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Open the following article and read 5 of the peer-reviewed studies.  After you read the study, find the corresponding number to the right (use the scroll bar at the bottom to see all 20) and write a reflection about what you read, i.e. something you found interesting, how it relates to a real-world example, etc.  

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Open the following article and read 5 of the peer-reviewed studies.  After you read the study, find the corresponding number to the right (use the scroll bar at the bottom to see all 20) and write a reflection about what you read, i.e. something you found interesting, how it relates to a real-world example, etc.  

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Make sure you add your name to top of the post.

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20 peer-reviewed studies show liberals and conservatives physiologically different

In the 20 peer-reviewed scientific studies summarized below, researchers found that liberals and conservatives have different brain structures, different physiological responses to stimuli, and activate different neural mechanisms when confronted with similar situations. Each entry below cites the source document. The studies are arranged from most recent to oldest. We included all the peer-reviewed studies on this subject that we could find. If you know about others, please contact us with details.

1. Brain responses to a disgusting image are sufficient to make accurate predictions about an individual's political ideology.

2. Neurocognitive responses to conflict differ among the children of liberals, moderates, and conservatives.

"Given recent evidence that political ideology is associated with neural responses to cognitive conflict in adults, we tested the exploratory hypothesis that children's neurocognitive responses to conflict may also differ depending on their parents' ideology.

We assessed relations between parental political ideology and children's neurocognitive responses to conflict...

Because previous research documents heightened liberal-conservative differences in threat-relevant contexts, each trial of the task was preceded by an angry face (threat-relevant) or comparison face (happy or neutral).

An effect of parental ideology on the conflict-related N2 [a measure of electrical activity of the brain surface] emerged in the threat condition, such that the N2 was larger among children of liberals compared with children of moderates and conservatives. These findings suggest that individual differences in neurocognitive responses to conflict, heightened in the context of threat, may reflect a more general pattern of individual differences that, in adults, relates to political ideology."

Tracy A. Dennis, David M. Amodio, and Laura J. O'Toole, "Associations between Parental Ideology and Neural Sensitivity to Cognitive Conflict in Children," Social Neuroscience, Oct. 16, 2014

15. Genetics influence political attitudes during early adulthood and beyond.

"The present research attempts to characterize how the transmission of political orientations develops over the life course... [G]enetic influences on political attitudes are absent prior to young adulthood. During childhood and adolescence, individual differences in political attitudes are accounted for by a variety of environmental influences... However, at the point of early adulthood (in the early 20s), for those who left their parental home, there is evidence of a sizeable genetic influence on political attitudes which remains stable throughout adult life."

Peter K. Hatemi, Carolyn L. Funk, Sarah E. Medland, Hermine M. Maes, Judy L. Silberg, Nicholas G. Martin, and Lindon J. Eaves, "Genetic and Environmental Transmission of Political Attitudes Over a Life Time ," The Journal of Politics, July 21, 2009

16. Conservatives learn better from negative stimuli than from positive stimuli and are more risk avoidant than liberals.

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Differences in Conservative and Liberal Brains

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In the 20 peer-reviewed scientific studies summarized below, researchers found that liberals and conservatives have different brain structures, different physiological responses to stimuli, and activate different neural mechanisms when confronted with similar situations. Each entry below cites the source document. The studies are arranged from most recent to oldest.

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There should not be comments added below as these are the directions.  Thank you!

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There should not be comments added below as these are the directions.  Thank you!

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I feel like this might go in line with the conservative appreciation of tradition, since typically disgusting images are out of the ordinary.

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I wonder if this has to do with religion in any sense. It's my impression that conservatives are usually less secular than liberals, and religion often promotes purity.

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I found it both odd and interesting that conservatives tend to spend time looking at unpleasant images, while liberals tend to focus more on pleasant images. However, I can see how this can be connected to the idea that conservatives have more fear and tend to look at darker images that add to their fear and make them more sensitive to change while liberals are the opposite.

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This kind of goes in line with conservatives pushing for more government control on social issues, but liberals favor more freedom in that realm. Liberals support an open-minded society whereas conservative would rather want a controlled and organized society.

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Risk-taking activities trigger different parts of the brain for people with different political ideologies. I wonder if this releases chemicals into their brains that influence decision making?

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This may have something to do with the amount of sympathy and connection conservatives have towards others. Liberals prioritize the happiness of everyone other anything else and are more likely to feel this connection towards people.

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It's interesting that they can predict someone's political views based on internal brain activity, because we can't see any of those reactions on the outside

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When seeing images that are normally disgusting some may not have an emotional reaction to it making them unsympathetic. This can be related to the belief that liberals tend to be more sensitive to those types of things

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This makes sense to me because liberals are less focused on tradition and more focused on change. It's hard to prevent negative outcomes if you're trying out new ideas since you can't predict the future.

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This is a concept that I've been wondering about recently, and while the article doesn't say anything about what response matches what politcal view, I want to look into the correlation to see if it fits debates I've seen about the fundamental differences in compassion and empathy across parties.

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It was interesting to read that the N2 levels are greater in children of liberals during situations of conflict.

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This was surprising to me as I originally thought that political opinions could easily change with education on new topics and points of views. Yet I can see how this occurs as a lot of kids have the same political views as their parents.

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I thought that it was pretty weird that it was found that conservatives tended to look at more disturbing photos while liberals looked at more peaceful ones. In my oppinion its almost unbelieveable.

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It was interesting to see that conservative people generally respond more to negative environmental stimuli and devote more phycological resources to them

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This makes sense because I think conservatives derive their views from a more cynical worldview in relation to people on the left.

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The greater reaction to risk in conservatives makes sense because in conservatives generally don't like to change things. What did the difference between the left and right sides mean?

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This makes so much sense. I know some libs who make way too much eye contact with people and it just makes me feel uncomfortable. Also makes sense because the right cares less about your feelings and more about facts

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It makes sense that Democrats show lower life satisfaction because they are more change-focused. Since Republicans prefer tradition, they must be somewhat satisfied with their current life.

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I found it interesting how the children of liberals had heightend N2 when under threat conditions, I feel it makes sense since liberals seem to be more sensitive to certain issues and willing to enact change

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I've never thought about how based on a persons reaction to something or how their brain reacts to a specific image would have a connection to their political ideology. It's quite interesting that people can see or make these observations with something inside of our bodies.

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I wonder if the reason the older population tends to be more conservative has to do with this. Low effort, instinctive thinking relates to conservative ideology, so older people tend to gravitate towards this type of thinking potentially. Thus, the conservative population is older.

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I find this to be less surprising as conservatives tend to be more in favor of order and tradition which is the opposite of unique actions like eating worms.

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This one is a bit confusing because I don't know why anyone wouldn't react strongly to disgusting images, but I think this would suggest that conservatives are more vulnerable to targeted advertising.

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This is interesting. Could it mean that liberals are more optimistic?

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I would think conservatives care less about negative environmental stimuli because theoretically, their taxes could be raised to help such problems if they existed.

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I found it interesting that conservatives spend more time looking at unpleasant images. But that relates to the earlier article that touches on how the right tends to have stronger reactions to negative things.

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This makes sense because conservatives rely on what they know and don't want much to change. When thinking about change a higher effort thought process would be needed.

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This plays into the campaign adds seen on TV. Conservative based adds are more likely to show more unpleasant images and play into the fear factor, while more liberal adds talk about the future and how things can be changed, which is most often a more pleasant thought.

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Given that liberals tend to invest in policy that brings change while conservatives tend to invest in policy that resists change, both of these assessments make a lot of sense.

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I think that it makes sense that children would develop cognitive responses based on their parents political ideology because it shows that nurture plays a big affect on who that child grows up to be.

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I was surprised that people who support pacifism and gun control are typically less affected by threatening images. I would think that people who were more affected by threatening images of things like war would be more likely to support pacifism to prevent the things represented in the image from occurring.

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I am shocked that this was what people found to be true about a majority of conservatives. I really don't agree with their statement that conservative ideologies are a result of "low effor"t thought processes.

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Liberals are typically more in favor of change and are more optimistic about the thought of change and its impact on the future. Conservatives being more sensitive to fear is not surprising either because conservatives are more in favor of law and order, and fear associated with possible unrest can be sensitive to them.

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It's cool that the human brain can associate a physical thing with an emotion. For example, clean water and the color white can be associated with innocence and purity, and even religious purity.

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I thought this was not super surprising because conservatives tend to not like change so they would focus less on getting new things done and worry more about preventing the negative changes in their mind. Liberals want to get things done and pass laws with positive impacts.

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This makes sense. Conservatives let their fear keep them in place while liberals are more open to uncertainty in the future and are willing to try new things.

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Makes sense to me. Conservatives like to take the slower approach which is likely more reliable and will cause less issues but also less solutions, while libs are the exact opposite.

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Conservatives react greater to threatening stimuli- makes sense due to the lack of change that conservatives want- interesting to see the difference in the two.

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I am surprised at how a person's emotional response to a gross image can correlate with their external political views. This goes to show how people with similar political beliefs have similar initial internal responses.

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These differences between the right and left are, in my opinion, what makes the political Right always on the wrong side of history. They defend from change and growth that is negative in their eyes while the political Left fights for societal progression in issues that are later widely seen as just.

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They made an experiment where conservatives and liberals were subject to positive and negative stimuli. Conservatives were much more risk-averse compared to liberals, after having been exposed to negative stimuli. They played cautious, and this is something that can be seen in our modern political landscape.

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It seems as though all the other studies here suggest that conservatives would have more nightmares, so this one is a bit puzzling to me.

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It was interesting to read that children of liberals have higher N2 levels during situations of conflict.

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This figures because many conservatives are older and religious.

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I find it a little bit funny conservatives react more strongly to negative stimuli, it gives me the impression that they have more difficulty getting out of their comfort zone somehow.

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This made a lot of sense to me. It seems like conservatives tend to focus on the negative, even when change for a good cause is proposed. The "avoidance" strategy o the right is pretty much fear based, while the left looks for progress.

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It's strange to read that genetics have so much impact on political opinions. I was always under the impression that life experiences and family views shaped political habits. It makes me curious as to what parts of genetic appeal to which political party.

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I found it interesting that conservatives had more of an avoidant strategy during the game while liberals did not. When one thinks about political ideology, we wouldn't bother to think how someone plays a game with a different strategy compared to someone else of a different political stance. It makes sense though since conservatives tend to be more threat sensetive than liberals

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Interesting. I think libs can be more prone to change, for instance now we have to wear a mask and libs probably do that better than republicans even though it should not be a politcal thing, it is something ingrained in the brain

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Conservatives tend to favor order, tradition and more religious motivations. These can all be associated with purity and cleanliness.

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Interesting to see that conservatives are more driven through negative reinforcement (avoidance motivation) while liberals are more likely to respond to positive reinforcement or less rigidity.

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This may be because conservatives  are less willing to take risks and change in favor of a possible positive outcome

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This makes sense to me as liberalism tends to provoke more change whereas conservatives like tradition. Conservatives prefer to keep everything the same so negative outcomes won't exist. Liberals are willing to take a risk.

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It is interesting to read about how much of a role genetics can have on someones political view, yet still see families where the children do differ greatly from their parents opinions.

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It makes complete sense. Conservatives tend to value traditional thinking and the "good old days." That way of thinking goes in line with their disciplined and orderly thought process.

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This is interesting because conservatives don't like change where as liberal like the change and that is why they have more active dreams.

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Does this mean that liberals are more open to others?

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It certainly makes sense that liberals would be more open minded because they embrace change more

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There seems to be a trend with conservatives being more focused and worried about negatives throughout a few articles.

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This makes a lot of sense to me because conservatives favor putting restraints on society and favor tradition over change, whereas liberals tend to want to make change happen to better the future.

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On one of our political alignment quizes, there was a question about seeing America as a melting pot or as a country of many cultures and the more liberal option was the country of many cultures, and while the wording would insinute the opposite of what this study suggests, it actually makes sense.

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Not surprising to me that conservatives evaluate human behaviour more. I think libs will take everything at face value and try to see everyones best side and ignore the other sides of people while conservatives do a good job examining peoples personality and their interests.

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I can see how this occurs as conservatives will think about what bad could happen and be more risk avoidant. Yet liberals think more about the positive side (react more to positive stimuli) and be willing to take the risk.

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This is interesting because it connects to nature vs. nurture. I always thought political opinions were a result of your upbringing and surroundings, as well as the type of education you get. I was surprised that genetics played a role. Maybe this is why people usually share political views with their parents when they are younger, but then they can change when they get older and learn more

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This checks out pretty well to me. I wrote a note about how conservatives tend to be less creative than liberals, so this seems to fall in line with that view.

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weird to see that it has to do so much with genetics, however it makes sense that kids around our age will typically side with their parents on what side to support

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Its funny that liberals have more nightmares when it is the conservatives that are more focused on negatives

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This was somewhat amusing because I had no idea that political views impact sleep this much. Maybe it's because of how people view the world based on their political affiliation.

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Interesting how just the environment around someone could effect a person differently depending on their political ideology. Conservatives do tend to be more risk averse and more threat sensitive so it makes sense they would have a stronger response to a negative environment than that of a liberal.

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Does this mean that conservatives are less motivated to deal with harder situations?

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This is a super interesting distinction - the trust felt by liberals versus conservatives. I think it's interesting that our subconsious can decide whether to be swayed by another's gaze or not.

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Maybe this is because conservatives want to appreciate the place they are currently in, while liberals are more idealist in nature.

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This was interesting to me as I never thought that a dream could correlate with political view. Then again, dreams are based on real world events. Yet I don't know why conservatives sleep more soundly than liberals.

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I think that this makes sense because it fits in with the ideas of tradition versus change. Liberals are more apt to change their habits or ideas when situations arise whereas conservatives will defend their ideas rather than change them.

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Liberals would argue that there is not one way to live and it makes sense that conservatives are orderly because they don't want to risk changing tradition.

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now that i think about, the things the study talked about reflects a lot in political commercials

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It is interesting conservatives tend to see "dominant faces" more than liberals. They are more susceptible to fear-inducing things, so this falls in line well.

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Interesting that conservatives have more of a peaceful sleep although they're more threat sensitive and are more likely to dislike risks

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I wonder if there's a connection here to levels of adaptability, or of a knowledge that things can change and you can be the one to change them.