Are Liberals and Conservatives Brains Wired Differently? A Study Says YES

9 Comments

Comment by Steve Stuck on August 27, 2008 at 9:39pm

Maybe they are right when they say "Liberalism is a Mental Disorder".

Comment by Mike Magan on August 27, 2008 at 11:05pm

Interesting post, I find people I disagree with politically are a lot different than me and have completely opposite preferences in a lot of ways. Where I think the problem is thinking those on your side are right and others are wrong.

I am learning to look for the truth in what people say as long as they are sincere. People with completely different background and life experiences are of course going to be wired differently and have a different view of what is right and wrong.

Comment by Nwokedi C. Idika on August 28, 2008 at 12:12am

Steve: All "disorders" aren't bad. For example, in evolution, if there were no mutations (disorders), a species would never evolve.

Mike: I think you're spot on with the whole right/wrong idea. What's right or wrong is frequently an irrelevant question. I did some discussion on this here: http://how2livelife.blogspot.com/2008/08/stories-we-tell-ourselves.html

Comment by Steve Stuck on August 28, 2008 at 1:02am

I don't try to argue right and wrong. What I do stand up against is the mindset that once some scietntific group prints something that it is word and no one can speak against it.

The premise of you putting up your blog post is too obvisiously incite that liberals are some sort of superior thinking body. Once you see this study, you will see that others are not thinkers. The actual opposite is true The reason I detest most liberal thought process is because of my belief that it interferes with ones personal liberties.

While liberals celebrate this utopian idea that constant acceptance of ever changing principles, what they completely miss is establishing principles to work your life from. As a libertarian/conservative, this is one basic approach that has guided me into taking care of myself first and leading by example.

Comment by Nwokedi C. Idika on August 28, 2008 at 1:51am

Steve: Maybe I'm sending out false signals. I never suggested that someone can't disagree with something because the "something" is a scientific study.

I wasn't trying to make a case that liberals are a superior thinking body. You drew that conclusion--not me. But you bring up an interesting topic. If you think about the some of the most liberal places in the United States, you'll find a plethora of powerful intellects there (e.g., Cambridge, MA; San Francisco, CA; Seattle, WA). Now Indiana is notoriously conservative state. Now what's one of the major problems with Indiana? Bingo! The "brain drain." I'd be willing to bet that among other things conservatism is helping to drive the brain drain in Indiana.

In your last paragraph, I think the liberals you're describing are extreme liberals. Put extreme in front of just about any noun and it becomes scary (e.g., extreme Muslims vs. Muslims). I think the liberal-conservative spectrum is like the introvert-extrovert spectrum. Very, very few people actually exist on the endpoints of these spectrums...the people that do, are scary.

Comment by Steve Stuck on August 28, 2008 at 8:46am

Look at the last line of your original post. You were trying to point out something through another way.

Your faith in powerful intellects is blinding you to the fact that all states are different for various reasons. California and the San Francisco area may have something interesting. The overall state though in shambles financially and many business's have fled in the last 10 years. Chicago is so over taxed, many are leaving the suburbs for various places like Indianapolis, Atlanta, NC. These states are very tax friendly and less govt. The areas you mention are not. So the most powerful intellect still has to use commonsense when keeping their money and raising families in silly corn states like Indiana.

Listen, we won't agree, but I just sit back and laugh at liberal thought policy. I have seen in it action for 10 years in my various career field. The last 4 years I have gotten to meet various liberal politicians and how they are on tv and what some of their real agenda is would wake a lot of people up.

Comment by Stephen James on August 28, 2008 at 9:43am

I disagree that if people' brains are physiologically "wired" differently, it predetermines their political slant, but "nature's" personality may cause people to lean in certain directions ideologically or behaviorally. Pragmatism does often come from personality.

The idea that you can link punching a letter on keyboard to invading a country is ridiculous (although possibly applicable in this example?). Maybe I'm reading too much into the researcher's comment, but I dislike that Mr. Sulloway alludes to the idea that pragmatism is always a good thing. He sounds as if lack of change and resolve are inherently bad characteristics.

Comment by Brian Huff on August 28, 2008 at 11:59am

Look, I take this article as saying what we already know. Political conservatives and liberals are different. They just look at it from a neurological point of view. The article does explicitly state that it doesn't endorse one side or the other, rather it attempts to provide a bit of insight as to why the two sides look at situations differently. Also, while it is an interesting study, we should temper our feeling about it because it is, after all, a modified human Pavlov experiment.

I've long been a middle left voter, but as I've gotten older, I've realized that I'm very fiscally conservative and socially liberal. Because of this, I won't align myself with one doctrine or the other. It should be based on who's telling the truth and who has the American people's interest at heart. There will be decisions made that may negatively affect my life, but will benefit millions of others. I'm ok with that. Are you?

Comment by Nwokedi C. Idika on August 28, 2008 at 2:26pm

Steve: How is "So maybe there's scientific evidence that would suggest that McCain REALLY would be more of the same." suggesting that someone can't speak out against scientific evidence or suggest that liberals are a "superior thinking body"? It's possible that there was a miscommunication and you're arguing a point I didn't make. Nonetheless, your views are interesting.

Stephen: I think Brian hits it on the nose. The study isn't making a statement of causality, but one of correlation. The study merely makes the observation that there is a correlation between performance in a specific experimental study and liberalism and conservatism.

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