[acb-hsp] This Is Your Brain on Politics

[peter altschul]

How Your Brain May Be Different Than a Conservative's
  AFP April 10, 2011
  Everyone knows that liberals and conservatives butt heads when 
it comes to world views, but scientists have now shown that their 
brains are actually built differently.
  Liberals have more gray matter in a part of the brain 
associated with understanding complexity, while the conservative 
brain is bigger in the section related to processing fear, said 
the study on Thursday in Current Biology.
  "We found that greater liberalism was associated with increased 
gray matter volume in the anterior cingulate cortex, whereas 
greater conservatism was associated with increased volume of the 
right amygdala," the study said.
  Other research has shown greater brain activity in those areas, 
according to which political views a person holds, but this is 
the first study to show a physical difference in size in the same 
regions.
  "Previously, some psychological traits were known to be 
predictive of an individual's political orientation," said Ryota 
Kanai of the University College London, where the research took 
place.  "Our study now links such personality traits with 
specific brain structure."
  The study was based on 90 "healthy young adults" who reported 
their political views on a scale of one to five from very liberal 
to very conservative, then agreed to have their brains scanned.
  People with a large amygdala are "more sensitive to disgust" 
and tend to "respond to threatening situations with more 
aggression than do liberals and are more sensitive to threatening 
facial expressions," the study said.  Liberals are linked to 
larger anterior cingulate cortexes, a region that "monitor(s) 
uncertainty and conflicts," it said.
  "Thus, it is conceivable that individuals with a larger ACC 
have a higher capacity to tolerate uncertainty and conflicts, 
allowing them to accept more liberal views."
  It remains unclear whether the structural differences cause the 
divergence in political views, or are the effect of them.  But 
the central issue in determining political views appears to 
revolve around fear and how it affects a person.
  "Our findings are consistent with the proposal that political 
orientation is associated with psychological processes for 
managing fear and uncertainty," the study said.
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