Liberal and conservative brains differ

Written By: - Date published: 7:26 pm, September 30th, 2007 - 5 comments
Categories: articles - Tags:

a29_nail.jpgA recent neurobiology study suggests that liberals tolerate ambiguity and conflict better than conservatives.

The result seems to be strongly tied to low-level brain activity and suggests that political orientation could be related to differences in how the brain processes information.

The study asked paricipants to tap a keyboard when an M appeared on a computer monitor and to refrain from tapping when they saw a W. Liberals had more brain activity and made fewer mistakes than conservatives when they saw a W.

[R]espondents who had described themselves as liberals showed “significantly greater conflict-related neural activity” when the hypothetical situation called for an unscheduled break in routine.

Conservatives, however, were less flexible, refusing to deviate from old habits “despite signals that this … should be changed.”

Link to full article.

(Hat tip: Anthony)

5 comments on “Liberal and conservative brains differ ”

  1. ahod 1

    Haha, how incredible! It should be said though, the conservatives have managed to form a government here a few times; could it then be argued that we were in a state of low brain activity? Though today, under Labour, are we more inclinded to spot the M’s, and less inclined to tap when we see a W[anker]?
    “…under a Labour Government, I lead…” – Who tapped when they spotted the ‘W’???

  2. Policy Parrot 2

    So if your policies are based on for example, lets say common sense and family values – what does that do to your brain – apart from the obvious lack of activity evident?

  3. all_your_base 3

    Prize for the person who can correctly identify the brain type pictured in the x-ray?

  4. Robert Owen 5

    Tane You hit the nail on the head

The server will be getting hardware changes this evening starting at 10pm NZDT.
The site will be off line for some hours.