Reply #8: Interestingly, I know a conservative psychologist who is very much into

[SmokingJacket]

the internal vs. external locus of control thing. She thinks that blaming outside forces (economy, social factors) for your problems is faulty thinking, and that people who fail have basically chosen that path. Hence, she is a conservative of the bootstraps kind.

:shrug:

I think the difference comes down to empathy. A person who sees that other people are basically like them, and that they, too, might fail or exhibit bad behavior in other circumstances, is more likely to be liberal.

A person who cannot imagine the inner lives of other people, who thinks another's failure is avoidable because they themselves would have done things differently, is more likely to be conservative.