FUCK THE POLICE
911 EVERY DAY
http://www.kansascity.com/news/politics/story/268311.html
Exploring the neurobiology of politics, scientists have found that liberals tolerate ambiguity and conflict better than conservatives because of how their brains work.
Scientists at New York University and the University of California-Los Angeles showed through a simple experiment to be reported today in the journal Nature Neuroscience 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 showed “there are two cognitive styles — a liberal style and a conservative style,” said UCLA neurologist Marco Iacoboni, who was not involved in the latest research.
Participants were college students whose politics ranged from “very liberal” to “very conservative.” Scientists instructed them to tap a keyboard when an “M” appeared on a computer monitor and to refrain from tapping when they saw a “W.”
“M” appeared four times more frequently than “W,” conditioning participants to press a key in knee-jerk fashion whenever they saw a letter.
Each participant was wired to an electroencephalograph that recorded activity in their anterior cingulate cortex, the part of the brain that detects conflicts between a habitual tendency (pressing a key) and a more appropriate response (not pressing the key). Liberals had more brain activity and made fewer mistakes than conservatives when they saw a “W,” researchers said. Liberals and conservatives were equally accurate in recognizing “M.”
Another researcher in the field, Philip Tetlock of the University of California-Berkeley, said he would be cautious about drawing conclusions from such neurological studies. Using that kind of evidence, he said, “it’s hard to distinguish between someone who’s rigid and someone who’s principled.”
But Mark Pollock, an associate professor of communication at Loyola University in Chicago, said the study “provides scientific evidence for conclusions people (studying political rhetoric) have reached previously.”
Such as?
“A higher tolerance of ambiguity and complexity is typical of people who are liberal,” he said. “That’s not a surprise. It does, however, suggest there may be a hereditary and neurological basis for that. It also might suggest there’s less likelihood of people shifting their political ideology if it’s hard-wired in there.”
Pollock saw another benefit to the findings: If political attitudes are tied to neurophysiology, he said, “it would make bashing conservatives — or liberals — pointless. It’s not as if people are making a choice to see the world this way or that way. It’s how they’re built.”
Exploring the neurobiology of politics, scientists have found that liberals tolerate ambiguity and conflict better than conservatives because of how their brains work.
Scientists at New York University and the University of California-Los Angeles showed through a simple experiment to be reported today in the journal Nature Neuroscience 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 showed “there are two cognitive styles — a liberal style and a conservative style,” said UCLA neurologist Marco Iacoboni, who was not involved in the latest research.
Participants were college students whose politics ranged from “very liberal” to “very conservative.” Scientists instructed them to tap a keyboard when an “M” appeared on a computer monitor and to refrain from tapping when they saw a “W.”
“M” appeared four times more frequently than “W,” conditioning participants to press a key in knee-jerk fashion whenever they saw a letter.
Each participant was wired to an electroencephalograph that recorded activity in their anterior cingulate cortex, the part of the brain that detects conflicts between a habitual tendency (pressing a key) and a more appropriate response (not pressing the key). Liberals had more brain activity and made fewer mistakes than conservatives when they saw a “W,” researchers said. Liberals and conservatives were equally accurate in recognizing “M.”
Another researcher in the field, Philip Tetlock of the University of California-Berkeley, said he would be cautious about drawing conclusions from such neurological studies. Using that kind of evidence, he said, “it’s hard to distinguish between someone who’s rigid and someone who’s principled.”
But Mark Pollock, an associate professor of communication at Loyola University in Chicago, said the study “provides scientific evidence for conclusions people (studying political rhetoric) have reached previously.”
Such as?
“A higher tolerance of ambiguity and complexity is typical of people who are liberal,” he said. “That’s not a surprise. It does, however, suggest there may be a hereditary and neurological basis for that. It also might suggest there’s less likelihood of people shifting their political ideology if it’s hard-wired in there.”
Pollock saw another benefit to the findings: If political attitudes are tied to neurophysiology, he said, “it would make bashing conservatives — or liberals — pointless. It’s not as if people are making a choice to see the world this way or that way. It’s how they’re built.”
