Research Political ideology linked with brain structure differences, but lessthan once thought

[Syne]

Again... as if someone here can't read... since conservatives in general have greater well-being and life satisfaction,

Have greater well being and life satisfaction? Who says?

Like I said, if you could read, I've already posted the study. But you're so intellectually dishonest or lazy that you'll just continue to act like it's not there: https://www.scivillage.com/thread-16519-...l#pid66552

Here's some more interesting studies on conservatives:

"Peer-reviewed research shows that conservatives are generally more sensitive to threat. While this threat-bias can distort reality, fuel irrational fears, and make one more vulnerable to fear-mongering politicians, it could also promote hypervigilance, perhaps making one better prepared to handle an immediate threat.

1. Conservatives tend to focus on the negative.
...
2. Conservatives have a stronger physiological response to threats.

That's called survival characteristics. In evolution, those members of any species better equipped to detect and respond to threats are the ones who survived and procreated. If a member of a species prioritizes pleasant experiences, they would, at best, likely have a delayed reaction to threats.

3. Conservatives fear new experiences.

A 2008 study cataloged items found in the bedrooms of college students and saw that while liberals owned more books and travel-related items, conservatives had more things that kept order in their lives, like calendars and cleaning supplies.

This suggests that liberals more often seek adventure and novel experiences. Conservatives, on the other hand, may prefer a more ordered, disciplined lifestyle. This could help explain why they can be resistant to change and progressive policies.

Having different priorities toward novel experiences doesn't actually imply fear. If it did, you could equally say that leftists fear cleanliness and order. Is that true?

4. Conservatives’ brains are more reactive to fear.

Using MRI, scientists from University College London have found that students who identify themselves as conservatives have a larger amygdala than self-described liberals. This brain structure is involved in emotion processing, and it's especially reactive to fearful stimuli. It is possible that an oversized amygdala could create a heightened sensitivity that may cause one to habitually overreact to anything that appears to be a potential threat, whether it actually is one or not. This disproportionate fear response could explain ...

Lots of hedging language there. A larger amygdala plus more connectivity means that more rational thought is brought to bear, if not in assessing the threats themselves, at least in regulating reactions to threats. Unlike leftists with TDS, who howl and scream with unregulated hysterics.

Empirical evidence suggests that conservatives and liberals don’t just have different outlooks and opinions—they also have different brains. This means that our choice of political affiliation and overall worldview may not really be all that much of a choice.

Only if you completely ignore all evidence of neuroplasticity in the brain and how behavior and beliefs drive such physiological differences.

[Magical Realist]

"Neuroimaging studies use functional MRI to show a basis in brain activity for the different attitudes held by liberal versus conservative voters. Conservatives’ brains are more likely than those of liberals to activate in response to clear distinctions between “insider” and “outsider” groups. Conservatives’ brains are also more responsive to negative emotions such as fear or disgust and are more prone to automatic emotional processing. This is reflected in higher activity in the amygdala, a brain region associated with emotions such as fear. Additionally, as shown in Figure 1, liberal voters tend to have higher gray matter volume in the anterior cingulate cortex—a brain region associated with emotional processing—whereas conservative voters tend to have higher volume in the right amygdala. This suggests that not only do liberals and conservatives differ on an anatomical level, but that these anatomical differences affect how certain kinds of campaign messages may be successful in targeting certain people. Candidate statements that reinforce divisions between groups and induce sentiments of threat or fear may be more likely to resonate on a neural level with conservative voters than with liberal voters."---
https://neuroethics.upenn.edu/wp-content...-FINAL.pdf

Conservatives Scare More Easily Than Liberals, Say Scientists

"Deep-seated political differences aren't simply moral and intellectual: They're also biological.

In reflex tests of 46 political partisans, psychologists found that conservatives were more likely than liberals to be shocked by sudden threats.

Accompanying the physiological differences were deep differences on hot-button political issues: military expansion, the Iraq war, gun control, capital punishment, the Patriot act, warrantless searches, foreign aid, abortion rights, gay marriage, premarital sex and pornography.

"People are experiencing the world, experiencing threat, differently," said University of Nebraska political scientist John Hibbing. "We have very different physiological orientations."

The study, published today in Science, has not yet been duplicated, but adds a potentially troubling piece to the puzzle of biology, behavior and politics.

Earlier studies have linked reflexive responses to threats -- which for testing purposes take the form of loud noises and graphic images -- with existing states of heightened anxiety.

Though the Science study's authors cautioned against an overly broad interpretation of their findings, the results suggest that fear leads to political conservatism.

"Threatening situations do indeed seem to increase people's affinity for politically conservative opinions, leaders, and parties," said New
York University psychologist John Jost.

Study co-author Kevin Smith, also a University of Nebraska political scientist, demurred at making such a connection. "Historically speaking, politicians have appealed to the 'be afraid' response in the electorate in an attempt to mine votes," he said. "But in terms of going from campaigning to what we did in the laboratory, that's a large leap."

But even Smith agreed that "people with stronger responses are more sensitive to potential threats in their environment."

Asked whether the findings imply a fearmongering strategy for conservatives, New York University psychologist David Amodio responded, "Yes.
And some people believe that they are actively using this strategy."

https://www.wired.com/2008/09/fearmongering-h/

[Syne]

Poor little moon calf has reverted to block quoting because he has no argument other than appeals to authority he doesn't even understand.

He doesn't understand the simple fact that leftists have a larger volume for emotion processing because they're "in their emotions" so much more. You exercise a muscle or part of the brain and it develops more (e.g. neuroplasticity). The higher connectivity between the larger amygdala and other areas of the brain in conservatives means that they have a more developed threat assessment and regulate their emotions, instead of spending so much time "processing" them. Loyalty and disgust are also foundations of morality that leftists conspicuously lack.

Here, MR is citing a source that literally says, "has not yet been duplicated" and "cautioned against an overly broad interpretation of their findings."

[Magical Realist]

"The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is a part of the limbic system that is involved in many psychological processes, including:

Decision-making: The ACC helps people make decisions in uncertain situations.

Emotion regulation: The ACC regulates emotions to prevent incorrect automatic responses to threats.

Attention regulation: The ACC helps people shift their attention to respond to stimuli.

Error monitoring: The ACC detects errors and generates error-related negativity (ERN)."

"People with liberal views tended to have increased grey matter in the anterior cingulated cortex, a region of the brain linked to decision-making, in particular when conflicting information is being presented. Previous research showed that electrical potentials recorded from this region during a task that involves responding to conflicting information were bigger in people who were more liberal or left wing than people who were more conservative.

Conservatives, meanwhile, found increased grey matter in the amygdala, an area of the brain associated with processing emotion. This difference is consistent with studies which show that people who consider themselves to be conservative respond to threatening situations with more aggression than do liberals and are more sensitive to threatening facial expressions."---
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2010/dec/left...tten-brain

[Syne]

Yes, since leftists prioritize their attention on their subjective emotions, which preclude facts and objectivity, their entire ACC operation is compromised, as you cannot make good decisions or effectively monitor for errors without an objective standard. Their threat assessment skills are underdeveloped (small amygdala) and their ability to apply reason is to threats has less physiological connectivity. So touting their ACC volume is basically just touting their subjective narcissistic solipsism.

Of course, leftists utilize their ACC when confronted with conflicting information. Because they are processing how they feel about it to arrive at a conclusion, instead of a more global process of reasoning. Conservatives just have a better developed sense of objective threat assessment. Again, foreign adversaries and terrorists slipping through the border are objectively larger threats than your political opponents (which seem to be the left's biggest threat... hence TDS).

Again, you're quoting things you have no functional understanding of. This is why you can only quote them and can't actually argue your own way out of a wet paper bag. It's a common ploy of stupid people who have pretenses of being smart.

[Magical Realist]

LOL I'm just getting a big kick letting you make an total ass of yourself as you repeat your same lies that I have repeatedly refuted with about a dozen articles so far. What's there to argue against when you are just regurgitating your own made up shit over and over again? On with the show!

"Liberals have more gray matter in a part of the brain associated with understanding complexity, while the conservative brain is bigger in the section related to processing fear, said the study on Thursday in Current Biology.

"We found that greater liberalism was associated with increased gray matter volume in the anterior cingulate cortex, whereas greater conservatism was associated with increased volume of the right amygdala," the study said.

Other research has shown greater brain activity in those areas, according to which political views a person holds, but this is the first study to show a physical difference in size in the same regions.

"Previously, some psychological traits were known to be predictive of an individual's political orientation," said Ryota Kanai of the University College London, where the research took place.

"Our study now links such personality traits with specific brain structure."

The study was based on 90 "healthy young adults" who reported their political views on a scale of one to five from very liberal to very conservative, then agreed to have their brains scanned.

People with a large amygdala are "more sensitive to disgust" and tend to "respond to threatening situations with more aggression than do liberals and are more sensitive to threatening facial expressions," the study said.

Liberals are linked to larger anterior cingulate cortexes, a region that "monitor(s) uncertainty and conflicts," it said.

"Thus, it is conceivable that individuals with a larger ACC have a higher capacity to tolerate uncertainty and conflicts, allowing them to accept more liberal views."

https://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/...186006.htm

[Syne]

I can't help it that you can't seem to understand the very simple concept that just because something is more used doesn't mean it is better utilized. You can be a body builder and have zero athletic skill or coordination. You're developing the muscles (or in this case, the brain region) useful for certain tasks, but you are not actually gaining skill at those tasks.

In any case, investigations consistently find that people who identify with liberal ideology are significantly more likely than others to be depressed, anxious, and to rank high on neuroticism. Liberals are also much more likely than conservatives to be diagnosed with mental illnesses or disorders. As Jonathan Haidt recently illustrated with Pew Research data, these trends hold across genders and across age groups.
- https://americanaffairsjournal.org/2023/...ervatives/

So you can make all the empty claims about leftists being better at "understanding complexity," but the real world outcomes just don't bear that out. If a larger amygdala, itself, were only about a fear response, we would actually expect conservatives to be more neurotic. But conservatives display better well-being because they actually confront threats. Leftists are avoidant, which is why their ACC is more developed in the task of justifying their cowardice (e.g. tolerance to uncertainty and conflict). But that does raise a significant point. The left is actually the side that is more accepting of conflict, no matter how much they project otherwise.

There's also academic bias:

If studies on threats focus on fears usually emphasized by conservatives, they're likely to find a connection between threat and conservatism.
...
There were six statistically significant associations between certain threats and conservative beliefs, nine associations between other threats and liberal beliefs, and 15 potential relationships between threat and belief that didn't turn out to correlate at all.
- https://www.livescience.com/conservative...erals.html

But you will, no doubt, patently refuse to comprehend even a small fraction of this. You'll just keep block quoting stuff you have no grasp on.

[Magical Realist]

LOL American Affairs Journal? Where the fuck did you find that conservative political rag? And where's the science to back up its claims? Here's a quote from that article:

"In a similar vein, studies have repeatedly found that conservatives—both politicians and laymen—tend to be more conventionally attractive than liberals (and have better sex lives)."

Can anyone say "insecure"? LOL

And that about summarizes all that needs to be said about THAT source...

Oh and as for the popular internet trope that conservatives are happier than liberals, that's been debunked:

https://www.science.org/content/article/...r-liberals

[Syne]

Ah, genetic fallacy to avoid dealing with any of the substance.

A couple of very simple Google searches would show these well-known findings:

Controlling for socioeconomic status, we find that more attractive individuals are more likely to report higher levels of political efficacy, identify as conservative, and identify as Republican. These findings suggest an additional mechanism for political socialization that has further implications for understanding how the body intertwines with the social nature of politics.
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29355104/

Wolfinger used a large U.S. data set and strong methods consistent with the field of sociology, finding that Republicans reported having more sex than Democrats, and that Democrats were more likely to report cheating on their spouse than Republicans.
...
Wolfinger further found that marital status explained the differences in sexual frequency, as Republicans are more likely to be married, and married individuals report higher sexual frequency.
...
Another investigation into the association between sexuality and voting behavior examined differences in sexual satisfaction by political identification. Using responses from more than 19,000 people from France, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, and the UK, a YouGov Survey (Twyman, 2016) found that conservatives reported being happier with their sex lives than liberals.
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8266382/

Sorry if those facts make you feel insecure.


From your citation:

To get enough subjects to nail down this tiny statistical effect, the researchers used a website—YourMorals.org—open to people of any political persuasion. A total of 1433 people filled out and submitted not only the standard happiness questionnaire but also a series of questions called the Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding. That instrument measures "the tendency to engage in self-deceptive enhancement." For example, people who highly agree with statements such as "I am fully in control of my own fate," or, "I never regret my decisions," are deemed to be self-enhancing.
- https://www.science.org/content/article/...r-liberals

"Tiny statistical effect" and poor methodology, with online self-selection bias and small sample size.
Plus:

In 1991, Delroy L. Paulhus published the Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding (BIDR): a questionnaire designed to measure two forms of SDR.[15] This forty-item instrument provides separate subscales for "impression management," the tendency to give inflated self-descriptions to an audience; and self-deceptive enhancement, the tendency to give honest but inflated self-descriptions. The commercial version of the BIDR is called the "Paulhus Deception Scales (PDS)."
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social-des...vidual_SDR

The BIDR has two, 20-item scales: self-deceptive enhancement (SDE) assesses nondeliberate socially desirable responding, where the respondent in fact believes the desirable responses are accurate self-reports...
- https://link.springer.com/referenceworke...8099-8_3-1

If the respondent believes their self-reported happiness is accurate, then it is genuine to them. Otherwise you have to refute the left's notion of "my truth" and "my experience."
Nor does using more negative language (especially when you're not as emotional as a leftist) or Democrat politicians having more genuine looking smiles (when their whole voter base requires them to appeal to emotions to win) change that fact.

But you keep trying to assuage your feelings.

[confused2]

If republican men have more sex it implies republican women also have more sex - assuming (possibly incorrectly) that there are more openly gay democrats than republicans. We might guess that 'anxious' females might tend to form stronger relationships simply for protection.