Why Is the Conservative Brain More Fearful? The Alternate Reality Right-Wingers Inhabit Is Terrifyin

[n2doc]

Walk a mile in your ideological counterparts' shoes...if you dare.
May 2, 2012 |

Consider for a moment just how terrifying it must be to live life as a true believer on the right. Reality is scary enough, but the alternative reality inhabited by people who watch Glenn Beck, listen to Rush Limbaugh, or think Michele Bachmann isn't a joke must be nothing less than horrifying.

Research suggests that conservatives are, on average, more susceptible to fear than those who identify themselves as liberals. Looking at MRIs of a large sample of young adults last year, researchers at University College London discovered that “greater conservatism was associated with increased volume of the right amygdala” ($$). The amygdala is an ancient brain structure that's activated during states of fear and anxiety. (The researchers also found that “greater liberalism was associated with increased gray matter volume in the anterior cingulate cortex” – a region in the brain that is believed to help people manage complexity.)

That has implications for our political world. In a recent interview, Chris Mooney, author of The Republican Brain, explained, “The amygdala plays the same role in every species that has an amygdala. It basically takes over to save your life. It does other things too, but in a situation of threat, you cease to process information rationally and you're moving automatically to protect yourself.”

more
http://www.alternet.org/media/155210/why_is_the_conservative_brain_more_fearful_the_alternate_reality_right-wingers_inhabit_is_terrifying/?page=entire

[dickthegrouch]

1. Conservatives are liberals with children

Was something I heard many years ago.

As supposed threats to the individual's well-being become supposed threats to their whole family they get more conservative and less tolerant.

I think it's a stereotype, but one that can very easily be fueled by ignorance and rigid adherence to doctrine.

[n2doc]

2. What a condescending phrase

I am a liberal with children. I've never been tempted to become a racist, Fascist t-bagger and never will. It's like the other phrase like that- a conservative is a liberal who has been mugged. Bullshit. A conservative is a liberal who doesn't think.

[dickthegrouch]

3. I think it has to do with the reaction to the supposed threats

Liberals have a completely different way of dealing with threats IMHO.
Perhaps the research you cited is beginning to tell us why.

[Kablooie]

4. I raised my kids to be as liberal as I am and never adjusted my views.

My daughter took to it but my son, 20 now, is questioning liberal views though that may be just because he hates hearing about politics in any form right now.

I welcome him questioning my views if he does it because he's thinking for himself.

[n2doc]

6. Just hope it isn't because of listening to Rush and watching Faux

Their crap is insidious. I am convinced that they can brainwash nearly anyone if that person is stuck listening to them every day.

[Kablooie]

13. He wouldn't go near Fox or CNN for that matter.

I think he just hates me talking about politics so is against anything I'm for so I'll stop talking about it.

[tinrobot]

15. Children made me more liberal

Before kids, I was rather self-centered and mostly concerned with only my own needs.

After kids, I became a lot more compassionate. Not just compassionate for my kids, but for others as well.

[pansypoo53219]

5. this is true.

ok, funny thing i belong to a barefooters group. an older gent joined uo from denmark. i have been to denmark, so i emailed him to say hi. for reasons, we just kept emailing almost daily. last year he took the trans siberian rail trip, this april, he came to USA for 3 weeks. NYC/DC/CHICAGO, and for the finale, milwaukee/wi. my brother(republican/dittohead/fux gnews fan) said he could stay w/ him, we planned on driving to madison to my cousins house, stay 1 night, drive to the mississippi, then more stuff. we were to stay at counsin's(2 young daughters). liberal. like the week he was to arrive my brother changes his mind. apparently arne is that norwegian nut. arne in over 60, THIN, tho, he was arrested for 10 or so minutes in the chicago airtport for being BAREFOOT. my cousin + family embraced arne. there is a difference in the mind. i spent days in a car w/ him + did not fear him.

AND, IF YOU ARE EVER IN GREEN BAY, YOU GOTTA GO THE RAILROAD MUSEUM.

[Populist_Prole]

7. This would explain why they sound so desperate and get so nasty when they argue

It's not like if they lose it's Oh well. Dammit. Well we'll just plug away and try again

It's like It's all over for us, we're doomed if we lose. Anything goes to win

[Cali_Democrat]

8. Not only is this article awesome...

but the links in the article are awesome as well.

Highly recommended

[Bill USA]

9. recommended. conservatives grow up such that they learn to fear that others more powerful than they

will push them around (these attitudes are formed when quite young) and 'take advantage of them'. They feel the last thing they can do is let others know how fearful they are inside. Also, they must not let THEMSELVES know how fearful and weak they feel inside. THey must be TOUGH lest someone (one of the 'they') take advantage of them.

These views of life and the world are formed when they are very young and thus it is very difficult to dissuade a person of these fears that so disable them. Often they become the most defensive when someone is trying to be helpful. If they think someone just might be implying that they are not 'tough', they get very angry at the person who they think is 'putting them down'. They are ripe ground for demogoguic artifices and confidence men - ergo the success of the Republican party with them.

The worst cases become paranoics and are quite impossible to communicate successfully with.

[MisterP]

10. also that whole Orbis Tertius project the RW has made with Regnery, talk radio, cable Fox, and the

GOP's constant rightward movement, with most Dem pols tracking closely behind

it's been going on since the 40s

[hue]

11. Thanks! Great article! K&R

[stockholmer]

12. highly recommended, great find

[Igel]

14. You really need to look at the subject pool.

It's been said that we're past masters at analyzing the psychology of primarily white, usually male college students aged 18-22.

And at assuming that everybody in the world is a mild variant on a white, probably male college student aged 18-22.

Most of the (D) I know are scared. Scared of losing their jobs. Their health insurance, if their have it, or of getting sick if they don't. Of losing their houses. Of having their kids somehow attacked or threatened. Most of them barely have a high-school education and their average household income is around $45k.

Most of the conservatives I know are college educated. Most have had their jobs for years and have no doubt they'll have a job for years--or get another one if they lose their current one (their fear is that it wouldn't pay as much). And so it goes.

You pick your sample, you get your results. Same for defining terms: Most of the things I've read distinguishes between "fears" and "concerns", and what I think is a reasonable fear is actually a "concern." Fear's fear.

[applegrove]

16. Because the right has been pumped up on anger. Anger means to defend or gain territory and that is

how the GOP want them: obtuse and aggressively partisan.

[Odin2005]

17. I have noticed that Libertarians tend to share a similar personality profile.

They tend to be the type that brags about how logical, rational, and pragmatic they are. They repress their feelings and project them on others as the stereotype of the "Bleeding-heart Liberal" who are too "emotionally-driven" to accept the "cold-hard truths" of the Libertarians' BS economic ideas. Their "I'm so smart" shtick is why Ayn Rand's crap is so appealing to them. Many tend towards misanthropic views because they view the vast majority as conformist idiots who want to stifle what this type of person thinks is their obvious mental superiority.

It seems that a lot of my fellow Aspies are Libertarians and fit into this psychological profile, sadly.