Republicans have Cognitive Dissonance

[nradisic]

I've been trying to find eaxctly the correct term for how Republicans think ,because they are really not that good at rationalizing things....and it finally came to me. Whatever drives people to vote Republican I do not know, but the behaviour can be described as cognitive dissonance. Bingo. Below is an exerpt from Wiki regarding cognitive dissonance along with a link. Sarah Palin certainly has it...

"In psychology, cognitive dissonance is an uncomfortable feeling or stress caused by holding two contradictory ideas simultaneously. The theory of cognitive dissonance proposes that people have a fundamental cognitive drive to reduce this dissonance by modifying an existing belief, or rejecting one of the contradictory ideas.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance

Often one of the ideas is a fundamental element of ego, like "I am a good person" or "I made the right decision." This can result in rationalization when a person is presented with evidence of a bad choice, or in other cases. Prevention of cognitive dissonance may also contribute to confirmation bias or denial of discomforting evidence.

Experiments have attempted to quantify this cognitive drive. Studies have not so far detected any gender or cross-cultural differences.<1>"

[cui bono]

1. Which is why it takes a patient soul to talk them down off the ledge.

Imagine if you suddenly realized black is white, up is down, etc... Your whole world is not as you thought it was. Quite hard to fathom.

Alas, this job is meant for people other than myself as I am more of the "are you a fucking moron" type. I just have no patience for people who keep parroting lies without bothering to do any reading on their own.

[Narkos]

2. I've been trying for a long time to figure out

conservative psychology. Here's a link to an excellent read on this most fascinating subject!
http://edge.org/3rd_culture/haidt08/haidt08_index.html

Anything by this guy is also insightful
http://www.psych.nyu.edu/jost/