Study Ties Political Leanings to Hidden Biases

Washington Post ^ | January 30, 2006 | Shankar Vedantam

[SteveMcKing]

Study Ties Political Leanings to Hidden Biases

By Shankar Vedantam
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, January 30, 2006

...
"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.
...
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.
...
The psychologist observed that the way these subjects dealt with unwelcome information had curious parallels with drug addiction as addicts also reward themselves for wrong-headed behavior.
...
For their study, Nosek, Banaji and social psychologist Erik Thompson culled self-acknowledged views about blacks from nearly 130,000 whites, who volunteered online to participate in a widely used test of racial bias that measures the speed of people's associations between black or white faces and positive or negative words. The researchers examined correlations between explicit and implicit attitudes and voting behavior in all 435 congressional districts.
...
The analysis found that substantial majorities of Americans, liberals and conservatives, found it more difficult to associate black faces with positive concepts than white faces -- evidence of implicit bias. But districts that registered higher levels of bias systematically produced more votes for Bush.

[SteveMcKing]

Here is the Harvard psychologist herself, Mahzarin Banaji, explaining to us why we are racists:

And here is Brenda Major of the University of California at Santa Barbara, also working hard for a living:

Emory University psychologist Drew Westen:

Brian Nosek et al. at "Canada Day":

And the man who worked hard to bring you this story, Shankar Vedantam of the Washington Post...

[mlc9852]

Why would anyone publish this tripe?

[coconutt2000]

Umm... Where are the black people?

[Semper Paratus]

Study finds the MSM will fall for any study that dings conservatives!

[Para-Ord.45]

so,most blacks are democrat socialist neo-marxist party members/voters.

we`re biased against all anti-constitutionalist neo-marxist democrats.

[HEY4QDEMS]

See this is why the Dems can never win.

Don't they realize that these props should only be published in late October of election years. /sarcasm

[Peach]

And yet it was Republicans who overwhelmingly passed the Civil Rights Act, vs. the Democrats who tried to defeat it.

[Buffettfan]

Maybe we need to take the "Whiteness Studies" class at University of Wisconsin Milwaukee??

http://www.uwm.edu/~gjay/Whiteness/

[fizziwig]

I suppose racism is the reason why Bush has appointed more minorities to top cabinet posts than any other president?

Another Harvard propaganda study to smear conservatives. They have been doing this for years and still more minorities come over to the conservative side...and conservatives more than welcome them.

[demkicker]

But it's okay that Robert KKK Byrd is still a democrat U.S. Senator.

[SteveMcKing]

Why would anyone publish this tripe?

It's their job!

Like you and me -- we have jobs, but they're not as important as these peoples' jobs.

They make 6-figures doing this, and parents eagerly pay thousands to have their kids take classes with them.

[coconutt2000]

By the way, I have a low opinion of the NAACP, unions, the liberal left, Democrats, the NEA, and various other liberal leaning organizations.

Some of those organizations are run by black people with black memberships.

My low opinion of these organizations is why I'm racist.


My admiration for conservative blacks and black organizations that teach and encourage personal empowerment, family values, and financial responsibility is an example of... Well, I'm sure it is an example of something.

[WorkingClassFilth]

Dang. Now that these people have unmasked me, I wonder if I could borrow a hood from somebody for our next secret meeting.

[Niteranger68]

So which is more scientifically reliable, this study or a lie detector test? Also, is it now fair to make stereotypical generalizations about minorities based on a loose collection of premises? The Washington Post really is in butt boot licking mode today for the left.

[sarasota]

Give me a break.

[Sunshine Sister]

This little Bush backer is certainly not prejudice unless you are maimimg and killing women with impunity because the religion of peace says it's okay.

[Para-Ord.45]

Alexsander Solzhenytsin went through this as did tens of millions who opposed The State.

The left will argue for crimminalizing opposition to their ideology.They will attempt to brand anyone who opposes as phycologically ill and in need of re-education.

[demkicker]

Why would anyone publish this tripe?

It's all the left knows how to do. Race baiting and pitting the haves & have nots against each other are the most important rules in the dem playbook besides taxing the hell out of us and redistributing our wealth.

[in hoc signo vinces]

This is just pure comedy.

[SteveMcKing]

They will attempt to brand anyone who opposes as phycologically ill and in need of re-education.

Medication, therapy, childhood screening, brain scans (soon). All of that.

[Niteranger68]

Oops....forgot the conclusion. "White Republicans don't feel guilt."

[HEY4QDEMS]

I once saw a psychologist, I think it was on Cspan, claim that the belief that the MSM has a left bias is a sign of mental illness.

[Abathar]

If the picture was of Jesse Jackson I can see why we conservatives were repulsed by it.
Put up a picture of Condi Rice and watch this whole study get skewed - They probably chose mug shots of black men just to make sure they got the results they were looking for.

[Obadiah]

You are the WINNER of the "You Get It" award!

[MarineBrat]

The analysis found that substantial majorities of Americans, liberals and conservatives, found it more difficult to associate black faces with positive concepts than white faces -- evidence of implicit bias.

I can count on my fingers and toes the number of blacks enmeshed in "black" culture that I respect. Let me tell a related tale...

My step-father is a minister/counsellor. He had a woman come to him complaining that her husband waits until the last second to tell her when he's going out of town on business. Dad asked her what she does when he tells her that he's going out of town on business, and she said "I give him hell because I don't like him going out of town."

This lady was unaware of the correlation between her "giving him hell" and him waiting until the last second to "get hell." Her issue was a result of her own actions.

I wish I knew how to break this vicious cycle that exists in America.

[apackof2]

Shhhhh don't tell Condi Rice

/sarc

[Panerai]

Is it possible Mr. Shankar Vedantam might be biased against whites.

[Pessimist]

"I suppose racism is the reason why Bush has appointed more minorities to top cabinet posts than any other president?"

Actually, I suppose it probably was. He feels the need to "prove" himself.

[Gay State Conservative]

That study found that supporters of President Bush and other conservatives had stronger self-admitted and implicit biases against blacks than liberals did.

I guess that that would explain this juicy little piece from the Harvard Crimson (yes,*that* Harvard) from a few years back describing the antics of some of the richest and most "progressive" folks in the land,the residents of Brattle Street in Cambridge,which is very close to Harvard Yard and is populated by Harvard faculty and administrators.

One of the folks mentioned is none other than Laurence Tribe,a presumed candidate for the Supreme Court next time a democRAT occupies Motel 1600.

Enjoy! http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=241470

[Fred Hayek]

Trofim Lysenko is alive and well and teaching in the psychology departments of American universities.

[RegulatorCountry]

"We have 50 years of evidence that racial prejudice predicts voting."

Oh, really, Mr. Krosnick? 50 years of evidence that Republican voters have a bias against black people, going back to the Republican Eisenhower administration in 1956, huh?

These people are scarily detached from objective reality.

[TexasCajun]

I'll betcha this study was a taxpayer financed grant.

[DustyMoment]

Study Ties Political Leanings to Hidden Biases

Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahahaha

And the field of psychology wonders why no one takes it seriously.

If Conservatism is a "mental disease", as the "study" seems to suggest, why are there more black Republicans in Congress and more blacks in Bush's cabinet than have ever served in any Democrat cabinet.

IMO, the facts outweigh the "results" of this phoney "study".

[edcoil]

According to Oprah, she says "blacks hate everybody even other blacks of different shades".

[Niteranger68]

That study found that supporters of President Bush and other conservatives had stronger self-admitted and implicit biases against blacks than liberals did.

Don't most white liberals think they are black?

[TexasCajun]

How would it be reported if racist republicans elected a Black Woman for President?

[Archon of the East]

And go back even further to the late 1860's, it was the Republicans that had every constitutional or Natural Right restored by law to Blacks but by the end of the next Democrat regime all 23 laws were overturned. The Democrats have and always will be the true racists, the ones that through promises and rhetoric keep more people oppressed than military might ever could.

[johnny7]

All good little communists.

[Niteranger68]

"We have 50 years of evidence that racial prejudice predicts voting."

Does anyone remember what the racial breakdown was for JC Watts’s district?

[Oniolover]

"And yet it was Republicans who overwhelmingly passed the Civil Rights Act, vs. the Democrats who tried to defeat it."

I'd be careful about that statement. The dixiecrats voted against the civil rights act. The Dixiecrats then overwhelming switched party in protest. So the majority of of those who ovted agianst that (the left's keeps pointing out Strom Thurmond) are now republicans.

Like the Democrats should talk with former Klansmen Sen. Byrd as a member.


If we can purge the racists out of our party then we have a shot at the black vote. But as long as we're idealizing Thurmond, its a lost cause. The vast majority of republicans are not rasicts but the left likes to use the fringe to paint us all as racists.

[Brilliant]

I hope the "study" was not funded with tax dollars.

[fizziwig]

"He feels the need to "prove" himself."
___________________________________

Or he believed they were qualified for the job.

But, being the pessimist, you will always look for the negative...oh well.

[RegulatorCountry]

"How would it be reported if racist republicans elected a Black Woman for President?"

We've already seen the political "cartoons" and heard the rhetoric. She'll be labelled a "house negro" and belittled at every turn, no matter how successful and accomplished she might have been prior, or how well she were to do as our first female president. Funny how feminists always just submit to the Dim party line, isn't it? It will be no different in the case of a Condi Rice presidency. Ideology trumps race trumps gender ... it's the socialist way.

[Gay State Conservative]

Don't most white liberals think they are black?

When they're running for office they do.But when it comes to choosing a place to live or a place to send their kids to school,they think differently.

That's why the Kennedys,Clintons,Kerrys,etc,choose to live in Chappaqua,Hyannisport and Beacon Hill and also why they made sure their kids never set foot in a *public* school.

[SteveMcKing]

I had to include that vacation photo... The "Columbia" t-shirt is priceless.

[Oniolover]

"And go back even further to the late 1860's, it was the Republicans that had every constitutional or Natural Right restored by law to Blacks but by the end of the next Democrat regime all 23 laws were overturned. The Democrats have and always will be the true racists, the ones that through promises and rhetoric keep more people oppressed than military might ever could."

Again be careful about that statement. The Dixiecrats opposed these laws and northern radical republicans were for them. Most of the Dixiecrats switched parties in protest after Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act.

Again, until we purge the republican party of the former Dixiecrats (who wants the Dems racists leftovers anyways) we will never have the black vote.

[Publius6961]

Like I'm going to give this herd of "unbiased" cows any credibility whatsoever!

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

[spunkets]

"test of racial bias that measures the speed of people's associations between black or white faces and positive or negative words. The researchers examined correlations between explicit and implicit attitudes and voting behavior in all 435 congressional districts. ...

The analysis found that substantial majorities of Americans, liberals and conservatives, found it more difficult to associate black faces with positive concepts than white faces -- evidence of implicit bias. But districts that registered higher levels of bias systematically produced more votes for Bush."

I see ID here. No science, just make up a story, analyze some BS, and generate some statistics for the BS. Then toss it out and watch it fly, and see all the goofs trip over themselves to eat it all up.

[Publius6961]

I wonder if I could borrow a hood from somebody for our next secret meeting.

KKK Byrd has dozens to spare!

In the closet, of course...

[Oniolover]

I hope Condi does chose to run. My husband and I have our checkbooks open if she does.