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Brain Differences In Liberals and Conservatives

i_like_spam writes "Scientists from NYU and UCLA report in Nature Neuroscience that the brains of Democrats and Republicans process information differently. This new study finds that the differences are apparent even when the brain processes common information, not just political topics. From the study, liberals were more likely to be accurate and showed more brain activity in the region associated with analyzing conflicts. A researcher not affiliated with the study stated, liberals 'could be expected to more readily accept new social, scientific or religious ideas.' Moreover, 'the results could explain why President Bush demonstrated a single-minded commitment to the Iraq war and why some people perceived Sen. John F. Kerry... as a flip-flopper.'"

17 of 1,248 comments (clear)

  1. This is very good news by Hal_Porter · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'm a liberal and I've always had great difficulty convincing Republicans that I'm right and they are wrong. Thankfully this study tells me that it is because I am smart and they are stupid. Since I am white and male, I look forward to further studies proving women and other races are also inferior to me to explain why they are similarly disobedient. Soon, I hope we shall return to the happy days of the 19th Century where science explained why some people the rulers and others are the ruled. Perhaps we could have a rule where Republican votes count for 3/5ths of Democrat votes, like we did with Negros before the Republicans stirred things up. Or perhaps they could be barred from voting completely, like we used to do for women.

    I also hope that when the country has universal health care it will be be possible to abort fetuses with these cognitive disabilities, just like we do for babies with other developmental defects.

    No, just kidding. This looks like awful science, just like the 19th Century studies that confirmed the experimenter's prejudices that black people and women were inferior.

    --
    echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
  2. Hmm... by poor_boi · · Score: 5, Funny

    1) Liberals are more likely to smoke pot

    2) Pot smokers are more likely to sit around the house

    3) People who sit around the house are more likely to play video games

    4) People who play video games are more likely to have better hand-eye coordination

    5) ???

    6) Profit!

  3. Re:Could age be a factor? by node+3 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Conservatives [made more mistakes] when they saw a W, researchers said. Ain't that the truth.
  4. Not very liberal minded of you by OrangeTide · · Score: 5, Funny

    You assume one way is better than another. How un-liberal of you.

    --
    “Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
    1. Re:Not very liberal minded of you by Oktober+Sunset · · Score: 4, Funny

      and the conservatives stick to the one they chose first, even if it turns out to be the wrong one.

    2. Re:Not very liberal minded of you by genner · · Score: 3, Funny

      Quoting a Christian Author, how unliberal of you.

  5. Re:Could age be a factor? by ErroneousBee · · Score: 5, Funny

    actually, according to tfa liberals are better thinkers.
    imho old persons become conservative just because of decline of cognitive functions due to old age.

    No, according to TFA, liberals are faster and more reliable at differentiating between the letter M and the letter W in a timed experiment.

    I think we may safely extrapolate, and say that we expect this to be true for all differentiation between objects,
    I.e. liberals could tell the difference between:

    • a man, a woman, and cop when propositioning someone in the toilets.
    • a deer and the vice-president when out shooting.
    • a WMD and a big fat nothing.
    • having sexual relations, and just mislaying a cigar.

    As for going so far as to say conservatives are slow and stupid. Well, there are many chains to be yanked, but saying that would would be neither fair, nor scientific.

    --
    **TODO** Steal someone elses sig.
  6. Re:Could age be a factor? by Colin+Smith · · Score: 4, Funny

    this means that liberals actually think about what they do and are more accurate because of it. No. It means they're better at button pushing.

    and this means that conservatives have difficulties to gasp changes and understand new ideas (nothing new here). No, it means that they find button pushing more interesting and worthwhile of effort.
    --
    Deleted
  7. Re:Just In! by August_zero · · Score: 3, Funny

    "What about people like me that are a little of each and some of neither?"

    Simple, you don't exist, now get out of here and stop invalidating the data!

    --
    On Wall Street they say "buy low, sell high" On the pad we say, "buy high, sell high" Isn't that somehow better?
  8. Re:Just In! by Fred_A · · Score: 3, Funny

    How so? Same chromosomes. Has this been experimentally demonstrated ? Can the two sides actually cross-breed ? Is the offspring sterile ? Can it vote ?

    --

    May contain traces of nut.
    Made from the freshest electrons.
  9. Re:liberals by smidget2k4 · · Score: 4, Funny

    You sir, have the strangest definition of religion I have ever seen.
    Political models != religion.
    Economic models != religion.

    However, OS choice == religion.

  10. Re:Could age be a factor? by condour75 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Yes, clearly if conservatives are failing in our cognitive experiments, it's a result of a cultural bias in the test. It's hardly surprising, after decades of prejudice against conservatives in the sciences, that the tests are designed to protect the current cultural hegemony. Rather than subjecting conservatives to standardized cognitive experimentation, therefore, we should be using holistic methods in the laboratory, and perhaps speaking to them in their own rich linguistic heritage, which I call "elephonics".

  11. Re:Could age be a factor? by jcr · · Score: 4, Funny

    Or it supports my theory that people get more selfish as they get older.

    You're kidding, right? Ever heard the piercing shriek of a four year-old yelling "mine!"?

    -jcr

    --
    The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
  12. Study proves Liberal more responsive to "W" Bush by PortHaven · · Score: 4, Funny

    Come on, they used a "W". To any conservative a "W" is just a letter. To any Liberal, a "W" means "George W. Bush" to which they have an adrenaline rushed response to any mention or sight.

    In fact, the study almost proves this fact. For both conservatives and liberals their reactions to the letter "M" were nearly identical. Liberals only excelled in targeting the letter "W".

    We pretty much already know that Liberals are very good at targeting George "W".

    Bah!

    ***

    This is some of the worst science. Thankfully, it's anti-conservative therefore Slashdot will readily post it in it's slide away from a "science" log to a "politics" log.

  13. Re:Could age be a factor? by nomadic · · Score: 4, Funny

    For example. Think before you troll.

    He can't, he's a conservative.

  14. Can we fix it? by Urza9814 · · Score: 3, Funny

    So if we know what the difference is between liberals and conservatives...

    Does that mean we can finally fix the conservatives?

  15. Re:Could age be a factor? by NMerriam · · Score: 3, Funny

    Not all liberals are sexual deviants, bit is true that most sexual deviants are liberals.


    That's certainly true, which is why dating conservatives is so boring.
    --
    Recursive: Adj. See Recursive.