Study Ties Political Leanings to Hidden Biases

[sasha031]

Put a group of people together at a party and observe how they behave. Differently than when they are alone? Differently than when they are with family? What if they're in a stadium instead of at a party? What if they're all men?

The field of social psychology has long been focused on how social environments affect the way people behave. But social psychologists are people, too, and as the United States has become increasingly politically polarized, they have grown increasingly interested in examining what drives these sharp divides: red states vs. blue states; pro-Iraq war vs. anti-Iraq war; pro-same-sex marriage vs. anti-same-sex marriage. And they have begun to study political behavior using such specialized tools as sophisticated psychological tests and brain scans.

Another study presented at the conference, which was in Palm Springs, Calif., explored relationships between racial bias and political affiliation by analyzing self-reported beliefs, voting patterns and the results of psychological tests that measure implicit attitudes -- subtle stereotypes people hold about various groups.

That study found that supporters of President Bush and other conservatives had stronger self-admitted and implicit biases against blacks than liberals did.

"What automatic biases reveal is that while we have the feeling we are living up to our values, that feeling may not be right," said University of Virginia psychologist Brian Nosek, who helped conduct the race analysis. "We are not aware of everything that causes our behavior, even things in our own lives."

Brian Jones, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee, said he disagreed with the study's conclusions but that it was difficult to offer a detailed critique, as the research had not yet been published and he could not review the methodology. He also questioned whether the researchers themselves had implicit biases -- against Republicans -- noting that Nosek and Harvard psychologist Mahzarin Banaji had given campaign contributions to Democrats.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/29/AR2006012900642.html

[electropop]

1. "we have the feeling we are living up to our values...may not be right"

Sure it's right. Rethugs just have different values. They value racism, greed, and political repression. They fully live up to these values.

[sasha031]

2. there is more

"If anyone in Washington is skeptical about these findings, they are in denial," he said. "We have 50 years of evidence that racial prejudice predicts voting. Republicans are supported by whites with prejudice against blacks. If people say, 'This takes me aback,' they are ignoring a huge volume of research."

[TNC4DNC]

3. Study doesn't surprise me.

I always felt like the Repugs were more prejudiced, and less tolerant of blacks and others than Democrats are. I think most Democrats know this. It is not to say that there might not be some Democrats that are prejudiced, but you find it much more often coming from Repubs. It is kind of ironic given they are always trying to portray themselves as the "moral" party with the high Christian emphasis. Moreover, it is also why the "Southern Strategy" adopted so long ago with Nixon has worked for the last 3 decades. I am not trying to generalize the South, but there are many people down there that like the Republicans and vote for them, because they KNOW that they are less welcoming to minorities especially blacks. I don't care how much Bush acts like he loves Condi or Clarence Thomas. There are little racial codes that happen in every National campaign, and it is always coming from the Republicans reassuring their right-wing base. David Duke ran as a Republican, and lest we forget Jesse Helms, and Strom Thurman. Bush went to (campaigned in the primary at) Bob Jones University where they had banned interracial dating! It is an unfortunate fading, but not yet gone, legacy of Jim Crow. As long as the Repulicans think they can hold that advantage, and play off of people's irrational biases they are going to continue to do it, however underground it may seem to be.

[EC]

4. Well, we do know they have a bias of gays,

and are even trying to legalize that bias...