Liberals and Conservatives Think Differently

Filed in Science and Health by on April 15, 2012

In looking at the same data, Liberals and Conservatives some up with different interpretations of the data. Other than the face that Conservatives are usually wrong, what’s going on here? Chris Mooney writes:

There’s now a large body of evidence showing that those who opt for the political left and those who opt for the political right tend to process information in divergent ways and to differ on any number of psychological traits.

Unsurprisingly, Conservatives are less open to new experiences than Liberals and have a need for more closure. Open-ended questions and thoughtful discourse doesn’t really work well with Conservatives. Liberals tend to be more exploratory. However, liberals tend to jump on the latest trend in a very irrational way.

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A Dad, a husband and a data guru

Comments (11)

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  1. Liberal Elite says:

    I though that the most interesting difference was related to fear. Conservatives are far more attuned to threats, real or imaginary.

    Much of what drives the right wing seems to be based on irrational fear.

    …and the idea that the NRA is just a bunch of quivering bedwetters isn’t so far from the truth.

  2. Bob says:

    Yep, democrats are just plain smarter. JFK read a gazillion newspapers every morning cuz he was one of them there speed readers, don’t ya know. Jimmy Carter was a nukley-are scientist. Billy Boy was a Roads Skolar and it had nothing to do with the carpeted El Camino he used to drive around Hot Springs. The narrative goes on and on ad nauseum. The conservatives love these knee slappers the media force feeds the public. Its even more delightful to hear from a “scientific” study.

    Liberals feel their way through life. Conservatives tend to weigh facts and logic. There are a few exceptions to the rule on both sides. Fact: The national debt from GW through Dubya has been matched by the increase established by BHO in three short years. Let that seep in to the cranium. The interest rates being held down like a raccoon on a coon dog’s head in the river is being accomplished by flooding the world with our major ace, the default world currency compliments of the prior generations that believed in open market capitalism. Gee, i wonder why commodities like oil are twice as expensive three years later? Meanwhile, the debt service, thus, is unrealistically low, a negative interest rate when inflation is factored into return, even using the bogus government figures on inflation. Yeah, the conservatives who can do math are frightened, fearful and reacting to their understanding of what happens to the debt service if interest rates simply return to historical norms. Kabooom. This is not rocket science; its not even intermediate algebra. Confiscate all the wealth of all the nation’s billionaires today and it won’t make a discernible difference in the 16T debt and 100T future entitlement liabilities. The only solution involves addressing the 25% spending increase instituted by BHO that these maniacs actually believe can be continued as a new norm baseline. These are the facts. How does the liberal “rationally” feel his way around this boogeyman? Because, This boogeyman is as real as the nose on your face.

  3. Liberal Elite says:

    @Bob “Because, This boogeyman is as real as the nose on your face.”

    Don’t wet your pants.

  4. Dave says:

    “Conservatives tend to weigh facts and logic.”

    Huh? Bob, I’m guessing you said/typed that with a straight face. And I am sure you personally are endowned with critical thinking skills that you employ on a daily basis. Still, you must agree that conservatives are on conspiratorial overload from birth certificates to keeping government hands off Medicare (a shout out at a town hall on the health care act) to Soros’ one world government, to evolution, to….oh just about everywhere.

    Now I am sure this does not comprise the mainstream of conservative thought, but you have to agree that the Becknaise malady that has so afflicted conservatives is so pervasive that claiming “conservatives tend to use facts and logic” would seem to be ludicrous and even delusional.

  5. Jason330 says:

    A variety of cognitive approaches is good for the survival of the species. The problem currently facing our democracy is that we have one vocal group that thinks that its cognitive approach (fear based decision making, dependence on hierarchy and tradition, etc.). Is the only valid cognitive approach.

  6. cassandra_m says:

    Conservatives tend to weigh facts and logic.

    You couldn’t tell that from the conservatives who visit here. They arrive with easily debunked talking points — no facts, no logic and a whole lot of delusion of their own smarts.

  7. Rustydils says:

    Liberals struggle with logic. Liberals constantly contradict themselves because their arguments dont work.

    But there are only two ways you motivate people, and this law does not matter if you are liberal or conservative.

    Are you ready for them

    Fear, and Reward. Once you understand this, you pretty much understand how the world works

  8. cassandra_m says:

    So says one of our most fact-free and illogical wingnut commenters. He who can’t quite come to grips with just one birth certificate.

    But conservatives operate quite utterly by fear for their base and rewards for their wealthy pals who think they can buy favorable tax policy.

  9. Jason330 says:

    You have to wonder how someone like dils functions. It is a testament to white privilege that he has any kind of income whatsoever given his simple minded ness. His “arguments” are poorly transcribed from the most base wingnut agitprop and his ability to add anything interesting to the nonsense that he hears is nonexistent.

  10. Always Watching says:

    OK Mr. Logic and Reason, explain to me this:

    http://jimcgreevy.com/gvdc/Natl_Debt_Chart.html

  11. Von Cracker says:

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/07/conservative-politics-low-effort-thinking_n_1410448.html

    And it’s Risk/Reward. Fear can be part of the risk, but risk doesn’t necessarily mean fear is involved.

    Low effort, Rusty. Low effort.