Study finds conservatives more likely to be psychpaths

[Maraya1969]

Something we all kind of knew but now there is scientific proof
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Conservatives more likely to be psychopaths, says Florida prof



by Michael Cook | 9 Mar 2012 |


A new study in the journal Neuroethics claims that socially conservative views are between 5 to 30 times more likely to be related to anti-social traits than socially liberal views.

Last year Marcus Arvan, of the University of Tampa, came under fire when he showcased his theory in another paper. Now he has returned with even more data which, he insists, shows that socially conservative views are statistically linked to three anti-social personality traits: Machiavellianism (deception), narcissism (overinflated sense of self-worth) and psychopathy (absence of guilt or remorse).

The earlier study linked views on the death penalty, gay marriage, free markets, the right to go to war against UN resolutions and detention of suspected terrorists without trial to “the Dark Triad”. His latest paper replicates his earlier findings and lists 22 more significant relationships, including:

preventing illegal immigration, deporting illegal immigrants, building a fence along the US-Mexican border, making English the official US language, not providing public schooling to the children of illegal immigrants, teaching “intelligent design” in public schools, “enhanced interrogation techniques” (including waterboarding), defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman, obeying UN rules, climate change, environmentalism

Dr Arvan insists there is only a 1 in 100,000 chance that his findings are wrong.

- See more at: http://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/bioethics_article/conservatives_more_likely_to_be_psychopaths_says_florida_prof#sthash.m1N3FRdc.dpuf



Bad News for Conservatives? Moral Judgments and the Dark Triad Personality Traits: A Correlational Study



http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs12152-011-9140-6

ABSTRACT OF STUDY

[randys1]

1. Completely sensible

[Kalidurga]

2. All you have to do is look at their talking heads and elected officials.

Then it becomes clear, either they are more likely to be psychopaths or they are more likely to admire them and be entertained by them and/or elect them. There is no way to look at this and see it in a good light.

[villager]

3. And the surprise here would be....?

[LiberalArkie]

4. Is this a news bulletin like "Water is wet". At least someone is proving what liberals and

progressives have long known.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

5. They're such mean bastards - how can they not be at least sociopaths?

The thing about conservatives these days is that their attitude toward the less fortunate has gone beyond mere cluelessness or not caring very much; a lot of them really seem to enjoy inflicting more difficulty and pain on the people least able to manage more hardship. Years ago you could have a rational argument with a conservative about the extent to which government can or should help the poor - most of them acknowledged there should be some kind of social safety net; the only argument was what it should consist of and what it should cost. Now, though, they not only want to take everything away; they are positively gleeful at the prospect. If that isn't evidence of pathology I don't know what is.

[Doctor_J]

6. well half the country will be surprised by this

[2naSalit]

7. Indeed

[hifiguy]

8. Not at all surprising.

Those who lean left tend strongly in the general direction of being empirical, rational, evidence-based people. They tend, IOW, towards a degree of healthy skepticism, particularly about received authority.

Dividing the world into Believers and Skeptics - both terms defined broadly - explains a LOT about the world and its ills. There is no one more dangerous, anywhere, than someone jacked-up on belief that has no support in the real world.

This has been a rule to live by ever since ol' Tom Paine expressed it so well:

[zentrum]

11. "Medicine to the Dead". Wow. n/t

[smirkymonkey]

17. Where are today's Thomas Paines?

So few are willing to stand up for reason in this day and age. It seems as though it is looked down upon by the masses.

[hifiguy]

21. Al Gore was hammering the drums about it

a decade ago. The M$M called him a nut and a crank. There's your answer.

It's "better" to believe in nonsense shit like sky daddies than to use reason, the one and only tool that has ever advanced us hairless apes. Ooga booga! Jebus !!!

[Hortensis]

23. Masses shmasses. People stand up for reason right here every day.

It's hardly the only place, Smirky. Look at the people around you. Check the mass in the mirror too maybe?

[meow2u3]

9. In other news, a bear was spotted shitting in the woods

Science proved what liberals and progressives knew all along--that conservos are more likely to be sociopathic, narcissistic, deceptive, or a combination of the aforementioned.

[zentrum]

10. Yup. How it's always felt.

They seem cruel, often racist, sadistic. Accurate data.

[ejbr]

12. ,,,,,

[meow2u3]

13. Cue conservative heads exploding in 3, 2, 1....

[FairWinds]

14. And in the health care debate, I was stunned to learn . .

that for many conservatives it is very important that LOTS of
other people do NOT have adequate health care.

This was irrespective of the efficiency of any proposed reforms.

A chunk of their self worth is wrapped up in the knowledge that
others are living badly.

I just could not believe it . .

[Laser102]

15. I always felt their behavior was driven by parasites. A good worming may restore mental health.

Or not.

[appalachiablue]

16. This makes sense unfortunately in view of the main traits of pschopathy, The Dark Triad.

How these persons and liberals can co-exist is the obvious dilemma.

[hifiguy]

22. We can't, ultimately. It's one or the other.

The wisest and most pertinent words I have ever heard cane from the late, great Carl Sagan:

"I'd rather KNOW than believe."

I miss him so much.

You are either evidence-based or fairy-tale based. The former leads to the stars, the latter to extinction.

[Hortensis]

24. Hmmm. "One or the other" sounds like something a strong conservative

might say. Fact is, we've all been living together since before man was a thinking animal. Evolutionists currently seem to believe societies need all types. I've even read that psychopaths may contribute in positive ways, although I'm waiting to see how that one holds up.

Since we're bashing conservatives here, here's something to know about them: Generally speaking, although cons share a lot of characteristics -
including these below, they differ into 3 basic types.

Social - These are the ones who are hostile and aggressive toward people who are different.. Most strongly religious cons, especially fundamentalist, fall here, but not all.
Traditional - These value conformity and the certainty of the past and resist change.
Economic

On top of this, of course, they come in mild, moderate, strong, and -- psychopathic versions. And authoritarian - my leader told me to do it type, also in various strengths. Most religious cons are authoritarian (God's the ultimate authority after all) in nature.

Now, of the conservatives we all know, where do they fall?

If some of them flock to any politician who promises to treat immigrants badly and angrily support the death penalty even when told innocent people are being put to death, you've got yourself some strong socials. These days their eyes will turn hot when they learn you're not one of them.

With those, or really any type of authoritarian conservative, just be very glad they don't have a leader who'd tell them to take you out to a ravine and shoot you. These are the mostly unrepentant people who murdered the million people usually chalked up to Pol Pot. He only gave orders. These are the ones who were glad he offered them a "final solution" to their problem of "those people."

If some you know have no particular hostility toward people of different colors but prefer not to have them move into their neighborhood because because they think that would change it, oppose healthcare reform because they believe it won't work, and still are willing to be friends with you even when they know you're not a conservative, you've got some mild/moderate traditional conservatives. The ones without malice toward outliers but who do want the safe, comforting "Ozzie and Harriet" America they imagine they once lived in back.

We not only can live with these last, but, when they're not fooled into believing in and supporting far-right ideology by decades of mind-twisting techniques, as they are now, they provide important ballast to the national ship.

[hifiguy]

27. I do not know how sane people

can in the long run coexist with people who have wholly abandoned reason and logic and whose thinking is so profoundly disordered. The true believers are ineducable and unchangeable. As Charlie Pierce has observed they are more like victims of brain-eating prion disease than normal humans. I have thought for a few years now that this country will split apart. How and when I do not know but it is, I believe, inevitable.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

18. Nice to prove what we've all known. They R F N nuts!

[Thespian2]

19. Our controlling Oligarchs

are mostly psychopaths...perhaps all of them are...they would never put money in the accounts of politicians or PACs unless they had calculated the net grain from spending the money...

Republican politicians show psychopathic tendencies all the time...and are perfect puppets for the Oligarchs who always can use more puppets...

[applegrove]

20. But don't assume they don't exist amongst liberals. Psychopaths

like to fool people in helping professions because the Liberals have big hearts and will listen to the sob story the psychopath spins about himself to make his victims seem like they are the evil ones. Terrifying. And when you feel doubly sure of something... something more compelling that ever...that could be the psychopath sending waves of bulls hit around you getting you to act in a way that furthers their truth line. For sure more republican psychopaths. But in real life you should never assume that no democrats are evil.

[Maraya1969]

29. Then they are not really liberals right? A fake liberal if you will.

[applegrove]

30. I don't think most psychopaths believe in anything they pretend to follow. It is only about

aggrandizing themselves.

[Utopian Leftist]

25. The CEO's of Exxon doomed us to Global Warming back in the 1970's

for their own interim profit. If that behavior is not psychopathic, then I do not know what qualifies.

And if Exxon were in actuality a person, he or she should have been tried for treason and crimes against humanity.

[Warpy]

26. Yeah, most of them are dumb and mean

and completely lack empathy. In related news, water is wet.

[JudyM]

28. Absence of empathy should be right up there though it's not noted. Nt