Voting Republican may be a Survival Response

Frank Talk · 09-20-08, 09:22 AM

Quote:

Depending on who you talk to, Sarah Palin is either a hard-talking breath of fresh air or a fear-mongering greenhorn. Now research suggests that such different reactions – and perhaps all political beliefs – might have a basis in biology.

"Traditionally, political scientists have focused on the environmental aspects: school, the media, the family, the church, as the things that lead to beliefs they have," says Douglas Oxley, a political scientist at the University of Nebraska, in Lincoln.

However, his team discovered that social conservatives react more strongly to shocking images and sudden noises by sweating more and blinking harder, compared to liberals. Such innate threat responses point to a biological, and perhaps genetic, basis for our politics, he says.

Voting Republican may be a survival response - being-human - 18 September 2008 - New Scientist

Kind of an odd study to conduct, but kind of interesting also.

justone · 09-20-08, 09:56 AM

Why is it odd? It is quite obvious that ‘’the consensus of the scientific community’’ is that it is science. Looks like life of the scientific community as usual.

Mach · 09-24-08, 04:55 PM

Yes, I think many people characterize "fear" as the overriding emotion that conservatives react to when discussing politics, and what the republican party plays on to gather support. It's a tried and true historical doctrine of leadership. There was a recent thread about conservatives, and a number of us mentioned fear...1069 was a first responder if I recall.

You know the saying, it is better to be feared, than loved, if one cannot be both. Well, those in power know they promote an agenda that benefits only a very small fraction of the population, so they use fear to get the rest to support them. It works fine. Just look at this forum and the Bush administration (and historical leaders throughout the ages).

-Mach