Free Republic
Browse · Search
Bloggers & Personal
Topics · Post Article

To: AnonymousConservative

You are dead on. Although I will add one thing. Ideology seems to be associated with a brain structure called the amygdala, which develops in response to threat. Basically, as you experience danger, and learn how to cope with it, your amygdala develops, and if the MRI studies are any measure, you become more Conservative.

In some ways, Liberals may deny reality as a way of shielding the amygdala, by avoiding risk. Threat stimuli, like the article describes, may say risk can no longer be ignored, and thus one has no choice but to prepare oneself to deal with it, mentally. Once neurologically prepared to confront risk, Conservatism may be more acceptable to you.

One thing that struck me was the whole attack on the amygdala of conservatives recently in the media. In certain scientific articles recently they said that the Conservatives were “obviously more primitive because their Amygdala was a lot larger and thus more primitive” and that the liberal mind was superior because their “primitive part of their brain was smaller”. However this is predicated upon the false narrative that the Amygdala is what makes one primitive and is only as these articles put it “an organ of fear”.

You grasp the idea that this part of the brain is very much needed for actually DEALING with fear and coordinating with the rest of the brain in coming up with solutions. Thus someone with an underdeveloped amygdala would in essence “short circuit” as they never really develop this part of the brain. Seems to be a link with neural plasticity, as in the whole adage “if you don’t use it you lose it” and as such it could be liberalism is nothing more than people learning incorrectly at a young age to avoid certain things that then cause their brain to wire itself into the patterns of liberalism. Of course there could be a genetic component to neural plasticity as well making some people more prone to it if they were not raised right. This could also be why the welfare state is a self perpetuating meme that builds itself up in time when resources are not an issue. Welfare creates large pastures for rabbits where they can roam free and not have to worry about the wolves called reality, thus leading the people to be raised there to never have to exercise that part of their brain they need in a k selection scenario...

What I also find funny is the whole gist of these articles on how bad it is to have a large amygdala seem to be a liberal attempt at “outgrouping” conservatives by trying to make them feel they are part of a small group who is primitive and “no longer needed” it is astounding to me how ironic this after reading your material.

Just some musings on this, very good and fascinating stuff... I will try to remeber this next time I am taking to some liberal acquaintances.


45 posted on 01/19/2013 10:00:19 AM PST by GraceG
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 32 | View Replies ]


To: GraceG

Yeeesssssss!!!!

To everything there.


52 posted on 01/19/2013 10:13:59 AM PST by AnonymousConservative (Why did Liberals evolve within our species? www.anonymousconservative.com)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 45 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
Bloggers & Personal
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson