Political bias affects brain activity, study finds

[Canuckistanian]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11009379/

Political bias affects brain activity, study finds
Democrats and Republicans both adept at ignoring facts, brain scans show

Democrats and Republicans alike are adept at making decisions without letting the facts get in the way, a new study shows.

And they get quite a rush from ignoring information that's contrary to their point of view.

Researchers asked staunch party members from both sides to evaluate information that threatened their preferred candidate prior to the 2004 Presidential election. The subjects' brains were monitored while they pondered.

Don't know what to make of this.

[TalkingDog]

1. Obvious. We ignore inconvienient facts. Just like the Freepers.

There is no debate in our society any longer. It's my way or the highway. We don't think, we don't want to think. We follow. We are sheep that have been trained to only graze on one kind of grass. Mass media helps train us.

There are very few on this board that go to other sites (which shall not be named) and ignore the histronics to look for valid points of view. In fact, I'll get quite a few people responding to this very post, saying "But those people don't have valid points of view"

People don't want to expand their thinking or their minds. It requires learning to think critically (or at all). And many people, no matter how liberal they claim to be, will not accept viewpoints, facts or opnions contrary to their own.

Not to open a can of worms, but think about the number of flame-ish posts you have seen erupting over issues like religion or abortion on this site. We are supposed to be the party of acceptance...liberals..you know. But invariably we inisist that person X is not a "real" liberal because they believe that abortion is bad or that Christianity is good. As a point of fact I hold neither view, but the fact that I expect to get pounded over even using those two things as an example should give you a clue as to how hidebound many people are in their political mindset.

MIND-SET. As in my brain is ossified in this position.


Hey NSA!!!: titties, green gourds, bomb, lolita, Al-Qaeda, tofu, terrorist

[Canuckistanian]

2. I guess so

We all look for validation of our own points of view and sometimes we grasp at idealogical straws to make our arguments.

[GreenPartyVoter]

3. That same effect is present in religious zealots and also any

other kind of blustery self-righteous know-it-all. Nothing new there.

[CornField]

4. There are certain topics I no longer discuss on DU because of this

At this moment I could make two posts on two different topics, each one a fair representation of my views. On one you'd see a torrent of "Freeper!" calls and the other would quickly rise to the greatest page.

It's easier to play the game if you only follow the rules and don't consider strategy. The extremes on either end of the spectrum do not want to be bothered with anything which differs from their own narrow lines of thought. When it happens -- especially when it happens with believed "like-minded" individuals -- the person lashes out in lieu of consideration.

[bananas]

5. I wonder how much experimenter bias there was?

How did they decide what information could not rationally be discounted?
I think an objective analysis would show that everything Bush said could rationally be discounted.

"Bias on both sides
The test subjects on both sides of the political aisle reached totally biased conclusions by ignoring information that could not rationally be discounted, Westen and his colleagues say."

[bananas]

6. The study is bullshit - eurekalert has more details

The subjects were hardcore Dems and Reps, and were given statements designed to evoke an emotional reaction - "threatening information". They didn't do the study with undecided voters, political independents, or people who didn't follow politics (most voters).

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-01/euhs-esl012406.php

The investigators used functional neuroimaging (fMRI) to study a sample of committed Democrats and Republicans during the three months prior to the U.S. Presidential election of 2004. The Democrats and Republicans were given a reasoning task in which they had to evaluate threatening information about their own candidate. During the task, the subjects underwent fMRI to see what parts of their brain were active. What the researchers found was striking.
...
During the study, the partisans were given 18 sets of stimuli, six each regarding President George W. Bush, his challenger, Senator John Kerry, and politically neutral male control figures such as actor Tom Hanks. For each set of stimuli, partisans first read a statement from the target (Bush or Kerry). The first statement was followed by a second statement that documented a clear contradiction between the target's words and deeds, generally suggesting that the candidate was dishonest or pandering.

Next, partisans were asked to consider the discrepancy, and then to rate the extent to which the person's words and deeds were contradictory. Finally, they were presented with an exculpatory statement that might explain away the apparent contradiction, and asked to reconsider and again rate the extent to which the target's words and deeds were contradictory.

[porphyrian]

7. This isn't just a partisan issue.

This applies to everything from religion to sports fanaticism. It's a normal function of the human brain. The problem is with those who take advantage of this fact to manipulate the unsuspecting for their own purposes.