The latest study found those traits are not confined to political situations but also influence everyday decisions."
This emotion-based decision making seems to affect everyday life as well. This fits well with my observation that there seem to be religious-like fervor and beliefs also in the area of economics. Some people tend to believe for instance in the free market theory so much in the extreme, that they seem to be ready to strip all regulations and let the free markets find their way.
I don't really know if these fanatic sounding free-market-theorists would really strip off all economic regulations given the chance, but apparently they would aggressively rush to that direction! That is also a bit scary thought, because I liken that situation to circumstances where you have little or no laws in place in a society. And in a more or less lawless situation, personal interests would conquer and I would expect a chaos to ensue.
Another interesting thought. What about the scientists, who have very conservative beliefs or background? When they practice science, and there's a major conflict between their beliefs and what the factual information tells them, which side will conquer? Will they let the facts and science win, or do their beliefs take over like in the case of Intelligent Design theorists?
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