The Difference Between Republican and Democratic Brains

[Judi Lynn]

The Difference Between Republican and Democratic Brains

The good, the bad, and the ugly from new research that suggests the way political parties perceive who’s behind them and who’s not can affect entire political movements.

By Marina Koren
November 21, 2013

What Democrats and Republicans don't have in common goes far beyond the ballot box. Their personalities, like their core beliefs and policy ideas, are fundamentally different.

Liberals are creative and curious, and tend to be more open to new experiences, while conservatives are more anxious, dislike change, and appreciate order in their lives. Scientists don't know if political interests shape temperament, or vice versa, but new research suggests lawmakers' personality traits play an important role in political causes—like forcing a government shutdown—and may even determine if those causes survive.

In a study published this week in the journal Psychological Science, researchers asked 300 people in an online survey whether they agreed or disagreed with both political ("In general, I support labor unions&quot and nonpolitical statements ("I enjoy coffee&quot . They also asked participants to indicate how much others who shared their political views would support their attitudes.

The results showed that liberals underestimated their levels of partisan support; that is, they thought their beliefs were different from their liberal peers, when they actually were not. Conservatives and moderates, on the other hand, thought their beliefs were more similar to those of other members of their political group than they actually were, overstating partisan agreement. These patterns of thinking held for topics unrelated to politics, like personal preference for coffee.

More:
http://www.nationaljournal.com/politics/the-difference-between-republican-and-democratic-brains-20131121

[ogradda]

1. I've always thought the difference was more heart than brain myself.

There's obvious exceptions to that of course.

[Igel]

2. Conservatives are more anxious and like order.

So that means it's conservatives who are really panicking over the possibility of illness that leads to bankruptcy, over environmental degradation, over the possibility of a company taking advantage of them.

And, to this end, they like regulations, they want single-payer health care because that would certainly impose a regulatory order on the industry and relieve them of anxiety. They are frantic for regulations over global climate change because who knows what *that* could do to produce disorder and chaos.

Yeah. Nice theory. Let's test that particular prediction, shall we?


This is a partial opposite of a different study done some years ago that found that conservatives were less likely to assume that they knew what the views of other conservatives were (and while liberals also didn't make such assumptions about liberals, conservatives were consistent in not making assumptions about liberal's views while liberals were usually much more certain what conservatives thought and why).

Motivated reasoning gets you to the answer you think right. Count on it.