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'We hate the United States': Secessionists rally in Texas

Taylor said:
Again, conservatives are happier.
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Incorrect. Conservatives say they are "happy." There is no such thing as a "happiness meter" that can accurately gauge the relative ranking of various individuals' emotions.

But you knew that already, right?
 
Just a guess, but I suppose it is important to Taylor that conservatives are happier, because she self identifies as a conservative.
 
CaptainCourtesy said:
You're right. Rankings mean nothing in this situation.
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I only posted the school's ranking to thwart the inevitable assertion that Sheffield is an inferior school and their staff/students are idiots.
 
CaptainCourtesy said:
Which is your opinion.
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No my opinion is that you don't have a clue what you're talking about half the time.

The fact is that there have been many studies showing that conservatives are happier. One need only a web browser and an inkling of intellectual curiosity to get into the debate. Kudos to Glinda, we may disagree, but at least she debates ISSUES.


And your conclusion that conservatives give money to charity because they are empathetic is YOUR OPINION. Here...my opinion is that conservatives give more money to charities because they want tax breaks.
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Like I said, we can discuss in another thread. You'd be wrong because the trend is not income-dependent.
 
Glinda said:
I only posted the school's ranking to thwart the inevitable assertion that Sheffield is an inferior school and their staff/students are idiots.
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School rankings are pretty irrelevant when we are talking about research. Good research can come from anywhere. They key is good, valid methodology.
 
Glinda said:
I only posted the school's ranking to thwart the inevitable assertion that Sheffield is an inferior school and their staff/students are idiots.
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I can see why you would need to do that on this forum.
 
Taylor said:
The fact is that there have been many studies showing that conservatives are happier.
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What sort of verifiable scientific measurements were used in these studies? A "happiness meter?"
 
Glinda said:
Incorrect. Conservatives say they are "happy." There is no such thing as a "happiness meter" that can accurately gauge the relative ranking of various individuals' emotions.

But you knew that already, right?
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Yes I did.. now if you could please explain that concept as it applies to facts vs. opinions to the rest of the folks, I'd much appreciate it.
 
Taylor said:
No my opinion is that you don't have a clue what you're talking about half the time.
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I don't think you want to go down that road, hero. :doh
 
Taylor said:
No my opinion is that you don't have a clue what you're talking about half the time.

The fact is that there have been many studies showing that conservatives are happier. One need only a web browser and an inkling of intellectual curiosity to get into the debate. Kudos to Glinda, we may disagree, but at least she debates ISSUES.
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If there were many studies I would think you would post some. So far, the "studies" that you have posted have not proven your opinion. You know the difference between causation and correlation? Correlation does not prove your position. Further, Glinda is correct. Happiness is completely subjective and not measurable.



Like I said, we can discuss in another thread. You'd be wrong because the trend is not income-dependent.
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Wasn't my position. It was an example of an unsubstantiated opinion, similar to what you have been presenting. See how easy that was?
 
Taylor said:
That's why I included the titles. Just put "Why Are Conservatives Happier Than Liberals?" into google.


Did you want to discuss his arguments, or are you just that close minded?
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Well, lets look at the argument:

Half of the difference between conservatives and liberals is demographic. It has to do with religion and marriage, which is more frequent among conservatives.
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Hey look, he uses unsubstantiated guesses too.


Taylor said:
...describing a pew research study that you apparently overlooked or really just don't care to learn anything and would rather debate semantics.

Have fun with that.
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Well, let's look at this one too:

A survey by the Pew Research Center shows that conservatives are happier than liberals -- in all income groups. While 34 percent of all Americans call themselves "very happy," only 28 percent of liberal Democrats (and 31 percent of moderate or conservative Democrats) do, compared with 47 percent of conservative Republicans. This finding is niftily self-reinforcing: It depresses liberals.
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Note the article is from 2006, which means the study was from before that...maybe from when republicans had control of the congress and WH? Wonder why, at that time, democrats where less happy than republicans, and even moreso, I wonder if that has changed. I bet it has.
 
Taylor said:
No my opinion is that you don't have a clue what you're talking about half the time.
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Coronado said:
I don't think you want to go down that road, hero. :doh
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Excellent point. Watch the personal attacks, Taylor. It's one thing to debate "hard". It's another to get personal.
 
Taylor said:
Like I said, we can discuss in another thread. You'd be wrong because the trend is not income-dependent.
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Yes, let's go back to your original assertion, that liberals love their country less than "regular people". I am still waiting for an explanation on this.
 
CaptainCourtesy said:
Just a guess, but I suppose it is important to Taylor that conservatives are happier, because she self identifies as a conservative.
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Oh god... where do I find that facepalm smiley? LOL

As I said earlier, I try to stay away from group identities, I'm my own person. You can bash conservatives all you want, I assure you I won't take it personally.
 
ABSTRACT—In this research,we drew on system-justification
theory and the notion that conservative ideology serves a
palliative function to explain why conservatives are happier
than liberals. Specifically, in three studies using nationally
representative data from the United States and nine additional
countries, we found that right-wing (vs. left-wing)
orientation is indeed associated with greater subjective wellbeing
and that the relation between political orientation and
subjective well-being is mediated by the rationalization of
inequality. In our third study, we found that increasing
economic inequality (as measured by the Gini index) from
1974 to 2004 has exacerbated the happiness gap between
liberals and conservatives, apparently because conservatives
(more than liberals) possess an ideological buffer
against the negative hedonic effects of economic inequality.
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http://www.psych.nyu.edu/jost/Napier & Jost (2008) Why are conservatives happier than libe.pdf

June 24, 2008

Why Are Conservatives Happier Than Liberals?
Conservatives have greater subjective life satisfaction than liberals, according to a Pew Research Center survey. Two New York University researchers performed three studies to find out why. Christie Nicholson reports.

Conservatives are happier than liberals. This according to a 2006 Pew Research Center survey cited in a paper published this month in Psychological Science.

But New York University researchers set out to isolate the reasons why right-wingers would have greater subjective well-being than left-wingers.

They collected data from nearly 1,200 people from the 2000 American National Election Study and found that above the effects of gender, marital status, income, religion and age, the reason for this happiness disparity can be distilled to the separate ideologies of liberals and conservatives.
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Why Are Conservatives Happier Than Liberals?: Scientific American Podcast

Looks like she is right.... unless you libs can come up with this type of research for an opposite view. :lamo
 
Taylor said:
Yes I did.. now if you could please explain that concept as it applies to facts vs. opinions to the rest of the folks, I'd much appreciate it.
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Sure. "Happiness" is a completely subjective emotion. It cannot be measured or ranked in any realistic, scientific way. Any assertion that group X is happier than group Y is an opinion and nothing more.

Same thing with group A "loving America more/more patriotic" than group B.

Your assertions about liberals are nothing more than partisan hackery.
 
Glinda said:
Sure. "Happiness" is a completely subjective emotion. It cannot be measured or ranked in any realistic, scientific way. Any assertion that group X is happier than group Y is an opinion and nothing more.

Same thing with group A "loving America more/more patriotic" than group B.

Your assertions about liberals are nothing more than partisan hackery.
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see post 117
 
Redress said:
Note the article is from 2006, which means the study was from before that...maybe from when republicans had control of the congress and WH? Wonder why, at that time, democrats where less happy than republicans, and even moreso, I wonder if that has changed. I bet it has.
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Heavens! More opinion! Never have I seen so many people complain about the use of opinions do nothing but opine.
 
Crunch said:
http://www.psych.nyu.edu/jost/Napier & Jost (2008) Why are conservatives happier than libe.pdf



Why Are Conservatives Happier Than Liberals?: Scientific American Podcast

Looks like she is right.... unless you libs can come up with this type of research for an opposite view. :lamo
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Both use the same Pew survey as their starting point:

In 2006, a public-opinion survey addressing the relation between
political orientation and happiness inspired headlines
and editorials around the world. Specifically, according to the
Pew Research Center, 47% of conservative Republicans in the
United States described themselves as ‘‘very happy,’’ as compared
with only 28% of liberal Democrats (Taylor, Funk, &
Craighill, 2006, p. 16). The conservative columnist GeorgeWill
relished these statistics, writing that ‘‘liberalism is a complicated
and exacting, not to say grim and scolding, creed. And not
one conducive to happiness’’ (Will, 2006).
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Again, note the date of the study, at a period of time where liberals had been several years without power, and feeling quite frustrated as a result.
 
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Taylor said:
Heavens! More opinion! Never have I seen so many people complain about the use of opinions do nothing but opine.
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I present my opinions as opinions, which is more than you and George Will did. I also explain why I disagree with a solid reason. More than you did.

Now, about your claim that liberals love their country less than "regular people"...
 
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