The world feels pretty divided currently 81% of both liberals and conservatives have
unfavorable views towards those on the other side
But is there actually a fundamental biological difference between liberals and conservatives on the surface?
we can see some funny differences like
Conservatives like meat and potatoes more while liberals tend to like trying food from other cultures more in general
Conservatives prefer purebred dogs while liberals prefer mixed breeds and liberals are ok with free verse poetry while conservatives prefer it to rhyme
But as we study more we realize that the differences are much deeper when put through MRI brain scans
It turns out that liberals are more likely to have a larger anterior cingulate cortex
which is associated with
Understanding and monitoring conflict while conservatives have a larger, right?
amygdala
Which helps process fear and anxiety and that makes sense given the years of research that have shown people tend to become a more conservative
When they feel threatened or afraid?
After 9/11, for example, the u.s. Became politically more conservative with studies showing increased support for issues
Like national security and military spending but studies have also found that conservatives and liberals employ different cognitive styles
Conservatives excel when it comes to more structured and organized problems or questions
Whereas liberals tend to be more flexible and less likely to commit errors with questions involving conflicting information and requiring fast reaction times
One study looking at dorm rooms even found that on average
Conservative students rooms were less messy than liberals
But they also experienced pain in different ways so much. So that one study was able to predict who is liberal or conservative
Just by viewing brain scans of them looking at graphic photos
Containing mutilations in this instance liberal brains were more active in the s2 or somatosensory to region
Which is normally activated when you're in pain, but also when you see someone else suffering
It's essentially scientific evidence for the bleeding-heart liberal stereotype
Which doesn't mean conservatives are uncaring but that their minds just respond to graphic images differently in America
This can explain how Democrats and Republicans perceive the world in fundamentally different ways
it's
difficult to grasp how someone on the other side of politics thinks because we tend to overestimate the extent to which our opinions believe some
Values are normal so colleges refer to this as false consensus bias. For example, if you heard Yanni in latina vs
Laurel debate it may have felt that you were the normal one and it was
insane that anyone could be hearing Laurel apply this logic to politics and you can see why people have such
polarizing ideas on issues like immigration
Abortion gun rights etc
But where do these differences come from one study revealed that genetics can account for around thirty to forty percent of a person's?
political leanings which may seem like a lot but there are still many other important factors like your environment and
personal experiences which play massive roles in your politics political
Neuroscience is a relatively new field of study with fascinating results and in a world that's being increasingly characterized by its divisions
Perhaps an important aspect of unity involves using neuroscience to better understand each other's differences
On a lighter note space is a place for liberals and conservatives and nations all over the world come together
And we actually just made a video where we tried out the latest
Space food that astronauts are eating right now click here or the description to check it out
Also, if you want even more science, we have a weekly science podcast, so subscribe to it
The link is like down there I think and it's called side note