Dec 302010
 

Republican policy always seems to depend on numerous thinking errors, misinformed attitudes that result in antisocial behavior.  One common one is the concrete thinking error, the belief all things occur in black or white, that there is no middle ground for compromise.  In my volunteer work, I help prisoners and former prisoners learn  to recognize and avoid a couple dozen of these thinking errors.  People often develop thinking errors as a response to fear.  The Republican leadership recognizes this and bombards their base with lies specifically designed to invoke fear.  Within the human brain is a structure called the amygdala that triggers the fight or flight reaction as a response to fear by dumping a hormone cocktail into the bloodstream, one of whose effects is interference with rational thought.  I have often wondered why Republicans, especially the InsaniTEA wing of the party, seem so vulnerable to the obvious propaganda from the likes of Beck, Limbaugh and Palin, and science just may have an answer.

30amygdalaPolitical opinions are considered choices, and in Western democracies the right to choose one’s opinions — freedom of conscience — is considered sacrosanct.

But recent studies suggest that our brains and genes may be a major determining factor in the views we hold.

A study at University College London in the UK has found that conservatives’ brains have larger amygdalas than the brains of liberals. Amygdalas are responsible for fear and other "primitive" emotions. At the same time, conservatives’ brains were also found to have a smaller anterior cingulate — the part of the brain responsible for courage and optimism.

If the study is confirmed, it could give us the first medical explanation for why conservatives tend to be more receptive to threats of terrorism, for example, than liberals. And it may help to explain why conservatives like to plan based on the worst-case scenario, while liberals tend towards rosier outlooks… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Alternet>

I have notices that as people learn to recognize and manage the fight or flight response through stress reducing techniques, their political views often shift to the left in the process. I’m not sure how this can help the left in the short term, but at least it does give us some insight to why presenting rational ideas presented to many Republicans can be like talking to a wall.

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  27 Responses to “Is Being Republican a Brain Defect?”

  1. Very interesting, TC. It would explain a lot, and would be the reason Fox News is so alarmist – they know how to get their viewers riled up.

  2. Good a theory as any TC. I use the phrase “Like reasoning with an overflowing toilet” to describe the phenomena.

    Evidently Beck (per a teabagger coworker) had claimed FDR caused the Depression by raising taxes. Even when presented with a timeline, the teabagger continued to insist Beck was right. Insane in the membrane.

    • Love the phrase, Oso. LOL!

      That’s the have to be right thinking error. The possibility of being wrong about anything so threatens their belief structure that it evokes fear of an identity crisis.

  3. I don’t argue with my parents any more since it is like talking to a wall. Rationale, fact, and reasoning tend to run opposite to their lines of thinking. My family would make an interesting case study because we have a “yours, mine and ours” family. (My mom had 2 kids when she married my dad with two kids and they had one together). The only problem is you can’t talk to their previous spouses because they are both dead. But we have 3 strong dems and 4 Reps. Both my natural parents are Rep; my step father is a Repub but his late wife was a strong liberal. (The only reason for this is she told her daughter what a vagina was at the age of 3 right before she died, prompting strong words of disapproval from my WASP Rep mother.) My half brother, my natural sister and both my parents are Repubs; my 2 step sisters and I are Dems, with me being farther left than the other two. None of the Repubs recycle; all the Dems do. My dem sisters I can have a conversation with and not get pissed of; rarely do I have a conversation with my natural sister that doesn’t end we me hanging up the phone on her because I’m so pissed off. I can only talk to my brother at a high level -kids only; my mother -who is intensively pissed off that she gave birth to me – can barely have a civilized conversation. My father is always wanting to talk politics with me, knowing that we’re on opposite sides of the spectrum. Facts bounce right off of him as do they my brother.

    Knowing that their brain structure is different from mine is interesting; especially noting that they can be invoked by the more primal structures in the brain -fight or flight. It also explains a lot of men I’ve dated. 😛

    • Lisa it’s true. On occasion I’ll attempt to establish common ground, maybe something which would appeal to them. Say a story of someone who did something brave or selfless – not someone they’d call a do-gooder. More like someone who stood up to a criminal. It still becomes an argument, they find a way to bash minorities or liberals, will never accommodate my attempt at civil conversation.
      Essentially they’re assholes.

    • Lisa, there are times when I am reminded of God’s mercy that I don’t have to keep track of your family. How do you do it? 🙄

  4. “Conservatives Without Conscience” is a prescient book by John Dean (of Watergate infamy) written in collaboration with Barry Goldwater (who died prior to its release in 2006) that covers the psychology of right-wingers quite nicely. It draws extensively on the writings of the social psychologist Bob Altemeyer who created a scale for measuring “right-wing authoritarian” (RWA) tendencies.

    From an even-handed NY Times book review (they had some valid criticism):

    Dean concludes that our government [Note: That would be the Bush/Cheney government as the book was released in 2006] “is run by an array of authoritarian personalities” who are “dominating, opposed to equality, desirous of personal power, amoral, intimidating . . . vengeful, pitiless, exploitive, manipulative, dishonest, cheaters, prejudiced, meanspirited, militant, nationalistic and two-faced.” The estimated 20 to 25 percent of High R.W.A.’s among us, he warns, “will take American democracy where no freedom-loving person would want it to go.”

    • Good link, Nameless. I don’t think that the string pullers are necessary suffering from the same brain condition..They are just evil enough to recognize the effects of fear and take advantage.

  5. And all this time I thought they were jealous because liberals, left of center, and progressives are prettier females and the men have bigger penises. Who would have thought they have a higher fear factor to overcompensate for their shortcomings.

  6. Ah, science walks around in all-too-heavy Hegelian boots.

    Fact is, Republicans are really members of the Plutocracy that runs America.
    And curiously, the ordinary voter seems too dumb to get it, that the plutocracy works against him/her.
    …So they seem to take Jesus as their personal saviour and vote for those with the almighty buck, hoping, I suppose, that some of the green will rub off.

    • Ivan, you’re talking about the string pullers, the Corporocons and Plutocons. I’m talking ,more about the base, the Neocon, Theocon, and InsaniTEA wings of the party.

  7. Great and interesting theory, TomCat, and I thank you for presenting it. Now if only someone could explain why conservatives are so mouthy, downright mean-spirited, hateful, and wholly self-centered!

    • Jack – it’s all about money…. and power… and control. If “mouthy… mean spirited” etc achieves your goals – and for the most part it does work for them – then they’ll keep doing it. Besides, how else can you convince poor people that free health care for all is bad? Did anyone really believe there were going to be “death panels”? The sheople did, but did the leaders? I doubt it, but being mouthy and mean and shouting lies like that from the mountain tops helped them win the war. Now we get no health care reform. So my question is why can’t democrats fight fire with fire? Why can’t the Obama who campaigned be as heart felt and eloquent and forceful now that he is in office? I’ve never lost an argument with a smart Republican friend – and I’m not all that smart. So why can’t our democratic leaders win any arguments? It’s frustrating, but mouthy and mean wins against all odds.

      • Welcome Rob! 🙂

        When you’re dealing with Republicans, you’re dealing with a coalition of Neocons, Theocons, Corporocons, and Plutocons, with the InsaniTEA wing thrown in. Power and control is a Neocon wet dream, and money is the driving force for Corporocons and Plutocons. Theocons and the InsaniTEA wing have other agendas. The leaders come from those three, but the base, who are the topic here, are the ones motivated by fear.

        Obama’s behavior remains a mystery. I still have not decided whether I think he has been co-opted by advisers due to inexperience or is the best BS artist in modern history.

    • Jack, the things you mention are attributes of hate, which itself is a symptom of fear. Hate is not the opposite of love. Fear is. Hate is just the symptom.

  8. Now we know the problem!!!

    !!!Attention!!!
    It has been discovered that Conservatives have a brain defect, which helps explain the contemptuous criminal activity throughout their history of existence!!! The problem has been discovered deep within the small chunk of grey matter within their large water-soaked cranium call an “Amygdala’s”!!! This pea-size brain matter in normal (non-conservative) thinking humans has become a larger worthless mass in Conservatives, which has accelerated the growth of their stupid gene, causing irrational, whiny, behavior depicted by uncontrolled balling, temper tamper antics and complete fear-mongering based decision making…
    The University College of Great Britain, London have made this discovery after observing the continual odd behavior of the adult Conservative population, by scanning subject specimens from each side of the aisle… This MRI scan revealed this major defect within the Conservative specimens… There appears to be a lack of civilized development from the primal function of this brain area… See below link, for further details;
    http://www.mediaite.com/online/new-study-suggests-conservatives-have-larger-fear-centers-in-their-brains/
    Thank you, hope it helps, now that we know, does this mean lobotomies for the impaired or subjugation?
    :mrgreen:

    • Welcome, Mr. Pooh. 🙂

      Thanks for the link.

      Actually, neither. While this research, if it proves out, makes populations easier to understand, individuals are capable of overcoming such predispositions, if they care to make the effort. More that anything, it provides a rationale to help lefties with the frustration that talking sense to Teabaggers can be like discussing haute cuisine with cannibals.

  9. There lies the whole problem, the huge water-soak Amygdala is wired as such to obstruct any sort of common sensuality found within a normal human. To them the norm is based on a continually perceived (however nonexistent) feeling of superiority, “lord of the Ring” mentality, not to be destroyed (again, in their eyes) by a second, third or fourth class citizen, again, per the Constitution, classes, that don’t exist…
    It doesn’t explain all the past exploits demonstrated by the impaired Conservatives. However, I often wondered what type of human derives and installs nation-wide laws that for the most part impede / target one race of humans. Is it an attempt to inflict non-recoverable damage and total poverty to that race? Is it applied to the point they become a burden to their own community and often the communities inflicting the damage? Do you ever ask; is this how the Constitution is interpreted by the impaired Conservative?

    Is the below link a sign of a HUGE Amygdala?
    http://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/what.htm
    🙁
    Please read carefully and get back with me…

    • This theory cannot explain all features of conservative thought. But to be honest, the Jim Crow culture, so well described in that fine article, used to be mainstream thought, not just cinservative. My own state, Oregon, was the last to repeal our Jim Crow laws. But while most of America moved on, the Republican base clings to Jim Crow thinking.

      As for the Constitution, the impaired conservative interprets it according to the honorific of an unmarried female: Miss Interpret. 😉

  10. That is so true (Miss Interpret), however, I don’t quite agree on MOST of America moving on. There appears to be a concerted effort to use Miss Interpret (and other lies) at every opportunity to upset the population into believing this administration (Obama) is going to destroy this country. However, they fail to clearly describe what, HE is actually doing that would destroy this country… The eight years of raping and pillaging of this nation by the previous marauding impaired Conservatives has placed us in dire peril and will require getting a handle on all the in-house criminal activity before things can turn around for the majority of Americans.
    However, the impaired Conservatives that assisted in the initial downfall are still inside the government working hard to undo everything that is being done to repair the damage. Personally, I list this activity in a very serious category as treason and feel the perpetrators (traitors) should suffer serious repercussions related to the crime of treason.
    The real problem is the participants are so wide spread, that that, in itself, could seriously damage the government and its recovery. If the impaired can push the blame of what they’re doing onto the Obama Administration, they will and have!!! It’s like claiming death panels on the health care reform lie. Got a lot of fellow impaired and alleged non-impaired all worked up, didn’t it? Complete Boldfaced lies, with several (you would think) trustworthy participants. Again, to have such complete collusion, smacks of something completely sinister brewing… So, is it just me, or do you also see the blatant illegal activities from the impaired? It worries me, because I see where you are feeling disappointed in the progress of our leader… Remember, the impaired are working very, very hard at making the ONLY one honestly trying to fix the mess, left behind by this country’s largest murdering financial scammer, of which makes Bernie Madoffs hall, look like child’s play a ONE TERM PRESIDENT!!! So TOMCAT, are you one of the impaired?
    😕

    • I’be probably been more inclined than most to give him a break, because I knew he was not a progressive when I su[supported and voted for him, so I was not shocked at his early centrism and attempts at bipartisanship liked so many of the Obamaphiles that painted him in the image of who they wanted him to be. That said, I’m highly disappointed in many of his policies and most of his appointments. Though it was the progressive wing of the party that put him in office, he has all but denied us a seat at the table. When I think he deserves credit, I say so. When I think he deserves criticism, I say so. Assuming he is the nominee in 2012, I will vote for him and encourage others to do so, even though I will be holding my nose to do it. As for the rest, I suggest you read the blog.

      • What particular policies are you highly disappointed with? 🙁

        • I’m sorry, but I just don’t have time to write that book in a comment. 🙂 This blog contains the record of my responses to Obama’s policies, good and bad and will continue to do so. If he represents the needs of the American people, I will be in his corner.

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