Study: Liberal And Conservative Brains Process Information Differently

Los Angeles Times   |  Denise Gellene   |   September 9, 2007 09:22 PM


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Exploring the neurobiology of politics, scientists have found that liberals tolerate ambiguity and conflict better than conservatives because of how their brains work.

Scientists at New York University and UCLA showed through a simple experiment to be reported Monday in the journal Nature Neuroscience that political orientation is related to differences in how the brain processes information.

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- Horus I'm a Fan of Horus 20 fans permalink
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Yeah, blacks always are good at the sports, they can always jump high and they are prone to violence...oh wait, we're making generalizations about somebody else right now?

My bad.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 12:00 PM on 09/11/2007
- demigod I'm a Fan of demigod 35 fans permalink

Liberals actually contemplate the facts, determine if they conflict with previous assumptions, and reconstruct the theory was necessary in the search for truth. It's called the Scientific method. Conservatives simply sniff for Rush Limbaugh's anal scent mark, and scream "Ditto !"

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 01:54 PM on 09/10/2007

Liberals are smart and conservatives are rich. That's why they hate each other!

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 01:47 PM on 09/10/2007
- UncleJimbo I'm a Fan of UncleJimbo 176 fans permalink
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Just perhaps they have found the cause of Narrow Mindedness in Conservatives?

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 12:47 PM on 09/10/2007
- Shadow51 I'm a Fan of Shadow51 2 fans permalink

This is so funny! Did anyone catch the M/W thing in their test? Of course liberals aren't going to press the button on "W"! After 6+ years of "W", we've had enough!

So they're saying Conservatives are born that way? This is going to end up like the debate about Gays. Are they born that way or is it a "lifestyle choice"? And now so many Conservatives are turning out to be closet Gays, well...

This is delicious.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 12:29 PM on 09/10/2007
- JHD I'm a Fan of JHD 3 fans permalink

Carl Rove figured this all out years ago...

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 11:58 AM on 09/10/2007

Bingo.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 12:23 PM on 09/10/2007
- Horus I'm a Fan of Horus 20 fans permalink
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It's sad, that whole families can be torn apart by something as simple as wild dogs.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 11:55 AM on 09/10/2007

Science seems to be behind what everyday observation has already determined. But it is nice to get confirmation.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 11:49 AM on 09/10/2007
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So... conservatives get bored easily with mindnumbingly repetitive tasks? Liberals are able to keep intellectually engaged with boring jobs where they do the same thing 50 times in a row but then some special case pops up, and they can exclaim with child-like glee "a W out of sequence!"?

Sounds like McDonalds worker is the perfect job for the left. They can sling those burgers together while dealing with the occasional "hold the pickles" or "no special sauce", a definite improvement over the teenagers that work there now.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 11:29 AM on 09/10/2007
- JohnKemp I'm a Fan of JohnKemp 26 fans permalink

How many times did they let the libs change their selection?

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 11:17 AM on 09/10/2007
- 1will I'm a Fan of 1will 33 fans permalink

Before you guys congratulate yourselves too much bear in mind this is just a BS study done at a Left Wing university. You guys can stand around fluffing each other all you want but that doesn't make you rocket scientists.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 11:02 AM on 09/10/2007
- booboouu I'm a Fan of booboouu 3 fans permalink

You have to admit, there is a flaw in a line of thinking that requires your own destruction in an effort to promote peace.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 12:00 PM on 09/10/2007
- JHD I'm a Fan of JHD 3 fans permalink

How do you know it is a "Left Wing university"? I wonder how many real rocket scientists voted for Bush twice...

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 12:07 PM on 09/10/2007
- cindyw I'm a Fan of cindyw 44 fans permalink
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The only study you guys would consider legitimate would be have to be done by Messiah University. No left wingers there, just a lot of underfunctioning brains.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 12:41 PM on 09/10/2007

Tabasco
"Fact is, Liberals avoid sites like Drudge and Free Republic ..."
posted 09:52 am on 09/10/2007

No shit. I'm sure you do. That's the point.

If you didn't avoid Drudge, you'd notice he's light years more balanced than HuffPo.

What the hell, who needs balance.

cindyw
"Liberals realize that very few issues are black and white, and therefore many diverse opinions are tolerated, which can sometimes be perceived as disorganization. "
posted 10:10 am on 09/10/2007

"Liberals realize that very few issues are black and white,..."
That's called an excuse for inaction.
Where's the gray when a guy says you convert to Islam or we'll kill you?

"many diverse opinions are tolerated ..."
Well that's just pain ridiculous on it's face. You try being a black Conservative.

"...which can sometimes be perceived as disorganization."
It's perceived as having no core beliefs other than their political power. Lacking a foundation of beliefs other than getting elected to tell you what to do.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 10:43 AM on 09/10/2007
- 1will I'm a Fan of 1will 33 fans permalink

That's the best post on this column.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 11:01 AM on 09/10/2007
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Everything the cons have posted supports this article. Apparently, you have no problem with its conclusions. Of course, some of your assertions are still b.s.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 11:01 AM on 09/10/2007
- cindyw I'm a Fan of cindyw 44 fans permalink
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"Where's the gray when a guy says you convert to Islam or we'll kill you?" This is how you respond to my saying that few issues are black and white? It doesn't even make sense. Are you trying to say that the Iraq war is about converting to Islam?
What's ridiculous about saying diverse opinions are tolerated? What you said doesn't make sense here either, because I'm guessing that being a black conservative is pretty tough. What's your point?
"Many diverse opinions" does not equal "no core beliefs". It means that liberals form opinions based on cognitive reasoning, while conservatives wait to be told by this administration what their opinions should be.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 12:38 PM on 09/10/2007

"liberals could be expected to more readily accept new social, scientific or religious ideas."

But what if the new ideas that they accept so easily are crappy? That is precisely the problem with liberals.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 10:41 AM on 09/10/2007

I think this could be bullshit. I have conservative views just as much as I have liberal views. I can see through bullshit and I think this report may be one of those times I see though it.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 10:31 AM on 09/10/2007
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You have the liberal side of your brain to thank for that.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 10:33 AM on 09/10/2007

LOL:) Good one I will give you that.

I am socially liberal, I am for gay marriage, no war on drugs, human rights but I am also pro gun rights, small government and I am pro life.

Let me explain if you want..read on.

1. Big government becomes big brother as we are all finding out. The more the government knows about you the worst it is. Believe me, I am Canadian so I know. THEY KNOW EVERYTHING about you...no privacy. Public services are great and are necessary (This is where I disagree with Ron Paul..the only way I disagree)but they should not give the personal info to the government. Only the most necessary info should be kept as well.

2. Unless it can hurt or kill the woman abortion should not even be a consideration BUT I also think the state should have a program if the woman cannot take care of the child then there should be state homes (Publically funded) with care workers to take care of those babies. I just can't bring myself to support abortion. I tried. Even if they are on my side on on other social issues and political issues.

3. Gun rights are needed to keep government in check thats why the founders put it there. I understand the danger of guns but if the government is coming to take you're land, haul you to a FEMA CAMP or to chip you then they are necessary.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 10:48 AM on 09/10/2007
- RGKahn I'm a Fan of RGKahn 5 fans permalink

It has nothing to do with how the brain processes the information. It has everything to do with what we have learned in life, school, from our parents and so forth. What we learned as our core values. Our CORE VALUES determine how we view the world and how we react to that world view. Did we learn to share or are we the "mine, mine generation" Did we learn to help others or are we the me first - screw you generation. Do we believe in the "common good" ? Are we we the "ME Generation" or the "WE Generation"? There is a poster and book that is called, I believe, Everything I learned I learned in Kindergarten" or words to that affect. All of these thing determine how we process information and how we use the results of the processing. In essence its our programming.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 10:24 AM on 09/10/2007
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