From the article:
Participants were college students whose politics ranged from "very liberal" to "very conservative." They were instructed to tap a keyboard when an M appeared on a computer monitor and to refrain from tapping when they saw a W.I could see Liberals and Conservatives taken this study to fuel both sets of arguments from their respective political cognitive spectrum: 1) Conservatives are automatons and so reflexive that they'd just as continue the war in Iraq because Dubya says it's the right thing to do, and 2) Liberals are wishy-washy and can't stick to their guns even when Al-Queda killer terrorists are breathing down their necks and marrying their daughters!
M appeared four times more frequently than W, conditioning participants to press a key in knee-jerk fashion whenever they saw a letter.
Each participant was wired to an electroencephalograph that recorded activity in the anterior cingulate cortex, the part of the brain that detects conflicts between a habitual tendency (pressing a key) and a more appropriate response (not pressing the key). Liberals had more brain activity and made fewer mistakes than conservatives when they saw a W, researchers said. Liberals and conservatives were equally accurate in recognizing M.
Based on the results, he said, liberals could be expected to more readily accept new social, scientific or religious ideas.
Ultimately, I would use these findings to propose that more Liberals and Conservatives have more sex together and make babies that engender the very balance our society sorely needs. That being said, I will now call Al Franken and Ann Coulter and ensure that they get a nice room with mood lighting and fondue and make some babies.
So I know this guy who checked out this post, and he emailed me a response which I thought would be a great addition as a comment. Here it is:
ReplyDeleteI would argue the opposite of the proposed findings... that "political orientation is related to differences in how the brain processes information"
I think the findings are better explained as: "differences in how the brain processes information effects one's political orientation"... in other words, the idiots of the world who tend not to have as much brain activity when trying to undertake the simple task of differentiating between the letter M and the letter W tend to lean toward the conservative end of the political spectrum, presumably because they are idiots and it pains their mind too much to take in all the rational thoughts/ideas/facts that are out there in the "marketplace of ideas" to make a well informed and reasoned decision, and instead they make a knee-jerk, uninformed, and stupid George-Bush-like decision.
You guys need to check out the book, The ASSAULT ON REASON... interesting reading and completely reaffirms everything I always thought about conservative politics (and G-Dubya).
J-Deuce