An unsatisfying answer to "What's wrong with conservatives?"

[mwb970]

Tory voters found to have larger 'primitive' lobe in brain
(Daily Mail (UK), December 29, 2010)

Our political allegiances could be hard-wired into our brains, neuroscientists believe. Researchers have found evidence that the brains of conservatives are a different shape to those of Left-wingers.

Scans of 90 students’ brains at University College London uncovered a ‘strong correlation’ between the thickness of two particular areas of grey matter and an individual’s political views.

Self-proclaimed right-wingers had a more pronounced amygdala - a primitive part of the brain associated with emotion. It is an almond-shape set of neurons located deep in the brain's medial temporal lobe. However, those aligned to the left had thicker anterior cingulates - which is an area associated with anticipation and decision-making.

In my attempts to answer the perennial question, “What on God’s green earth is wrong with conservatives?”, I have assumed for years that conservatism is some form of mental illness and should be diagnosed and treated as such. How else to explain their rejection of logic and reason, their quick, ready rage, their crippling fear? Normal people don’t respond to reality this way.

Now, at last, the answer. Conservative brains are defective! The overdeveloped emotional center and corresponding underdevelopment of the decision-making center map exactly to the inexplicable behavior of conservatives that we so often observe to our dismay.

Answering this question (if this, indeed, is the answer) is less satisfying to me than I had hoped, because I have no idea what to do about such a large proportion of our citizenry having brains that are wired in this counter-productive way.

There's one thing I do know. Nothing you can say to a conservative can change the basic physical fact of their inappropriate brain structure. So, don’t waste your time trying to “reason” with them. The poor dears just can’t do it.

[RandomThoughts]

1. It is not emotion versus reason.

It is fight or flight fear based emotion.

It can also be spiritual.


And there is a little more to it then the brain wiring, there is chicken and egg in that, peoples brains change by usage also.


The anger reflex is a defense against having to think on cognitive dissonance.

You can reason with them, you just have to chase away the anger when it pops up, and be kind and start over at the beginning, then there is usually sadness, and you have to help with that.

And liberals can be the same way on topics.

[The_Commonist]

2. Their brains aren't defective.

They're just not evolved as much.

[3waygeek]

3. To me, the biggest takeaway from this is...

that conservatives actually have brains. You sure as hell couldn't figure that out from their behavior.