Tapsearch Com EditorY consirvatives R stoopid
September 11th 2007 21:56
Since I write about IQ now and then, I suppose I should comment on the new study that shows conservatives have more rigid thought patterns than do liberals. I kinda like Mother Jones's tongue-in-cheek response.
Here's the LA Times's summary:
Very cute how they managed to work in the term "knee-jerk" to refer to conservatives.
This study does show that conservatives tend to get into one way of thinking. It also shows they're resistant to change (um, that's why they're called conservative) and tend to dislike ambiguity. But it's not an IQ test.
And in fact, I think a resistance to ambiguity is often a good thing -- it compels people to look hard at issues and find a theory that integrates the relevant information, rather than settling for a bunch of muddled "nuance." It's also good when the time comes to take whatever information is available and make a decision.
And is it really to liberals' credit that their brains got all worked up over Ms and Ws? Maybe they're just easily entertained. And besides, all testing is racist and irrelevant anyway, remember?
Here's the LA Times's summary:
Participants were college students whose politics ranged from "very liberal" to "very conservative." They were instructed to tap a keyboard when an M appeared on a computer monitor and to refrain from tapping when they saw a W.
M appeared four times more frequently than W, conditioning participants to press a key in knee-jerk fashion whenever they saw a letter.
Each participant was wired to an electroencephalograph that recorded activity in the anterior cingulate cortex, the part of the brain that detects conflicts between a habitual tendency (pressing a key) and a more appropriate response (not pressing the key). Liberals had more brain activity and made fewer mistakes than conservatives when they saw a W, researchers said. Liberals and conservatives were equally accurate in recognizing M.
M appeared four times more frequently than W, conditioning participants to press a key in knee-jerk fashion whenever they saw a letter.
Each participant was wired to an electroencephalograph that recorded activity in the anterior cingulate cortex, the part of the brain that detects conflicts between a habitual tendency (pressing a key) and a more appropriate response (not pressing the key). Liberals had more brain activity and made fewer mistakes than conservatives when they saw a W, researchers said. Liberals and conservatives were equally accurate in recognizing M.
Very cute how they managed to work in the term "knee-jerk" to refer to conservatives.
This study does show that conservatives tend to get into one way of thinking. It also shows they're resistant to change (um, that's why they're called conservative) and tend to dislike ambiguity. But it's not an IQ test.
And in fact, I think a resistance to ambiguity is often a good thing -- it compels people to look hard at issues and find a theory that integrates the relevant information, rather than settling for a bunch of muddled "nuance." It's also good when the time comes to take whatever information is available and make a decision.
And is it really to liberals' credit that their brains got all worked up over Ms and Ws? Maybe they're just easily entertained. And besides, all testing is racist and irrelevant anyway, remember?
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