Posted on 01/30/2006 9:23:48 AM PST by oblomov
Put a group of people together at a party and observe how they behave. Differently than when they are alone? Differently than when they are with family? What if they're in a stadium instead of at a party? What if they're all men?
The field of social psychology has long been focused on how social environments affect the way people behave. But social psychologists are people, too, and as the United States has become increasingly politically polarized, they have grown increasingly interested in examining what drives these sharp divides: red states vs. blue states; pro-Iraq war vs. anti-Iraq war; pro-same-sex marriage vs. anti-same-sex marriage. And they have begun to study political behavior using such specialized tools as sophisticated psychological tests and brain scans.
"In my own family, for example, there are stark differences, not just of opinion but very profound differences in how we view the world," said Brenda Major, a psychologist at the University of California at Santa Barbara and the president of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, which had a conference last week that showcased several provocative psychological studies about the nature of political belief.
The new interest has yielded some results that will themselves provoke partisan reactions: Studies presented at the conference, for example, produced evidence that emotions and implicit assumptions often influence why people choose their political affiliations, and that partisans stubbornly discount any information that challenges their preexisting beliefs.
Emory University psychologist Drew Westen put self-identified Democratic and Republican partisans in brain scanners and asked them to evaluate negative information about various candidates. Both groups were quick to spot inconsistency and hypocrisy -- but only in candidates they opposed.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
More axe-grinding masquerading as "scientific research". This is just a redux of Theodor Adorno's "research" that "proved" that conservative people favored authoritarian rulers.
please delete; duplicate
Oh wow, no kidding?! People make decisions based on emotion and hidden biases. I wonder if this study has it right. I'm biased and I admit it. I'm biased toward the idea that freedom is a birthright, given by the Heavenly Father, and I'm mad whenever the leftist, elitist, media try to take that right away. Hey Google this! Freedom! Freedom! Freedom! Freedom! I'm speaking my mind and I hope that Google and everyone in China knows it.
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