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.

[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.

[Publius6961]

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

I love these softballs...

White Woman Masquerading As Black Steals Presidency!

[MEGoody]

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

Measures the SPEED? Good heavens, psychology gets less credible every day.

[spunkets]

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

The article only mentions this study, that study and some other study. Good luck finding out if they even exist.

[BunnySlippers]

I hope this jerk realized that she has injected HER bias!

[GOP_Proud]

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

Yeah...and I can't believe Cal Thomas let Neal Gabler get by with saying just the opposite on Newswatch last week. Cal started to rebut him and then got sidetracked. Gabler was just wrong.

[pepperhead]

Yeah this is a bunch of BS.

[RegulatorCountry]

"I hope Condi does choose to run."

She's as entitled to a run, if she wants it, as any other Republican, and more qualified than most. Watch the total mental breakdown on the left if she does, though. Her marital status will be demagogued by gays and lesbians, her race will be demagogued by Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and the NAACP, and her accomplishments denigrated by self-styled feminists who think they're advancing the cause of women. And all in the name of their failed socialist ideology. The ugly hypocrisy will be laid bare, which will ultimately be a good thing, come to think of it, so I may very well be with you on this.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

This explains all the blacks in the Democrat party in positions of power.

[Vaquero]

a ripe load of HORSE SH*T.

[airborne]

I'm biased against idiot psychologists!