The 'Conservatives are Crazy' study

[Extend a Hand]

http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/index.php?term=pto-20061222-000001&page=1

bstract Art vs. Talk Radio: The Political Personality Standoff

Most people are surprised to learn that there are real, stable differences in personality between conservatives and liberals—not just different views or values, but underlying differences in temperament. Psychologists John Jost of New York University, Dana Carney of Harvard, and Sam Gosling of the University of Texas have demonstrated that conservatives and liberals boast markedly different home and office decor. Liberals are messier than conservatives, their rooms have more clutter and more color, and they tend to have more travel documents, maps of other countries, and flags from around the world. Conservatives are neater, and their rooms are cleaner, better organized, more brightly lit, and more conventional. Liberals have more books, and their books cover a greater variety of topics. And that's just a start. Multiple studies find that liberals are more optimistic. Conservatives are more likely to be religious. Liberals are more likely to like classical music and jazz, conservatives, country music. Liberals are more likely to enjoy abstract art. Conservative men are more likely than liberal men to prefer conventional forms of entertainment like TV and talk radio. Liberal men like romantic comedies more than conservative men. Liberal women are more likely than conservative women to enjoy books, poetry, writing in a diary, acting, and playing musical instruments.
...

Jost's meta-analysis sparked furious controversy. The House Republican Study Committee complained that the study's authors had received federal funds. George Will satirized it in his Washington Post column, and The National Review called it the "Conservatives Are Crazy" study. Jost and his colleagues point to the study's rigorous methodology. The study used political orientation as a dependent variable, meaning that where subjects fall on the political scale is computed from their own answers about whether they're liberal or conservative. Psychologists then compare factors such as fear of death and openness to new experiences, and seek statistically significant correlations. The findings are quintessentially empirical and difficult to dismiss as false.

This was in the Jan/Feb issue but I hadn't seen it so I thought I post it in case others had missed it as well. It's just too good to miss ;)

[gatorboy]

1. They had to conduct a study?

It's pretty obvious, isn't it? :P

[Doc_Technical]

2. What confounds me most about many conservatives,

is their lack of curiosity and their refusal to actually listen

to the calm, logical viewpoints of people who have a different

opinion.

[madeline_con]

3. Hear! Hear!

This seems to be reflected in the lack of ... information there homes & offices seem to contain.

:(

[rhiannon55]

15. Their "lack of curiosity and refusal to listen" = willful ignorance

and I'm with you--it's confounding. My freeper brother has two Master's degrees and is not stupid. But still, if I try to tell him something that he doesn't want to hear, he (in essence) puts his fingers in his ears and starts singing "Jingle Bells" really LOUD.

[IntravenousDemilo]

4. As Mr Spock would say...

Fascinating.

[villager]

5. We all knew this. But the collective "we" still allowed these psychos

to rant and holler and get the study downplayed. Once again, giving in to the household tyrant so we don't make a "scene" in the large dysfunctional "family" that is America...

[BuyingThyme]

6. Conservatives are liberals.

Republicans are crazy.

[alfredo]

7. I will have to send this to my conservative friends.

[Phredicles]

8. (Trying to figure out how to fit this article on a bumper sticker or

better yet, a forehead tattoo)

[Raksha]

9. I don't think any of this is news to conservatives.

In fact, I've heard that the RNC has "political profiling" (if that's a valid term) down to a science. They can tell from a database whether someone is liberal or conservative by what kind of car they drive, what books they order online (or if they order any books at all), what kind of CDs they buy, and a bunch of other variables.

All the b.s. about the Volvo-driving, latte-drinking liberal isn't ONLY a right-wing cliche. In fact, we just might need to play catch-up here--find out who OUR people are, and where they are. It couldn't be all that difficult if we put our minds to it.

[loudsue]

12. Now THAT is a good idea!!

"In fact, we just might need to play catch-up here--find out who OUR people are, and where they are. It couldn't be all that difficult if we put our minds to it."

We need to figure out who, among the independents, falls more on the latte-drinking side, the READING side, of the curve, and make a strong appeal to them.

The rightwingers I know ONLY read sports, rightwing shit that supports their views 100%, or they don't read at all. The rightwing bookworms I know ONLY read about war or political stuff (Ann Coulter) that agree with their points of view. They don't bother with the "classics", for sure.

:kick::kick::kick:

[loudsue]

13. oOOPS!! Dupe!

[Gregorian]

10. Here's a great book. It's online.

The Authoritarians. A Canadian psych prof has written it at the demand of John Dean. You know it's good.

http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~altemey/

[Bigmack]

11. They can't help it!

I get really angry at Conservatives, but then.... classic Liberal thinking... I tell myself they can't help it. It's their personality, and most of personality is inborn. Everybody knows a lib family with one whackjob rightwingnut in it and vice versa.

Having said that.... we just can't let those people run the country. And I wouldn't want my sister marrying one of them.

[loudsue]

14. My sister DID marry one of them....

:cry: So sad. She's basically good-hearted, and pretty smart about a lot of things. She's just very afraid of "God's wrath". :cry:



:kick: