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June 18, 2008 at 5:40 pm #587238
WSMomParticipantNow, this made me think…hehehe
http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/v10/n10/abs/nn1979.html
“Republican vs. Democrat: A Matter of Brain Chemistry?
Research by New York University and UCLA researchers appearing in Nature Neuroscience shows that liberal or conservative leanings may come down to cognition rather than conviction.
In the experiment college students across the political spectrum were instructed to tap an M whenever it appeared on a computer monitor and to ignore a W that appeared about 20 percent of the time while an electroencephalograph recorded brain activity.Data showed that students who identified themselves as liberal scored higher for accuracy and were almost five times as likely to show activity in brain circuits associated with conflict, suggesting a strong capacity for dealing with change and novelty. Meanwhile, conservative students were better at blocking out distracting new information which may lead them to favor structure and tradition.”
June 18, 2008 at 5:48 pm #627993
charlabobParticipantNo wonder the right hates science :-)
I happen have an antique electric shock machine (a real one) — if any of you closet or out repubs wants to be cured…just let me know.
It is true that I’m not very good at blocking distractions — as evidenced by my set o’ posts for today. And people are forever trying to cure me of it. So I figure the least I can do is return the favor.
June 18, 2008 at 6:10 pm #627994
SAMemberInteresting. I was conservative leaning while in college… I even had a Reagan/Bush bumper sticker on a notebook. My first permanent job after college took me to the conservative heartland of Cincinnati. But over a number of years I felt sufficated from the rigid homogeneous society in Cinti and found myself listening to NPR and arguing more liberal points of view. I think the catalyst was actually someone at work who said I was more Libertarian than conservative.
Today I consider myself part Libertarian and part Green, yet a lot of my liberal friends consider me the most liberal person they know.
See, it is possible for a conservative to evolve into a better person after all. :)
June 18, 2008 at 6:11 pm #627995
JoBParticipantok.. this is probably going to truly identify me on some detail obsessed democratic scale…
but how many college students… and has this research been replicated elsewhere.. and how many places… ???
while i think it is probably true that in some areas that democgraphic would hold.. i would question it’s validity over the broader spectrum.
the functional MRI studies that were done looking at brain engagement when those who held strong political opinions.. both democrat and republican… showed that those with strong opinions are more likely to shut down their brain processing when confronted with information that challenged their opinions.. whether democrat or republican.
we will all seek facts to support what we think we know… and will listen more to those who tell us what we want to hear than those who don’t.
for the past few decades, our national media created a circumstance where those who less inclined to challenge would hold republican political views by being so politically biased towards the right.
As a young person, you would have to have an enquiring and challenging mindset to find information that challenges the common media perceptions…
and.. before you get offended New Resident.. i am just saying that those who accept the status quo would be more likely to be Republican because the status quo is republican.. not that you have to suspend critical thought to be a republican.
It’s like in the 70s when women first started talking about their own child abuse in informal focus groups. For a while, there was some question whether female intelligence was related to early child abuse… so many of those who participated in challenging discussions had been abused.
But it turned out that the abuse itself had shaped how we viewed our own prospects.. we had been disabused early of the notion that being a good girl and following society’s expectations would promise us protection and success… so we sought out alternatives.. which at that time for women meant pursuing higher education.
thus.. those who had been abused were more likely to challenge the status quo and find themselves involved in lively and often contentious debate during that time period…
“pure” science is such a misnomer because there are so few circumstances that are not influenced by nurture as much as by nature.
so.. where was the study.. how many students… was it replicated.. what happens if you test people over 50 whose world view and expectations of truth were shaped before the current trend towards entertainment news? inquiring minds want to know:)
but.. i have to agree.. i personally like the notion of democrats as the thinking party ;-)
June 18, 2008 at 6:12 pm #627996
AnonymousInactiveI don’t hate science.
June 18, 2008 at 6:18 pm #627997
JoBParticipantNewResident…
I don’t think any mother can hate science.. raising a child is such an immersion in reality:)
June 18, 2008 at 7:18 pm #627998
WSMomParticipantI also have to wonder if ignoring a “W” is nearly impossible for a liberal…hehehe.
June 18, 2008 at 7:19 pm #627999
WSMomParticipantHey, I got two hehehe’s in one thread (in honor of Jan) this is a good day!!
June 18, 2008 at 7:26 pm #628000
charlabobParticipantNR, I didn’t think you hated science — a few more digressions from orthodoxy and you’ll be kicked to the center of the bus. :-)
Actually, semi-seriously, there’s a strong conflict between the social conservatives who do hate science and the “traditional” conservatives, who simply disagree with me about pretty much everything.
JoB — would that you were right. But that would mean the female persons who want the teaching of science kicked out of the classroom aren’t true mothers? I suspect many of them think they want to protect their kids from reality but you really can’t, can you?
June 18, 2008 at 9:01 pm #628001
JoBParticipantcharlabob…
unfortunately.. some of those high school moms are second generation home schooled fundamentalists who don’t hate science so much as cling to orthodoxy…
i think it was Einstein who said that we don’t need to know everything.. we just need to know where to look it up.
It helps a lot with science if you don’t choose to overlook most of the reference material because they might not support your orthodox views…
those who believe the bible is science are the extreme end of the pendulum containing all people who generally only want to hear..and to have taught to their children… what they know.
The worst beatings i got as a child were for knowing and defending information and ideas that my mom had never heard of or had already decided were wrong.
it wasn’t her fault that she was never taught how to objectively evaluate information…
but it was her fault that she didn’t trust in what she wanted for me.. and that was to be well educated enough to do so.
Fear is a terrible thing.
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