Differences between Liberal and Conservative brain structure

[RetiredGySgt]

As I pointed out in the OTHER thread on this..... European "Conservative" and "Liberal" are not the same as American. Further the study only used London youths. Did not specify age or life correlations. And was sponsored by Colin Firth. Ohh and only 90 people were "studied".

 

[RDD_1210]

Even ASSUMING, which we know where that leads, that this were a REAL and functional study, it would be MEANINGLESS to us in the States.

The participants were from London. England and Europe do not have the same beliefs when it comes to " Conservative" and "Liberal" as the States.

LMAO.

 

[RDD_1210]

Using data from MRI scans, researchers at the University College London found that self-described liberals have a larger anterior cingulate cortex--a gray matter of the brain associated with understanding complexity. Meanwhile, self-described conservatives are more likely to have a larger amygdala, an almond-shaped area that is associated with fear and anxiety.

Will President Obama and the House GOP ever agree? Science suggests no - Yahoo! News

Conservative philosophy is an appeal to rational reasoning; Liberal dogma (can't really call it a philosophy) is an appeal to base emotions like hatred, jealousy, demonization, suspicion, fearmongering, etc., and therefore it is a dysfunctional operating system. As such it needs "enablement" and finds that in a corrupt media which feeds it's dysfunction, while feeding on it. Publishing pseudo-scientific findings to increase the level of disrespect through ridicule toward fellow citizens too, is a case in point. Consider how juvenile that is.

I mean yeah that all goes without saying.

 

[Samson]

President Obama and House Republicans may have narrowly averted a government shutdown last weekend, but as the two sides prepare to engage in another round of intra-party feuding over budget proposals, a new study suggests that basic brain science might stand in the way of bipartisanship.

Using data from MRI scans, researchers at the University College London found that self-described liberals have a larger anterior cingulate cortex--a gray matter of the brain associated with understanding complexity. Meanwhile, self-described conservatives are more likely to have a larger amygdala, an almond-shaped area that is associated with fear and anxiety

See: Will President Obama and the House GOP ever agree? Science suggests no - Yahoo! News

There needs to be a study that demonstrates that Wry has a cerebrial cortex.

 

[Samson]

Using data from MRI scans, researchers at the University College London found that self-described liberals have a larger anterior cingulate cortex--a gray matter of the brain associated with understanding complexity. Meanwhile, self-described conservatives are more likely to have a larger amygdala, an almond-shaped area that is associated with fear and anxiety.

Will President Obama and the House GOP ever agree? Science suggests no - Yahoo! News

Yahoo apparently thinks that Obama is the example of the ultimate liberal, and that the House GOP are all conservatives.

Not sure if this is exactly true.

Nor am I convinced that "understanding complexity" or "fear" or "anxiety" means the same as reacting appropriately to complex (or even simple) situations.

Only the stupid or insane have no fear.

 

[Sallow]

Using data from MRI scans, researchers at the University College London found that self-described liberals have a larger anterior cingulate cortex--a gray matter of the brain associated with understanding complexity. Meanwhile, self-described conservatives are more likely to have a larger amygdala, an almond-shaped area that is associated with fear and anxiety.

Will President Obama and the House GOP ever agree? Science suggests no - Yahoo! News

I find anything that associates organic architecture with behavior dubious at best. The Human Brain is infinitely complex and from what little we know..it doesn't even seem that Brain "size" may matter all that much (as there are instances of people that lost a good amount of their brain matter making full or near full recoveries).

I very much think that nurture has a greater effect on one's personality then nature.

 

[editec]

It is fairly clear that certain personality types tend to gravitate toward different political POVs.

And of course it is very interesting that science is beginning to identify the differences in brain structure associated with these different personality types.

I'm of the opinion that society needs different types of personalities to function, so it doesn't surprise me to learn that these differences are actually encoded in the human genome resulting in differences in people's brains.

Society needs authoritarian personalities and it needs anti-authoritarian personalities, too, as but one example of a kinds of difference that manifests in our brains.

 

[editec]

Like it is a revelation that there are significantly different personality types?

We all know that.

What is interesting is that we're now discovering differences in the structures of the these various personality types.

I doubt we really understand it well enough, yet but this does look like an interesting start to this science.

 

[uscitizen]

Using data from MRI scans, researchers at the University College London found that self-described liberals have a larger anterior cingulate cortex--a gray matter of the brain associated with understanding complexity. Meanwhile, self-described conservatives are more likely to have a larger amygdala, an almond-shaped area that is associated with fear and anxiety.

Will President Obama and the House GOP ever agree? Science suggests no - Yahoo! News

I find anything that associates organic architecture with behavior dubious at best. The Human Brain is infinitely complex and from what little we know..it doesn't even seem that Brain "size" may matter all that much (as there are instances of people that lost a good amount of their brain matter making full or near full recoveries).

I very much think that nurture has a greater effect on one's personality then nature.

So you are saying that conservatives are created by brainwashing as opposed to being born that way?

 

[uscitizen]

Would not this brain difference also explain how that cons are more religious leaning towards an authoritarian leader?

 

[editec]

I suspect what this is describing isn't so obvious as some of you are implying.

But certainly we know that some people LIKE authority and others don't.

How that plays out depends mostly on who has the AUTHORITY.

 

[MaggieMae]

Using data from MRI scans, researchers at the University College London found that self-described liberals have a larger anterior cingulate cortex--a gray matter of the brain associated with understanding complexity. Meanwhile, self-described conservatives are more likely to have a larger amygdala, an almond-shaped area that is associated with fear and anxiety.

Will President Obama and the House GOP ever agree? Science suggests no - Yahoo! News

More idiocy in the name of science. How stupid are you to even post this?

Uh because it has to do with Science? Which is where the thread was placed? Ironically, your comment reflects "fear" that it's true, thereby making the scientific conclusion credible.

 

[MaggieMae]

This? Again?

Can't..............

stop..............

laughing!

You're right, there are many studies on the differences between the thought processes of liberals and conservatives. The first one I read is several years old, and I was surprised I found it again so easily online having forgotten the title (got to start tossing out all my hard copies of this sort of thing). I'm quoting the most amusing part, but this is a good example of those differences:

The Ideological Animal | Psychology Today

Most people are surprised to learn that there are real, stable differences in personality between conservatives and liberals—not just different views or values, but underlying differences in temperament. Psychologists John Jost of New York University, Dana Carney of Harvard, and Sam Gosling of the University of Texas have demonstrated that conservatives and liberals boast markedly different home and office decor. Liberals are messier than conservatives, their rooms have more clutter and more color, and they tend to have more travel documents, maps of other countries, and flags from around the world. Conservatives are neater, and their rooms are cleaner, better organized, more brightly lit, and more conventional. Liberals have more books, and their books cover a greater variety of topics. And that's just a start. Multiple studies find that liberals are more optimistic. Conservatives are more likely to be religious. Liberals are more likely to like classical music and jazz, conservatives, country music. Liberals are more likely to enjoy abstract art. Conservative men are more likely than liberal men to prefer conventional forms of entertainment like TV and talk radio. Liberal men like romantic comedies more than conservative men. Liberal women are more likely than conservative women to enjoy books, poetry, writing in a diary, acting, and playing musical instruments.

 

[MaggieMae]

More idiocy in the name of science. How stupid are you to even post this?

You obviously wouldn't understand the complexity of what I posted. I don't blame you though.

Really?

Did you know that every single study that purported to prove something like this has been debunked by scientists? I particularly love this part of your link.

Observers will notice a familiar name on the report: Oscar-winning actor Colin Firth, who commissioned the report while serving as a guest host of the BBC Radio 4's Today program in London last year. (Neurological sources of stammering don't come into play.) The study, which was conducted with the help of 90 young adult volunteers, comes on the heels of other research that linked political beliefs to genetic differences between liberals and conservatives. Last year, a joint study by the Harvard and the University of California, San Diego, found there might actually be a so-called "liberal gene" that influences political leanings.
While the London study does find distinct differences between Democrats and Republicans, its authors caution that more research needs to be done on the subject. One unknown is whether people are simply born with their political beliefs or if our brains adjust to life experiences--which is a possibility, Kanai writes.
"It's very unlikely that actual political orientation is directly encoded in these brain regions," he said in a statement accompanying the study. "More work is needed to determine how these brain structures mediate the formation of political attitude."

Who do you think has more problems understanding the complexity of the links you post?

Me, who actually reads them, or you, who stops at the headlines?

Why don't you post your "debunked" links.

 

[MaggieMae]

So if you know this study is a joke why get so worked up over it? Time to lighten up perhaps.

Better question: why didn't you know this study was a joke?

You could have posted it in "Humor" rather than "Science and Technology" and saved some of us the trouble of reading this junk science crap.

Because then it would get a lot of reads, but no funny responses.

 

[MaggieMae]

Using data from MRI scans, researchers at the University College London found that self-described liberals have a larger anterior cingulate cortex--a gray matter of the brain associated with understanding complexity. Meanwhile, self-described conservatives are more likely to have a larger amygdala, an almond-shaped area that is associated with fear and anxiety.

Will President Obama and the House GOP ever agree? Science suggests no - Yahoo! News

Conservative philosophy is an appeal to rational reasoning; Liberal dogma (can't really call it a philosophy) is an appeal to base emotions like hatred, jealousy, demonization, suspicion, fearmongering, etc., and therefore it is a dysfunctional operating system. As such it needs "enablement" and finds that in a corrupt media which feeds it's dysfunction, while feeding on it. Publishing pseudo-scientific findings to increase the level of disrespect through ridicule toward fellow citizens too, is a case in point. Consider how juvenile that is.

Hmmm, talk about "junk science..."

So how about all those pseudo-scientific "findings" that supposedly "prove" that conservatives have a higher intellect, are more charitable, are less corrupt, blah blah blah, which members of YOUR political group have been all too eager to post on this message boards in the past, whenever one of those "studies" becomes a popular read? You see it's the same ol' story: If the results of this particular "study" had been reversed, you all would be high-fiving each other and posting we-told-you-so comments.

 

[MaggieMae]

Using data from MRI scans, researchers at the University College London found that self-described liberals have a larger anterior cingulate cortex--a gray matter of the brain associated with understanding complexity. Meanwhile, self-described conservatives are more likely to have a larger amygdala, an almond-shaped area that is associated with fear and anxiety.

Will President Obama and the House GOP ever agree? Science suggests no - Yahoo! News

I find anything that associates organic architecture with behavior dubious at best. The Human Brain is infinitely complex and from what little we know..it doesn't even seem that Brain "size" may matter all that much (as there are instances of people that lost a good amount of their brain matter making full or near full recoveries).

I very much think that nurture has a greater effect on one's personality then nature.

I agree. There's a veil of ignorance when we're first born. Unfortunately, it doesn't take long to adapt to Mom & Dad's lifestyle. Climbing out of the mold and into independent thought is a long journey, however.

 

[Samson]

I agree. There's a veil of ignorance when we're first born. Unfortunately, it doesn't take long to adapt to Mom & Dad's lifestyle. Climbing out of the mold and into independent thought is a long journey, however.

And Nobody should know that like you.

You're Still Climbing, and have a long way to go.

 

[Wry Catcher]

President Obama and House Republicans may have narrowly averted a government shutdown last weekend, but as the two sides prepare to engage in another round of intra-party feuding over budget proposals, a new study suggests that basic brain science might stand in the way of bipartisanship.

Using data from MRI scans, researchers at the University College London found that self-described liberals have a larger anterior cingulate cortex--a gray matter of the brain associated with understanding complexity. Meanwhile, self-described conservatives are more likely to have a larger amygdala, an almond-shaped area that is associated with fear and anxiety

See: Will President Obama and the House GOP ever agree? Science suggests no - Yahoo! News

There needs to be a study that demonstrates that Wry has a cerebrial cortex.

Is that the best you got, sammie boy?

 

[Samson]

President Obama and House Republicans may have narrowly averted a government shutdown last weekend, but as the two sides prepare to engage in another round of intra-party feuding over budget proposals, a new study suggests that basic brain science might stand in the way of bipartisanship.

Using data from MRI scans, researchers at the University College London found that self-described liberals have a larger anterior cingulate cortex--a gray matter of the brain associated with understanding complexity. Meanwhile, self-described conservatives are more likely to have a larger amygdala, an almond-shaped area that is associated with fear and anxiety

See: Will President Obama and the House GOP ever agree? Science suggests no - Yahoo! News

There needs to be a study that demonstrates that Wry has a cerebrial cortex.

Is that the best you got, sammie boy?

No.

Why are you confused already?