Three Studies on ....

The Brains of Liberals

A recent study at New York University that compared the brain activity of self-proclaimed liberals and self-proclaimed conservatives showed that liberals have greater neural brain activity associated with complex mental functions.

This suggests a greater ability of liberals to "monitor complex information," which in turn is associated with more readily accepting new social, scientific and spiritual concepts.

Possibly not unrelated, according to the Lear Center, liberals are more likely than conservatives to consider radio and TV programming "with which they philosophically disagree." Twenty-two percent of conservatives say they "never" expose themselves to political views they disagree with.

Could this explain why the most creative and productive thinkers in the arts and sciences tend to be socially liberal?

A study by a psychologist at the London School of Economics found that young adults that identify themselves as "very liberal" score an an average of 11 points higher on IQ tests than those claiming to be "very conservative."

At the same time, it was suggested that liberals tend to "more open to new ideas" rather than "being slaves to primitive impulses." (The Week, March 12, 2010)

A recent poll by the Pew organization found that among all U.S. scientists only 6 percent identified themselves as Republicans, while 32 percent were Independents and 55 percent were Democrats.

The vast majority of awards for advancements in science go to the more liberal Democrats.

According to Chris Mooney in Discover Magazine this is not surprising given the hostility of Republicans toward science. He says, the mindless hostility to science is something of a badge of honor in the modern Republican Party, which now requires adherents to don 'ideological blinders," denounce climate change as a hoax, and even question evolution.

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