April 7, 2011 12:04 PM

Liberal vs. conservative: Who has better brain?

By
David W Freeman
Topics
News ,
Research ,
Strange

(Credit: CBS/AP)

(CBS) Are political leanings hard-wired into the brain? That's the suggestion of a new study that reveals striking anatomical differences between the brains of liberals and those of conservatives.

The brains of people who call themselves liberals tend to have larger anterior cingulate cortexes than the brains of people on the opposite side of the political spectrum, the study showed. The anterior cingulate cortex is a collar-shaped region around the corpus collosum, a structure that relays signals between the right and left hemispheres of the brain.

What about conservatives? Their brains brains tend to have larger amygdalas. The amygdala is an almond-shaped structure located deep within the brain.

Based upon what brain scientists know about the function of the two brain regions, researchers believe the structural differences support the notion that liberals are better equipped to make sense of conflicting information while conservatives are better able to recognize a threat.

"Previously, some psychological traits were known to be predictive of an individual's political orientation," study author Dr. Ryota Kanai of University College London Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, said in a written statement. "Our study now links such personality traits with specific brain structure."

For the study, published in the April 7 issue of the journal Current Biology, 90 healthy young people underwent MRI scans and completed questionnaires designed to determine their political leanings on a five-point scale - from very liberal to very conservative.

The study was undertaken following several previous reports showing that conservatives are more sensitive to feel threatened or anxious in the face of uncertainty, while liberals tend to be more open to new experiences - which is just what Kanai's study seemed to confirm.

The study didn't show what causes the structural differences in the first place. Are they set at birth? Do they arise over time as a result of experiences? And what explains people whose political views change over time?

Kanai had a diplomatic answer. "It's very unlikely that actual political orientation is directly encoded in these brain regions," he said. "More work is needed to determine how these brain structures mediate the formation of political attitude."


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by whozzzzure April 13, 2011 10:09 PM EDT
Now I know why all the blue states controlled the most assets of the country -- and were the most educated. I will take brains over ideology any day.
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by Bojax39 April 13, 2011 12:53 PM EDT
Huh... well it makes me kind of wonder why so many people are liberal in their youth and grow more conservative with age.

Is the conservative brain and aging one? Or the liberal brain an infantile one? Are youthful conservatives born old, brain-wise? Or have middle aged liberals failed to grow up?

A real quandary and..... OMG! What about libertarians!?!
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by Harryhammer April 13, 2011 2:34 PM EDT
It is a sad fact that stupid people, or people with average intelligence, truly believe that they are as smart if not smarter than highly intelligent people. Therein, lies their stupidity.

The most cited living author has been teaching at MIT for 55 years.

Some of the most extensive computer modeling is currently being done at MIT, where faculty members past and present have won a total of 27 Nobel Prizes in sciences.

Among current faculty and teaching staff, there are 80 Guggenheim Fellows, 6 Fulbright Scholars, and 29 MacArthur Fellows.

To stupid people, none of this matters.

The most cited living author recently spoke:

http://www.thenation.com/video/158093/noam-chomsky-how-climate-change-became-liberal-hoax
by ge556 April 13, 2011 2:37 PM EDT
People I know don't seem to become more conservative with age. Quite a few become more liberal with age. But then, I live in Madison.
by ge556 April 11, 2011 12:00 PM EDT
by Harryhammer April 8, 2011 3:01 PM EDT
50% of conservative Republicans are strict young earth creationists.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/145286/Four-Americans-Believe-Strict-Creationism.aspx

The conservative Republican Party is just about the only political party on the planet to be in denial of the conclusions of the IPCC and essentially every scientific organization on the planet.

One of the most vocal global warming deniers was recently interviewed in Washington:

http://planetsave.com/2011/02/17/hertsgaard-nails-inhofe-oil-lobbyists-amazing-video-interviews/

The most cited living author recently spoke about what's going on:

http://www.thenation.com/video/158093/noam-chomsky-how-climate-change-became-liberal-hoax

=====

How can we reorient our policy discussions so that they are based on facts, instead of faith?
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by Harryhammer April 9, 2011 9:03 PM EDT
You can find out if you're Mensa material here:

http://www.us.mensa.org//AM/Template.cfm?Section=Home
Reply to this comment
by insomicman April 9, 2011 8:38 PM EDT
Hey everybody - two words: PRELIMINARY STUDY. The most a preliminary study like this one can do is suggest whether or not more research should by done on said topic. A few other things to keep in mind:

1.) The study was created AFTER the data was already collected.
2.) The group studied was a grand total of 90 people - hardly a wide data set.
3.) No information was given as to why only the right amygdala correlated with conservatism.
4.) Most importantly, correlation does not always mean causation.

This is only a few of the problems with this paper - for more information, a great analysis can be found at http://neurocritic.blogspot.com/2011/04/liberals-are-conflicted-and.html In summary, those who grabbed their dialectical pitchforks at first sight of this article should probably take a few dozen chill pills and realize that a 24-hour news cycle breeds embellishment - particularly when it comes to sexifying boring science papers.
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by Harryhammer April 9, 2011 8:27 PM EDT
It's even crazier than that:

http://fora.tv/2009/09/29/Republican_Gomorrah_Max_Blumenthal
Reply to this comment
by bennyblack1 April 9, 2011 2:30 PM EDT
J956;
It is DEMOCRATS that want to join the UN in replacing God with some god of nature, and it is DEMOCRATS that want to ELIMINATE mankind and his involvement on planet Earth to save the earth. See the UN Charter on the environment, and you can see that you just described Socialist Democrats to a "T."

I love it when fools speak. Their words just give them away.
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by bennyblack1 April 9, 2011 2:08 PM EDT
This story is a ruse. First of all, conservatives are highly educated people, and have been trained to minimize expenses, protect assets, and ward off attacks from threats. They are businessmen, accountants, and lawyers trained to raise and make money efficiently and expediently. They are capitalists, and they prefer to be in the company of like-minded people.

Democrats, on the other hand, seem to be open to new ideas because they have removed from themselves the conservative values that actually work. And since a great many of them don't actually have the education - it costs alot of money for them to experiment. The groups that they represent are, from what I have seen, are people who spit on America as a capitalist society, and look to the government to solve their problems. This kind of thinking still kind of has me all screwed up, because I spent the longest time living with people who blamed others for the problems they created in the first place. For instance, minimum wage - there was a time when minimum wage was acceptable for people just starting out, until they could prove themselves. After time passes, they get more job stability, raises, and promotions. After 10 years of working, they might be making $10/hr, have benefits, and a retirement plan. The min wage was $5.25, and that's where it should stay. People who want to rise don't stay at $5.25 an hour. I can understand that in some areas of the country where the cost of living is high, that perhaps a higher minimum wage is necessary, but it's up to the EMPLOYER and the STATE LAWS to determine that, NOT the federal government. A national minimum wage is just ridiculous. Where I live, 5.25 an hour to start is fine. In California, however, I could certainly see that $8.50 an hour to start is appropriate. Setting a national minimum wage is not appropriate for some states and cities. This is why Republicans are against setting such a high minimum wage requirement. Another reason is that employers who would higher and train people to do a job at minimum wage would NOT higher and train people at $10.00 an hour. At THAT wage, their looking for QUALIFIED individuals to BEGIN with.

Furthermore, Republicans believe that EACH one is responsible for THEIR OWN advancement and job security. I've been in cities that the people got jobs, and then quit them 3 weeks later. That's not exactly being responsible. There are programs AVAILABLE for education, and they are HEAVILY advertised. Pell grants, loans, job training, relocation training-

There just is no excuse. Also, most of the money that funds these programs is contributed BY Republicans who own businesses who have an interest in highly educated college graduates. So, Democrats want to fund the activities of a lazy and irresponsible people with the money Republicans contribute for bettering responsible people. Democrats don't realize that the money belongs TO THE PEOPLE. Republicans DO. So, Democrats don't really CARE where the money comes from or where it goes. They don't see themselves as STEWARDS. They're RECKLESS. And, it's part of the reason this country is falling apart at the seams.
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by bennyblack1 April 9, 2011 2:34 PM EDT
I just reread this statement, and realized that I misspelled "hire." Well, when I said that, I was thinking of personal advancement, which is everyone's responsibility. Either way, though - an employer will hire those who have HIGHER goals for themselves, and a motivation to stay with the company to do great things.
by democracy5 April 9, 2011 8:19 PM EDT
Wow, nice long-winded political rant based primarily on BS stereotypes, LMAO!
See all 4 Replies
by J956 April 9, 2011 1:35 AM EDT
If conservatives are better at detecting threats, it's only in the very short term. As others have pointed out, they blissfully ignore (with the help of religious dogma) any notion that Man can be critically harming the environment. They are greedy and self-absorbed when it comes to issues involving the preservation of natural systems. They think it's optional somehow. Always trying to put price tags on priceless natural services.

That is by far my biggest problem with modern Republicans. They are too stupid to respect their only known life support system. They think an invisible man in the sky is calling the shots, not ecosystems and natural processes defined by physics. It's dangerous stupidity, not just a case of agree to disagree.
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by thebob-bob April 9, 2011 12:45 AM EDT
That means there's hope. Since scientists and medical researchers are predominantly liberal, they should be able to come up with a cure for the brain defect that causes conservative thinking. The amygdala, being too large, causes them to panic and lash out at any perceived threat, valid or not.

Maybe they can get themselves diagnosed disabled and then they could become the social and economic parasites they accuse everyone else of being.

Yes, there's hope for a cure!
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