Actually, I prefer the term “progressives” to using “liberals.” The word liberal is used as negative connotation when conservatives use it.
But that isn’t the reason for this post. Nicholas Kristof, of the New York Times, has an article today which I picked up on from reading his tweet on Twitter this morning. He contrasts behavior and feelings as experienced by conservatives and liberals.
conservatives are more likely than liberals to sense contamination or perceive disgust. People who would be disgusted to find that they had accidentally sipped from an acquaintance’s drink are more likely to identify as conservatives.
“The upshot is that liberals and conservatives don’t just think differently, they also feel differently. This may even be a result, in part, of divergent neural responses,” he writes.
One of the main divides between left and right is the dependence on different moral values. For liberals, morality derives mostly from fairness and prevention of harm. For conservatives, morality also involves upholding authority and loyalty — and revulsion at disgust.
That rings true to me. I see liberals as more “spiritual” than “materialistic” conservatives. Conservatives are far more concerned about their money than liberals.
The upshot is that liberals and conservatives don’t just think differently, they also feel differently. This may even be a result, in part, of divergent neural responses.
How about that? Perhaps liberals and conservatives are wired differently.
The larger point is that liberals and conservatives often form judgments through flash intuitions that aren’t a result of a deliberative process. The crucial part of the brain for these judgments is the medial prefrontal cortex, which has more to do with moralizing than with rationality. If you damage your prefrontal cortex, your I.Q. may be unaffected, but you’ll have trouble harrumphing.
“Flash intuitions” indicated knee-jerk reactions. Perhaps both liberals and conservatives jump to conclusions without rational thought.
So how do we discipline our brains to be more open-minded, more honest, more empirical? A start is to reach out to moderates on the other side — ideally eating meals with them, for that breaks down “us vs. them” battle lines that seem embedded in us. (In ancient times we divided into tribes; today, into political parties.) The Web site www.civilpolitics.org is an attempt to build this intuitive appreciation for the other side’s morality, even if it’s not our morality.
Kristof may have a valid point here.
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