Political Conservatism As Motivated Social Cognition: Fill & Download for Free

What we do know is that there are significant differences among the behaviour, neurology and psychology of people who are conservative versus those who are liberal. Variability in political attitudes is due to both genetic influences and environmental factors[1][1][1][1]Image attribution: How being a Liberal or Conservative Shapes Your LifeLet’s start at the level of the genes. Research finds that genes influence the volume of two regions in the brain related to a person’s political ideology.[2][2][2][2]Image attribution: genesBasically people who are coded to be more fear based, less tolerant of nuances and worse at emotion regulation are coded to be conservative.Next let’s move onto the brain physiology. Conservatism is associated withgreater neural sensitivity to threat and larger amygdala [3][3][3][3] [4][4][4][4] volume (fear), as well as less sensitivity to response conflict and smaller anterior cingulate volume (which accounts for emotion regulation).[5][5][5][5]Image attribution: AmygdalaConservatives show more activity (thus increased fear) when taking risks than liberals do.[6][6][6][6]Then we can look at the psychological differences that make a person conservative or liberal.According to the research conservatives have lower self-esteem, higher neuroticism and fear, they are less open to new experiences, and tend to be black and white thinkers.[7][7][7][7]The core ideology of conservatism stresses resistance to change and justification of inequality and is motivated by needs that vary situationally and dispositionally to manage uncertainty and threat.[8][8][8][8]Fear Makes a Person More ConservativeSocial scientists get liberal-leaning experiment subjects to think about their own deaths or make them feel threatened, some left-wingers adopt more conservative values. This phenomenon played out after 9/11 — researchers found that there was a "very strong conservative shift" in the US after the attacks, with more liberals supporting Republican President George W. Bush and favoring increases in military spending.[9][9][9][9]The Safer You Feel the More Liberal You Will BehaveResearchers asked participants to imagine that they'd been granted a superpower by a magic genie and were suddenly as invincible as Superman — bullets bounced off them, fire couldn't scorch their skin, and a fall from a cliff wouldn't hurt at all. The study's control group was simply told to imagine they could fly.Liberal participants' attitudes on social issues didn't shift at all. The conservative participants, on the other hand, started adopting more liberal views on social issues (though not economic ones.)[10][10][10][10]Research found the following correlated with conservatism.Conservatism is positively correlated with:death anxietysystem instabilityintolerance of ambiguity/ dogmatismneeds for order, structure, and closurefear of threat and lossAnd conservatism is negatively correlated with:openness to experienceuncertainty toleranceintegrative complexity (refers to the degree to which thinking and reasoning involve the recognition and integration of multiple perspectives and possibilities and their interrelated contingencies.)and self-esteemI don’t usually answer on political questions. That said, I was A2Aed and looked into the research and felt that it was valid to report it.Please be conservative when you make comments as I will block and report liberally.Footnotes[1] Political Orientations Are Correlated with Brain Structure in Young Adults[1] Political Orientations Are Correlated with Brain Structure in Young Adults[1] Political Orientations Are Correlated with Brain Structure in Young Adults[1] Political Orientations Are Correlated with Brain Structure in Young Adults[2] Political ideology as motivated social cognition: Behavioral and neuroscientific evidence[2] Political ideology as motivated social cognition: Behavioral and neuroscientific evidence[2] Political ideology as motivated social cognition: Behavioral and neuroscientific evidence[2] Political ideology as motivated social cognition: Behavioral and neuroscientific evidence[3] Political Orientations Are Correlated with Brain Structure in Young Adults[3] Political Orientations Are Correlated with Brain Structure in Young Adults[3] Political Orientations Are Correlated with Brain Structure in Young Adults[3] Political Orientations Are Correlated with Brain Structure in Young Adults[4] Red Brain, Blue Brain: Evaluative Processes Differ in Democrats and Republicans[4] Red Brain, Blue Brain: Evaluative Processes Differ in Democrats and Republicans[4] Red Brain, Blue Brain: Evaluative Processes Differ in Democrats and Republicans[4] Red Brain, Blue Brain: Evaluative Processes Differ in Democrats and Republicans[5] Political ideology as motivated social cognition: Behavioral and neuroscientific evidence[5] Political ideology as motivated social cognition: Behavioral and neuroscientific evidence[5] Political ideology as motivated social cognition: Behavioral and neuroscientific evidence[5] Political ideology as motivated social cognition: Behavioral and neuroscientific evidence[6] Red Brain, Blue Brain: Evaluative Processes Differ in Democrats and Republicans[6] Red Brain, Blue Brain: Evaluative Processes Differ in Democrats and Republicans[6] Red Brain, Blue Brain: Evaluative Processes Differ in Democrats and Republicans[6] Red Brain, Blue Brain: Evaluative Processes Differ in Democrats and Republicans[7] http://faculty.virginia.edu/haidtlab/jost.glaser.political-conservatism-as-motivated-social-cog.pdf[7] http://faculty.virginia.edu/haidtlab/jost.glaser.political-conservatism-as-motivated-social-cog.pdf[7] http://faculty.virginia.edu/haidtlab/jost.glaser.political-conservatism-as-motivated-social-cog.pdf[7] http://faculty.virginia.edu/haidtlab/jost.glaser.political-conservatism-as-motivated-social-cog.pdf[8] http://faculty.virginia.edu/haidtlab/jost.glaser.political-conservatism-as-motivated-social-cog.pdf[8] http://faculty.virginia.edu/haidtlab/jost.glaser.political-conservatism-as-motivated-social-cog.pdf[8] http://faculty.virginia.edu/haidtlab/jost.glaser.political-conservatism-as-motivated-social-cog.pdf[8] http://faculty.virginia.edu/haidtlab/jost.glaser.political-conservatism-as-motivated-social-cog.pdf[9] A Yale psychologist's simple thought experiment temporarily turned conservatives into liberals[9] A Yale psychologist's simple thought experiment temporarily turned conservatives into liberals[9] A Yale psychologist's simple thought experiment temporarily turned conservatives into liberals[9] A Yale psychologist's simple thought experiment temporarily turned conservatives into liberals[10] http://Liberal participants' attitudes on social issues didn't shift at all. The conservative participants, on the other hand, started adopting more liberal views on social issues (though not economic ones.)[10] http://Liberal participants' attitudes on social issues didn't shift at all. The conservative participants, on the other hand, started adopting more liberal views on social issues (though not economic ones.)[10] http://Liberal participants' attitudes on social issues didn't shift at all. The conservative participants, on the other hand, started adopting more liberal views on social issues (though not economic ones.)[10] http://Liberal participants' attitudes on social issues didn't shift at all. The conservative participants, on the other hand, started adopting more liberal views on social issues (though not economic ones.)

That religious belief is closely related to conservatism and that, as a result, is a form of psychosis. (“Political Conservatism as Motivated Social Cognition,” National Science Foundation/National Institutes of Science)

Conservatism is a set of neuroses rooted in fear and aggression, dogmatism and the intolerance of ambiguity. Sufferers include Hitler, Mussolini, Ronald Reagan and Rush Limbaugh. (“Political Conservatism as Motivated Social Cognition,” the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health)