Author: GOP Voters Have Larger Fear Centers in Brain, Are Susceptible To 'Psychological Authoritarianism'

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An article in the U.K. Telegraph by Chris Mooney, author of the Republican Brain: The Science Of Why They Deny Science ' and Reality, elaborates on his findings that political ideology of average voters is due, in large part, to the accidents of birth. He details how, in his view, the psychology of the GOP voter has allowed the Republican party to exploit 'psychological authoritarianism' and demonize cultural and scientific wedge issues to enforce political homogeneity.

RELATED: MSNBC Panel Lectures Conservatives On The Nature Of 'The Republican Brain'

Mooney writes that American liberals are 'open to new experiences and more comfortable with nuance and difference,' while Republicans are 'psychologically 'authoritarian' and inclined to view the world in black and white.' What's more, Mooney asserts that 40 percent or more of our political maturation is due to our genetics.

He cites a study from the University of Nebraska's political psychology laboratory that monitored eye-trackers to study how subjects respond to various images. The study found that liberals look longer at 'appealing or enticing images' while conservatives respond more actively to disturbing imagery.

He links this, among other findings, to 'a recent study by neuroscientists at University College of London found that the self-described conservatives had a larger-than-average right amygdala, the brain's region for processing fear and threat.'

But while there are a number of genetic explanations for our political inclinations, Mooney does not discount nurture and socialization ' particularly cultural identity ' as a major factor that influences our political beliefs:

What's more, cross-cultural differences will affect our core 'natures' very differently in any case, producing highly varied results. The important thing to remember about psychological needs is that they do not have any explicit content ' in this case ideology ' to them. Someone in Britain today may end up very different from someone with the same psychology in, say, Russia at the time of the revolution. Indeed, in a nominally 'Left-wing' totalitarian society, the mainstream view may tend towards nationalism, militarism, authoritarianism and conformity ' traits often associated with the Right.

Mooney outlines what he believes is the Republican attack on science that began in the late 1960s which has resulted in liberal dominance in the scientific establishment today. In fact, he notes that in that conservatives regularly populated university campuses in the 1950s whereas today they are 'a dying bread.' Mooney attributes this largely to self-selection ' Republicans are avoiding institutions of learning due to their political mistrust of scientific advances.

'Troublingly, this 'psychology of ideology' research seems to remove our political views from the realm of conscious choice and free will,' writes Mooney.

No one better deflated Mooney's faux scientific conclusions than Jonah Goldberg in an April 30 opinion piece in USA Today:

Mooney, who recently explained in a speech that he has given up on the Enlightenment view that we're all open to reason, doesn't seem to realize where he's heading with this nonsense. Never mind that this approach is inherently undemocratic and opens the door to 'genetic' explanations for everybody's political views ' blacks, women, gays, etc. ' it is also self-serving bigotry that allows liberals to justify their own closed-mindedness on the grounds that Republicans aren't even worth listening to. After all, they're just born that way.

It is ironic then that Mooney, who assert that liberals, who are 'open to new experiences and more comfortable with nuance and difference,' is providing for them a supposedly scientific reason why they can dismiss conservatives outright.

h/t U.K. Telegraph

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• Brain?

• Hysterical 

  The Democrat's stock-in-trade  is fear:  Fear of Global Warming, Fear of Christianity, Fear of 20oz Sodas, Fear of a balanced budget, Fear of letting people keep what they earn.

  It's all fear, all the time.

• A great example of how correct Moody is?? Birthers!!
  Many more examples like denying global warming also prove Moody's study correct.

• I was a democratic until my mid 40's'..Now, I am a republican''What happened? Did I 'dumb down' as I got older???

  This study is flawed at the very least, or skewed and biased by the leftists among us!

  In the words of Winston Churchill:

  'If you're not a liberal in your 20's you have no heart''If you're not a conservative in your 40's you have no brain.'

• Researcher probably found it hard to study republican brains as they are stuck in the sand the majority of the time. Just like the rest of the world all he sees from them are rear ends.

•  Fear of idiots voting for idiots.  (W)

• Ah, those scientifically minded American liberals.  The same folks who are twice as likely to believe in ghosts, astrology, fortune tellers, psychics, believe in spiritual energy, and hold new age beliefs:

  http://www.pewforum.org/Other-Beliefs-and-Practices/Many-Americans-Mix-Multiple-Faiths.aspx

  The same people who disregard the scientific method all together with anti-science statements like 'the debate is over.'

  And the same people who need their world view reaffirmed by folks like Chris Mooney.
   

• Goldberg's right amygdala was unusually active while writing his retort.

• It could be that your brain has started to atrophy Cindy.

• A quick review of comments on Mediate will emphatically  corroborate this premise.

  Obama Destroyed an otherwise glorious America, Birthers, Adoration for ( the mentally deficient) Sarah Palin, monopoly of Patriotic jingosim et all''the evidence is undeniable.

• I had the same thought!  First, the quote you used is very true, and backed up by lots of science that as they age, people vote more conservative policies.  

  Second, in my father's words, as soon as you pay taxes, you will become a republican because you'll realize how much the government wastes your hard-earned money.

• Studies consistently show that younger voters vote for liberals and older voters trend conservative politically.

  Thus the basic construct that your political ideology is something your 'born' with is busted by basic science.

  Btw, studies also show conservatives as well as religious people are happier, likely because of a greater sense of community, more social engagement and a higher faith.

  Science is good!

• Typically, the right side of the brain controls the language and writing skills, as well as high level analytical abilities, although in truth, the neuropathways are unique to everyone.

  Good rule of thumb is to NEVER look to liberal thinkers for neurology facts.  They're kind of idiots since while most of us look to the Journal of Neurology, they seek their 'science' from pundits.  

• Best part of the story is the 'research' was done by the Univ of Nebraska's political psychology department.   Who knew such a department even existed?

• This is simply confirmation for me that they're basically a bunch of scared little punks who need to hide behind their guns.  It's the likely fear of a serious ass whuppin and the genius of the NRA for exploiting them for profit.  How else do you explain the run on gun and amo sales as soon as Obama took office.  He hasn't proposed any legislation to take away their guns and still, these stupid punks have been dooped into buying the NRA's products in droves.  Here, Kitty, Kitty, Kitty!  The GOP is the party of men with Lady Parts!

• 'Thus the basic construct that your political ideology is something your 'born' with is busted by basic science.'

  I'd like you to re-read the piece here.  In what way does this sentence ignore basic facts about the conclusions of the study?

  'a greater sense of community'

  Then why do you guys hate so many members of the community?

  'studies also show conservatives as well as religious people are happier'

  Self-reporting on 'happiness?'  Can't see any problem with collecting data that way! 

• Exactly!

  My son is a 40 year old liberal, environmental attorney'.Even he is starting to change his tune.  Slowly but surely, he is coming around'.LOL

• ''most of us' -ctshar
  To which group are you alluding?

• Not even close. Fear of Christianity? Fear of a balanced budget? That's weak. How about conservatives fear-mongering people about socialist muslim called Obama who's on a mission to destroy USA?

• I knew some of this behavior is nothing short of psychotic problem. 

• It's a sad day when an opinion piece by a republican strategist trumps an actual scientific study.  Sadder still that those who pontificate on such matters don't know the difference.

• It's an election year. Time the media starts rolling out subtle demonetization of conservatives. Not a word of these kinds of studies until 2012

• Stop thinking like a scientific liberal. Let go and roll with the groovy flow man!

•  
  

  'I was a democratic until my mid 40's'..Now, I am a republican''What happened? Did I 'dumb down' as I got older???'

  Early onset alzheimer's.

• i love it when non-scientists release documentaries, and in this case a book, characterizing opposing points of view as denying science'  it has pulitzer written all over it'

• The National Governors Association has innovated a set of academic standards to be implemented by the states. These standards represent our most scientific effort to establish a code for effective thinking. Secondary students, under the heading of 'Key Ideas and Details' are expected to' 

  'Determine the central ideas or conclusions of a text; summarize complex concepts, processes, or information presented in a text by paraphrasing them in simpler but still accurate terms.'
  http://www.corestandards.org/assets/CCSSI_ELA%20Standards.pdf

  I mention this because we have a fresh but tender public rebuke of Noah by his Mediaite elder. Noah earned his rebuke by failing to master the above standard. 
  http://www.mediaite.com/tv/mitt-romney-been-busted-president-obama-did-not-tout-government-layoffs-in-may/

  Even more importantly, Noah employed his anti-scientific inaccuracy in an attempt to promote fear.
  'An ever increasing number of observers are uncomfortable with the amount of glaring reversals that the Obama administration has embraced. Sooner or later, media organizations begin to risk their credibility by not calling the President's team out on these inconsistencies.'
  http://www.mediaite.com/online/another-contradiction-from-obamas-campaign-president-took-credit-for-shrinking-gov%E2%80%99t-payrolls-in-may/

  I find it fairly clear that many on the right allow logical thinking to recede in the face of promoting primitive fear. Noah certainly provides us an example of this. Ironic that he wrote this piece on this day. 
   

• Whenever they do one of these studies they're really just talking about Social Conservatives aka the fundamentalist movement.  These people are conditioned from very early to accept authoritarianism and reject science, but so were most of people throughout history.  If anything science has allowed others to break the inherent rigidity of human thought.  You can't say that all North Koreans have larger fear centers than their southern counterparts, they have just been conditioned that way.

• Rothman's writing provides a good reason why intelligent people can dismiss conservatives outright.

  Rothman's brain allows him to assert that the MSNBC is 'completely' liberal, despite the four hours of each day given over to right-wing hacks like Joe Scarborough and Chuck Todd.  Someone with a normal brain, or a capacity for shame, wouldn't be capable of writing such garbage.

• It's Rothman's M.O.: Ignore reality; whining is truth.

• All Christian wingnuts believe in ghosts; they built a religion on it.

• Also in the words of Winston Churchill, 'In the morning, I'll be sober'.'