your brain configuration varies with political tendencies

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/04/110407121337.htm

I remember reading an article a few years back which asserted that males with high IQs were most likely to be left wing, atheist, and prefer sexual exclusivity, while women with high IQs were likely to be left wing and atheist as well, though the sexual exclusivity factor did not apply to them. Pretty interesting. I think the sexual exclusivity bit exists because women have always been expected to be sexually exclusive, while it was always more socially acceptable for men not to be.

Basically, the argument made in the article that I read was that by assuming "evolutionary novel" tendencies, you are more likely to have a high IQ, while sticking to "evolutionarily familiar" practices is an indicator of average, or low, intelligence. I think the article you posted correlates with this theory in its own way.

According to Ryota Kanai, "It's very unlikely that actual political orientation is directly encoded in these brain regions. More work is needed to determine how these brain structures mediate the formation of political attitude."

Once again, these studies merely attempt to explain the differences between social conservatives and liberals. Moreover, the article you linked to basically conceded that these personalty traits are malleable, meaning they arise as a result of neural plasticity. In other words, if you serve in the military or live in a relatively dangerous neighborhood, your brain is going to adapt to the situation and, consequently, you'll become more sensitive to potential threats—thereby leading to what these researchers consider to be "conservatism."

Altair wrote:I remember reading an article a few years back which asserted that males with high IQs were most likely to be left wing, atheist, and prefer sexual exclusivity, while women with high IQs were likely to be left wing and atheist as well, though the sexual exclusivity factor did not apply to them. Pretty interesting. I think the sexual exclusivity bit exists because women have always been expected to be sexually exclusive, while it was always more socially acceptable for men not to be.

Basically, the argument made in the article that I read was that by assuming "evolutionary novel" tendencies, you are more likely to have a high IQ, while sticking to "evolutionarily familiar" practices is an indicator of average, or low, intelligence. I think the article you posted correlates with this theory in its own way.

Actually, the Kanai study does no such thing because, to my knowledge, IQ isn't relevant to his findings. Since there is no satisfactory method to measure the heritability of IQ, and since psychologists can't even agree on what intelligence actually is, it's advisable for serious researchers to avoid studying individual differences based upon IQ results at this point in time.

Altair, that "study" sounds like secular humanist propaganda. Personally I think conservatives have a brain that is without altruism and liberals have a brain that is without logic. Modern conservatives only care about themselves and modern liberals only care about peoples feelings.

TotalitarianSocialist wrote:Altair, that "study" sounds like secular humanist propaganda.

I don't doubt that the study Altair alluded to may have found a legitimate statistical correlation between ones IQ level and their religiosity (or lack thereof), but I do reject the notion that IQ accurately measures the innate intellectual endowment of individuals.

Personally I think conservatives have a brain that is without altruism and liberals have a brain that is without logic. Modern conservatives only care about themselves and modern liberals only care about peoples feelings.

That's a rather simplistic and inaccurate assessment. Individuals who identify themselves as "conservatives" can be extremely altruistic. (How else can you explain millions of Christian conservatives "tithing" 10% of their paychecks each week to their church and participating in various charitable acts?) Liberals can also be quite narcissistic. In general, conservative voters tend to cast their ballot according to the social issues a given candidate endorses. Polls routinely indicate that when it comes to economic policy, self-identified conservatives are just as left-wing as liberals are.