http://www.science20.com/news_articles/f...sts-155897
EXCERPT: [...] Why is it that even among the people we care about most, differences in political affiliation often result in awkwardness and discomfort, and pushed far enough, can feel like a threat to the entire relationship?
The answer may lie in research conducted at UC Santa Barbara's Center for Evolutionary Psychology, where social scientists sought to understand how and why the human brain -- below the level of conscious awareness -- categorizes political parties. "We found that differences in political opinions engage the brain's evolved circuitry for tracking alliances and coalitions," said David Pietraszewski, a postdoctoral fellow at the Max Planck Institute in Germany and lead author of a paper published online in the journal Cognition.
"When people express opinions that reflect the views of different political parties, our minds automatically and spontaneously assign them to rival coalitions," he continued. "As far as our brains are concerned, political affiliation is viewed more like membership in a gang or clique than as a dispassionate philosophical stance." Think biker gang, not debate club.
[...] Humans come from an evolutionary history that included conflict among groups or factions, Tooby added, and it was important for individuals to know, if a dispute were to break out, which individuals line up with "us" and which with "them." "While the world is full of social categories like athletes, plumbers, the elderly or nail-biters, only a few categories are interpreted by the mind as coalitions -- sets of individuals inclined to act together, and support each other against rivals," he said. "In the small social world of our ancestors, the political was personal."....
EXCERPT: [...] Why is it that even among the people we care about most, differences in political affiliation often result in awkwardness and discomfort, and pushed far enough, can feel like a threat to the entire relationship?
The answer may lie in research conducted at UC Santa Barbara's Center for Evolutionary Psychology, where social scientists sought to understand how and why the human brain -- below the level of conscious awareness -- categorizes political parties. "We found that differences in political opinions engage the brain's evolved circuitry for tracking alliances and coalitions," said David Pietraszewski, a postdoctoral fellow at the Max Planck Institute in Germany and lead author of a paper published online in the journal Cognition.
"When people express opinions that reflect the views of different political parties, our minds automatically and spontaneously assign them to rival coalitions," he continued. "As far as our brains are concerned, political affiliation is viewed more like membership in a gang or clique than as a dispassionate philosophical stance." Think biker gang, not debate club.
[...] Humans come from an evolutionary history that included conflict among groups or factions, Tooby added, and it was important for individuals to know, if a dispute were to break out, which individuals line up with "us" and which with "them." "While the world is full of social categories like athletes, plumbers, the elderly or nail-biters, only a few categories are interpreted by the mind as coalitions -- sets of individuals inclined to act together, and support each other against rivals," he said. "In the small social world of our ancestors, the political was personal."....