Posted on 04/05/2014 7:23:32 AM PDT by shove_it
Thomas Jefferson was a smart dude. And in one of his letters to John Adams, dated June 27, 1813, Jefferson made an observation about the nature of politics that science is only now, two centuries later, beginning to confirm. "The same political parties which now agitate the United States, have existed through all time," wrote Jefferson. "The terms of Whig and Tory belong to natural, as well as to civil history," he later added. "They denote the temper and constitution of mind of different individuals."
[...]
It all adds up, according to Hibbing, to what he calls a "negativity bias" on the right. Conservatives, Hibbing's research suggests, go through the world more attentive to negative, threatening, and disgusting stimuli—and then they adopt tough, defensive, and aversive ideologies to match that perceived reality....
(Excerpt) Read more at motherjones.com ...
The heart and soul of liberalism is based on this.
They believe, quite reasonably (but incorrectly), that everyone is just like them, a ticking time-bomb, a super heated boiler with a jammed safety valve, and therefore the government, that great and all protecting, all providing, all knowing government, must disarm and utterly control everyone at all times to prevent the world from plummeting into chaos.
Of course, this doesn't apply to people who are not "just like them", anyone from another culture is automatically exempt from evil intent and violent temper, any observed tendency to, say, behead infidels, doesn't realllllly happen, it's just us projecting our own cultural barely-suppressed violence onto them, or perhaps their responding to it in a desperate act of self-defense!...
By “negativity bias” he means being disgusted by disgusting things. The diference he is measuring is due to the Holy Spirit.
And liberals think we need govt to make people behave... So claims they believe in the best in people contradicts their positions.
There’s country west of the Hudson???
Kinky...
Much more succinct than my post #21
I was expecting a time clock.
Or workboots.
The Democrats seem to be basically nicer people, but they have demonstrated time and again that they have the management skills of celery. They're the kind of people who'd stop to help you change a flat, but would somehow manage to set your car on fire. I would be reluctant to entrust them with a Cuisinart, let alone the economy. The Republicans, on the other hand, would know how to fix your tire, but they wouldn't bother to stop because they'd want to be on time for Ugly Pants Night at the country club.
“conservatives have a proper functioning brain while liberals have suppressed mental function.” sums it up
Dave Barry’s take:
The Democrats seem to be basically nicer people, but they have demonstrated time and again that they have the management skills of celery. They’re the kind of people who’d stop to help you change a flat, but would somehow manage to set your car on fire. I would be reluctant to entrust them with a Cuisinart, let alone the economy. The Republicans, on the other hand, would know how to fix your tire, but they wouldn’t bother to stop because they’d want to be on time for Ugly Pants Night at the country club.
The questions drives them nuts, because they know that we all know their true answer. Conservatives, on the other hand are very comfortable answering, because we’re comfortable with our choice.
A much better and more accurate test, flash names like Barack Obama and George W Bush on a screen and observe the reactions.
Be sure to include the ‘MISSION ACCOMPLISHED” banner in the background.
“The premise of this article and study runs directly counter to the repeated surveys that show conservatives are much happier, more contented, successful people. Unless, a realistic negativity is required to create such lives.”
You are exactly correct. This article is pure propaganda, to the extent that it tries to portray Republicans as negative. That is where the spin is, I believe.
The other thing is that this is not easily changed. Leftists do tend to move toward becoming conservatives as they age. Perhaps the brain matures, but there is a very strong genetic correlation.
THE MOTIVATIONS OF POLITICAL LEFTISTS
http://tongue-tied2.blogspot.com/2006/06/what-appears-below-is-attempt-to.html
What a pantload. The conclusions he draws reflect his own bias.
I noticed that to.
The other thing I noticed was that it appears as though the Liberal lifestyle is used as the baseline standard from which to measure Conservatives deviation of behavior.
Liberalism is the norm, Conservatism is the deviant behavior. From this, Conservatives have to defend their behavior, while Liberal behavior doesn't need defending, as it is the normal.
I agree with the basic premise, but with his conclusion. I know a lot of liberals and the difference between liberals and conservatives is not how they seem the world, but how they react to it. Conservatives are thinkers. When presented with an issue we looking at it in a logical way and determine our response accordingly. Liberals are emotion based. The don’t need or care about facts or hard data because the react to everything in a visceral why. That is why you can’t have a logical argument with a liberal because facts don’t matter. Its all about you feel. We have raised at least one generation of kids with this how does that make you feel mantra, and the vast majority of them are and always will be liberal.
Add “not” before conclusion. Sorry.
Okay I’m not awake yet. Try to read through all the mistakes. See not seem, look not looking, way not why. I hope I didn’t miss any.
Nature tends to offer one of two environments to organisms. Either resource excess/glut, or resource shortage.
If there is a resource excess, then your best reproductive strategy is to seek to produce raw numbers of offspring, rather than high-quality offspring. Think rabbits. You avoid danger and competition (food is everywhere, so why not run, rather than fight and risk). You mate promiscuously, with everything. You invest minimally in offspring rearing. You sexualize the young, to maximize numbers. And you don't bother with group loyalty, because there is no competition. This is a psychology designed to hedonistically exploit the bloom, and focus on pursuing pleasure, so it focuses on pursuing pleasure as much as possible. Many humans are designed to go r if resources are suddenly flush.
The opposite is what happens when resources are not sufficient for everyone to survive. It is called a K-selected reproductive strategy. Think wolves. You are aggressive and competitive, because if you aren't, you don't get even a chance at getting food. Only those who produce the fittest, most capable offspring see them survive the competition and pass on genes, so you carefully select the fittest mate possible, monopolize their fitness with monogamy, carefully rear your offspring in a two parent family, and encourage your offspring to wait to mate until maximally mature and competitive so they can acquire the fittest mate possible for a monogamous relationship themselves. And because you are in a competition, you form loyal ingroups, and support your in-group over the out-group. Since your world is dangerous, you focus on threats and dangers, and try to deal with them before they become a problem. Humans in a K world will adapt a more competitive, K-mindset, and become more conservative.
These two psychologies exist throughout nature. We are currently going r, and seeing the rabbits bloom, because of the free resource availability, but we will go K as the rabbits consume everything like locusts, and destroy the economy. Then K will reemerge, and produce excess all over again. It is a natural cycle of nations.
There are reams of evidence for this, and it will destroy leftism. Once politics is taught as empty headed, threat-blind rabbits, and smart, loyal, competitive wolves, nobody is going to want to be a rabbit. Leftists themselves freak out when you explain this to them. A couple of the reviewers note these libtard freakouts in the Amazon reviews of the book on the subject.
Bill Whittle talks about some of the implications here, starting at about the 1 hour mark, while discussing the book about the subject (Which just happens to be free at Amazon today in Kindle form, and is made free about once per month. For those interested in getting the kindle free -see http://www.anonymousocnservative.com to get notified when it is free, if you are interested). Whittle's gazelle analogy is particularly striking.
As for “negativity,” Conservatives do clearly focus on negative stimuli in the studies, because we are designed to confront it preemptively, and even this is an intellectual/logical weapon against Liberals. We see the national debt, and focus on it because we see the threat. We see terrorists, and focus on them, we see crime, and want to defend ourselves. Liberals don't see any of that, because they are not designed to. They just want free resources everywhere, which combined with their inability to see threats like debt, is why our economy is about to collapse. The brain structure behind that is actually quite fascinating, because Liberals have smaller amygdalae on MRI's, and there are actually studies saying if amygdalae don't work, the most notable aspect of the individual is an inability to perceive threat or focus upon it. Interestingly the amygdala is also the seat of sexual behavior, parental investment, loyalty, and all the traits of r and K. Darwin probably condensed it all into one structure for developmental reasons.
Nobody should knock this research, because the libtards doing it are unknowingly kicking a hornets nest that will ultimately destroy their own ideology, beginning in the college political science courses where they all want to begin the leftist indoctrination. We must encourage them to kick harder. The day an article like this produces a torrent of enthusiastic explanations about r/K Selection Theory, and rabbits and wolves, is the day that Liberalism is dead in the water, even among Liberals. It is why it kills me when I see articles like this, that should just trigger more wolf/rabbit denigrations of liberals, yet so many don't see the beautiful path that this research is leading to.
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