Conservative Brain Vs. Liberal Brain - Study

http://www.salon.com/news/politics/wa...

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A study to be published next year at University College London suggests that conservative brains are structured differently than the brains of other people. The investigation, led by Geraint Rees, focused on 92 individuals in the U.K. -- 90 students and two members of Parliament.

Specifically, the research shows that people with conservative tendencies have a larger amygdala and a smaller anterior cingulate than other people. The amygdala -- typically thought of as the "primitive brain" -- is responsible for reflexive impulses, like fear. The anterior cingulate is thought to be responsible for courage and optimism. This one-two punch could be responsible for many of the anecdotal claims that conservatives "think differently" from others.

Since only adults were included in the investigation, researchers were unable to determine if cerebral physiology drives politics or if political beliefs change the brain. A previous University of California study suggests the former is possible, isolating a so-called "liberal gene" -- the neurotransmitter DRD4 -- responsible for an increased receptiveness to novel ideas.

Predictably, conservatives have jumped on both studies as an indication of their biological superiority. Across the right-leaning blogosphere and twitterverse, DRD4 was cited as the underlying cause of the "mental illness" known as liberalism; and some conservative tweeters have even tried to claim that the enlarged amygdala just means that conservatives "have bigger brains." Of course, the first claim begs the question, and the second ignores the shrunken anterior cingulate.

While the extent of the differences is still unclear, the biology of politics has begun to confirm that those differences are real.

• Category

  News & Politics

[levi Levi]

Right-wingers are less intelligent than left wingers, says study

Children with low intelligence grow up to be prejudiced

Right-wing views make the less intelligent feel 'safe'

Analysis of more than 15,000 people

hehe

[Funkynuts1]

"expiraments"?

I rest my case.

[DerickTherving]

Oh loo. Trying to find legit news on youtube. All I find are a group of idiots kicked off the radio for not fact checking and for being dumbasses.

[stlouieramfan123]

HOOVER FUCK THIS COUNTRY OVER.

[ctaylor1297]

Freaking conservatives man

[Premiess80]

Ok

[stevenfaec]

Okay. I don't really wish to get into 2 month old argument.

[Premiess80]

I have plenty of reason since I don't believe in a god. I was raised a christian and have read the bible & rejected all of it since I grew up. I'm aware no one can always be right as well.

[Edgehead10075]

Obviously there are exceptions to the rule, too. There was a very bright Asian-American student in my high school class who went to UC Berkeley, and he currently has some kind of job dealing with computers. He's a conservative, probably more on the fiscal than social issue side though. He likes Ron Paul. There was another guy in my class who was a total bonehead. He went to Long Beach St. yet is ultra-liberal.

[Edgehead10075]

Actually there were conservatives and liberals in both parties. Honestly, it's hard to understand what united Republicans and what united Democrats back in those times.

[Edgehead10075]

If the study is true, then you can't really fault people for being conservative, now can you?

[1Erik85]

Conservatives are not necessarily the same as Republicans. The Republican Party made an ideological switch from liberalism to conservatism around the time Hoover was president.