It is apparent that liberals and conservatives differ in their political beliefs and opinions, they also differ on important psychological characteristics. Conservatives demonstrate stronger attitudinal reactions to situations of threat and conflict, whereas liberals tend to seek out novelty and uncertainty. In addition, liberals are more risk accepting than conservatives. Similarly, conservatives have more intense physical reactions to threatening stimuli as opposed to liberals who have stronger physiological responses to situations of cognitive conflict. Scholars have assumed for centuries that people vote based on their household voting or because of the numerous civic classes that he or she had to sit through during school. But this view has finally started to change and develop as the disciplines of psychology and science have grown. Studies are expanding on political orientation and beliefs by looking at genes as a primary influence on political engagement as opposed to just the environment. Resulting findings show that genetic variation plays important role in explaining variation in political behavior (Edsall, 2013). For example, a twin study showed that a substantial amount of the variability in political ideology reflects genetic influences, which then interact with the social environment. Although political attitudes are commonly assumed to solely have environmental causes, recent studies have begun to identify biological influences on an individual’s political orientation.
Kanai, Feidlen, Firth, and Rees (2011) captured political attitudes on a single-tem measure where participants used a five-point scale to rate themselves from very liberal to very conservative. Even though this may seem like a simple measure, it a...
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...ygdala and the ACC with political attitudes (Kanai et al, 2011). For example, an individual with a large anterior cingulate cortex has a higher capacity to tolerate uncertainty and conflicts and therefore would most likely accept more liberal views. However, every brain region customarily partakes in multiple psychological processes. Therefore, results only offer possible accounts for cognitive styles of liberals and conservatives, but future research needs to be conducted before conclusions can be drawn.
Overall, previous studies showed that political liberalism and conservatism are correlated with brain structure. Liberalism is associated with the gray matter volume of the anterior cingulate cortex and conservatism is associated with increased right amygdala size. In addition, results offer possible accounts for cognitive styles of liberals and conservatives.
When it comes to my political beliefs, I am indecisive between being a Republican or a Democrat. The reason for this, is because I never really showed enough interest into learning more about politics. As for my politically ideology, I feel that I am more liberal than I am conservative. In theory, ideology is defined in two ways, “(1) Organized set of political attitudes based on underlying principles”, and “(2) a cohesive set of beliefs that form a general philosophy about the role of government” (McAtee). An Individual’s political ideology can be formed from public opinions and agents of socializations (McAtee). According to the quiz I took on “Politopia.com”, the results showed that I was “Centerville”, which means that I am in between of being a Democrat or a Republican, or that I support both sides and yet oppose to both sides.
John Chambers of the University of Florida measures the difference between "actual" and "perceived" polarizat...
Bias More perceive liberal bias than conservative bias” George Gallup.Web. September 2011 [cited January 2012]
- It takes the traditions of that time and only changes them gradually and not very
... Issues and Inheritance in the Formation of Party Identification. American Journal of Political Science, 970-988. Oakes, P., Alexander, H., & John, T. (1994). Stereotyping and social reality.
The myths fused behavior and physical features together in the public mind, impeding our comprehension of both biological variations and cultural behavior, implying that both are genetically determined. Racial myths bear no relationship to the reality of human capabilities or behavior. Scientists today find that reliance on such folk beliefs about human differences in research has led to countless errors. At the end of the 20th century, we now understand that human cultural behavior is learned, conditioned into infants beginning at birth, and always subject to modification. No human is born with a built-in culture or language. Our temperaments, dispositions, and personalities, regardless of genetic propensities, are developed within sets of meanings and values that we call "culture." Studies of infant and early childhood learning and behavior attest to the reality of our cultures in forming who we are. It is a fundamental tenet of anthropological knowledge that all normal human beings have the capacity to learn any cultural behavior. The American experience with immigrants from hundreds of different languages and cultural backgrounds who have acquired some version of American culture traits and behavior is the clearest evidence of this fact. Moreover, people of all physical variations have learned different cultural behaviors and continue to do so as modern transportation moves millions of immigrants around the world (American Anthropological, n.d). Given these points, human genetic variations(n.d) is best described by isolation by distance which mean that individuals who have ancestry, in particular, geographic regions are more likely to share genes than those from disparate regions. This sharing of genes is facilitated for individuals by using multiple loci, particularly when they are examined at
Is behavior learned? It is inborn? What of aggression, intelligence, and madness? There is a crucial relationship between the behavior of humans toward their own kind and the view of life they hold. Interest in behavioral genetics depends on wanting to know why people differ. According to Jack R. Vale, in Genes, Environment, and Behavior, recognition of the importance of hereditary influence on behavior represents one of the most dramatic changes in the social and behavioral sciences during the past two decades. A shift began toward the more balanced contemporary view that recognizes genetic as well as environmental influences on behavior. Behavioral genetics lies in its theory and methods, which consider both genetic and environmental sources of behavioral differences among individuals. Behavioral genetics is simply the intersection between genetics and the behavioral sciences.
To begin with, a political ideology is a belief system that an individual or group bases their actions on for a preferred order for society. Liberalism, represented by “Family Guy”, is a political philosophy based on the belief of change in order to achieve progress. Liberals believe it is the duty of the government to provide equal opportunity and equality for all, emphasizing the need for government. On the other hand, Conservatism, represented by “American Dad!” is a political philosophy based on traditional practices in politics and society. Conservatives believe in the conservation or preservation of what is already established and dislikes the idea of change. Conservatives value individual rights and freedoms, the rule of law, free markets, minimal government involvement, traditional American values and a strong national defense. Overall, they bel...
A person’s ideological framework, the lense through which they see the world and form opinions about policies and how systems should be run are influenced by their environment. They are influenced by factors of time and space. They are influenced by the people and events of their past and present. Through reflection of my own personal ideological framework, I realize that there is a stark difference between my surroundings at home in Rockaway, New Jersey before college, and my surroundings as a college student at Ithaca College in Ithaca, New York. This conflict (or perhaps collaboration) between my ideological experiences before college, and my present life, are what makes my beliefs my own. The integration of conservative and liberal beliefs and values shape the way I see the world today.
Voters of past and present have continuously remained bombarded by influences instigated by various dynamics that psychologically establish the mindset of a voter to poll for a specific candidate over the opponent candidate. These psychological dynamics are developed to increase turnouts and enhance the image of each candidate. There are debates and disputes within the political science community as to what factors cause the greatest impact in a voter’s mind; however, these superb minds have established three theories that are proven to have a tangible impact on the people of our nation. One element is called a party identification, which references with a political party that an individual identifies with during election year. In addition to this aspect, the personal backgrounds of a voter is an extensive contributor to the instituting of one’s political party identity. The second theory relates to the candidate’s manner in which he/she addresses the public on state issues that our nation faces and its desired actions. The final element is the candidates’ identity. A candidate needs to launch a distinct personality in which one will be
McCrae believed that openness is a major psychological determinant in developing political ideologies. Those who have high levels of openness tend to lean towards left-wing, liberal views, while those low on openness have an affinity to conservative, right-wing views (McCrae, 1996). Just as people who are open tend to seek novelty and variety in their experiences, those who are conservative prefer familiar and simple situations (McCrae, 1996). Due to this simplicity, conservatives tend to draw strict lines between what is right and wrong. They expect everybody to obey the rules set by authorities and will endorse punishments if these rules are broken (McCrae, 1996). Future studies could explore this further, looking at relationships between personality and political ideologies along a spectrum- not just
People have different views on the world. You can be liberal or conservative. If your liberal doesn't mean you’re better than a conservative. We just all have our different inputs in the world. We were all raised differently and grew up with different beliefs. Everyone has a different mindset of the world and my mind works as a liberal.
Study 1. To find a potential relation between the beliefs of a person and the beliefs of that persons’ peers, participants will fill out a political beliefs survey
Throughout my life, I have been socialized to politics in a number of ways. First, the 1996 election comes to mind as the first political event I experienced. Second, the people that I am around on a day to day basis, mostly my parents, have had an affect on my socialization to politics. Third, some of the groups that I am part of have influenced how my ideas and opinions involving politics have developed. Other factors that have affected my socialization to politics include how much politics is talked about at my home, the activity of my parents in politics, and even such things as television and newspapers. All of these information channels have had an affect on my views and opinions on politics and the issues that politics deals with. Some of these sources, however, have a greater affect on me than others do.
Throughout our lives we have all been influenced by our environment and other outside forces. Our environment may change the way we think, act and behave in life. Since we are all products of our environment, it comes to no surprise that we, as humans, tend to behave in a society the same way others around us behave but at the same time we strive to find who we really are (Schaefer 73). Since birth, humans have always analyzed the world around them. With each day that passes, humans take in more and more information from the outside world. The information which humans obtain through their environment subconsciously influences the decisions people make throughout their daily life (Neubauer 16). On the other hand, our genetics also play a vital role in determining what type of person we are and what will we become.