The liberal-conservative divide

Sunday, 10 April 2011 00:00

Written by Marvin Bionat

When in a heated debate with someone of a different political persuasion, don’t you sometimes just want to crack his head and see what made him think in such “warped” way? Well, through a less invasive MRI, a new study reveals that liberals tend to have larger anterior cingulated cortexes, a region of the brain associated with the ability to deal with conflicting information. Conservatives, on the other hand, have larger amygdales, which is associated with the ability to recognize threat.

The finding contextualizes the liberal tendency to be more tolerant of change and to be more accepting of diversity, and the conservative desire to stick with the status quo and/or restore old traditions. Both can be taken to extremes: toward the far left of the continuum is nihilistic anarchy, while Talibanistic fundamentalism beckons on the far right.

There are two inevitable questions the study raises. First, are these structural differences in the brain inborn? Or are they developed through nurture and exposure (for example, depending on whether one grew up watching Fox News or MSNBC)? Or is it a combination of both: a genetic predisposition further reinforced by the environment and one’s personal experiences? Second, how does nutrition, medication, or drugs affect the two brain regions? Rastafarians are pretty mellow people; will playing reggae in the background and a light scent of hemp wafting around the negotiating table help partisan Democrats and Republicans in US Congress prevent dangerous brinkmanship in the future? Or will a shot of Philippine lambanog calm Rush Limbaugh’s hyper-active amygdales and deflate some of his pompous, fear-mongering hot air?

There are other interesting studies regarding the liberal-conservative divide that likewise raises more questions than they answer. For example, a study at Simon Fraser University found a correlation between corporate social responsibility (CSR) ratings and the prevailing political views in states. Specifically, companies with high CSR ratings tend to be in Democratic states, while those with low ratings are likely to be in Republican states. Why the irony? Conservative movements are oozing with religious fervor, while liberals tend to favor moral subjectivism. Is it because bleeding-heart liberals are simply more socially responsible than cold and callous conservatives? Or do companies simply go along with a policy environment that encourages corporate giving, which liberals tend to push more than conservatives, to avoid conflict with the reigning party?

Another study by John Alford of Rice University suggests that nature, rather than nurture, may play a bigger role in the development or adoption of an ideology. Using data gathered from 12,000 twins in the US and other twins from Australia, Alford and his team conclude that political views among identical twins are more congruent than among fraternal twins. While this seems to point in the direction of genes as the determinant of political opinions, it’s possible that, because they look much more alike than fraternal twins, identical twins tend to adopt the other twin’s opinion as his or her own. Fraternal twins, looking less alike, may assume greater individuality in their opinions as a result.

The studies cited suggest that the political ideology that we adopt is shaped not necessarily by what we “think” is right or wrong about issues. Those sucked into the vortex of an ideology walk around wearing the blinders of their assumed truths, not realizing that they fell there probably mainly by accident (either genes or environment or a combination of both). I propose that, until sufficient nuggets of incontrovertible truths guide us to the point of ideological harmony, the better, more realistic alternative is to deliberately remove those blinders, see a much broader perspective, study issues without the burden of proving we’re right and they’re wrong, and strike a balance between dreamy idealism and self-righteous fanaticism.

Bottom line: Don’t blindly accept everything your fellow liberal or conservative says is true. Question the logic, the source, the context. It will liberate us from so much hate and ignorance.

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