Political Orientations Are Correlated with Brain Structure in Young Adults

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

3 points·e40··4 comments

I'm really not picking on conservatives here:

> Individuals with a large amygdala are more sensitive to fear [12], which, taken together with our findings, might suggest the testable hypothesis that individuals with larger amygdala are more inclined to integrate conservative views into their belief system.

I just point it out because it's the main business model of Fox News.

Also, cause and effect aren't certain:

> Specifically, it requires a longitudinal study to determine whether the changes in brain structure that we observed lead to changes in political behavior or whether political attitudes and behavior instead result in changes of brain structure.

> whether the changes in brain structure that we observed lead to changes in political behavior or whether political attitudes and behavior instead result in changes of brain structure

I'd guess the latter, based on the results mentioned in https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39143607

Which makes the Fox News business model even more troubling.

Now you're making me wonder what happens if one runs Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (a common non-medical treatment for anxiety disorders) in reverse. ("with all the arrows flipped")

(Duelling is very much like partner dancing; both use very similar reflexes and processing: it's just that in the former two people are doing their best to exploit each others' mistakes and in the latter two people are doing their best to efface each others' mistakes)

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