Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Why are Conservatives Paranoid Fear Mongers? Now we know.


Love this new research, which answers the question I've been asking for years on this blog, and backs up my concept that conservatives are controlled by an fear and paranoia:
A study at University College London in the UK has found that conservatives' brains have larger amygdalas than the brains of liberals … responsible for fear and other "primitive" emotions … conservatives' brains were also found to have a smaller anterior cingulate -- the part of the brain responsible for courage and optimism. If the study is confirmed, it could give us the first medical explanation for why conservatives tend to be more receptive to threats of terrorism, for example, than liberals. And it may help to explain why conservatives like to plan based on the worst-case scenario, while liberals tend towards rosier outlooks.
Geraint Rees, the neurologist who heads up UCL's Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, was originally asked half-jokingly to study the differences between liberal and conservative brains for an episode of BBC 4's Today show that was hosted by actor Colin Firth. But, after studying 90 UCL students and two British parliamentarians, the neurologist was shocked to discover a clear correlation between the size of certain brain parts and political views.
In a study published in October, researchers at Harvard and UC-San Diego found that a variant of the DRD4 gene predisposes people to being liberal, but only if they had active social lives as adolescents. The "liberal gene" has also been linked to a desire to try new things, and other "personality traits related to political liberalism."

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