Liberals Focus Their Attention on 'Gaze Cues' Much Differently Than Conservatives Do

[The Straight Story]

Politics and Eye Movement: Liberals Focus Their Attention on 'Gaze Cues' Much Differently Than Conservatives Do

ScienceDaily (Dec. 9, 2010) — It goes without saying that conservatives and liberals don't see the world in the same way. Now, research from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln suggests that is exactly, and quite literally, the case.


In a new study, UNL researchers measured both liberals' and conservatives' reaction to "gaze cues" -- a person's tendency to shift attention in a direction consistent with another person's eye movements, even if it's irrelevant to their current task -- and found big differences between the two groups.

Liberals responded strongly to the prompts, consistently moving their attention in the direction suggested to them by a face on a computer screen. Conservatives, on the other hand, did not.

Why? Researchers suggested that conservatives' value on personal autonomy might make them less likely to be influenced by others, and therefore less responsive to the visual prompts.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/12/101209074403.htm

[SpiralHawk]

1. So-called 'conservatives' refuse to budge beyond their own prejudices

is how this impeccable and intrepid researcher interprets the data...

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[liberal N proud]

3. It is the conservatives who follow the leader

Liberals think for themselves and form varied opinions based on what they have heard, read, seen and feel with sources as varied as there are people.

Conservatives base their views on what they are told by the leaders of either the party, or the church.

[DireStrike]

4. This is empathy, or compassion

Conservatives don't have it. Just not as much going on upstairs.

[surrealAmerican]

5. Just another way of saying ...

... that conservatives lack empathy.

[lunatica]

6. Well I haven't seen any indication that conservatives are deep thinkers so

not only do they miss cues in the outer world, but they have no inner sense of self-examination. It helps to know this because it explains a lot. It explains why you can actually convince some conservatives that they're views are wrong and they'll agree with you about the facts only to revert back to their original faulty views the next day. They seem to display an inability to create new synapses.

[undeterred]

7. When they are evaluating people to be hospital chaplains

they weed out people who do not seem to have the capacity for self-examination because they turn out not to be very good chaplains in a lot of situations. I don't think there is a conscious selection for liberals, but I bet that tends to be what groups who use that in a selection process end up with. I suppose the same is true in a lot of socially oriented professions.