January 31, 2012--The Neurology of Ideology

Everyone down here is obsessed with the presidential election.

This is understandable. Back in 2000, Tim Russert, covering the national election, famously and presciently said it would all come down to "Florida, Florida, Florida." He was right and thanks to hanging chads and the Supreme Court George W, Bush was ruled to be president and the rest is history.

Today voting in the Republican primary is underway and it is expected that the ultimate nominee will be the winner here in Florida, Florida, Florida. (A hint--it will be Mitt Romney.)

Yesterday, over coffee at the Green Owl, one of the regulars, who up to that point we had not more than nodded hello to, found himself on the stool to Rona's left and took the opportunity to introduce himself and then proceeded, after saying he did not want to talk politics, to keep us engaged in a civil but disputatious conversation about why, though he does not like any of the GOP candidates, he will vote for the eventual nominee since he wants in the White House "anyone but Obama."

This for the usual reasons--he does not want a socialist as president; he is worried about the deficit and "all Obama wants to do is spend, spend, and spend"; but above all he sees the need to outlaw all unions--"We needed them in the past when there were factories and sweatshops, but now these no longer exist and the unions are there only to protect incompetent members, especially the teachers unions and, here in Delray, the firemen."

"The firemen?" Rona asked, sounding surprised, "What's the story with them? I thought there were no municipal worker unions in Florida."

"I'm not sure about the union issue," our new friend said, "but one thing I am certain about is that the average fireman here earns $90,000 a year. Plus benefits, and they can retire on full salary after only 20 years."

"This is hard to believe," I said, "I'll have to do some fact checking when we get home," thinking why don't I have an iPhone so I can check out these sorts of things right on the spot.

Later that morning I did the research and found that the average salary for a Delray firefighter is actually $50,000, "lead" firefighters get $53,000, and the captain earns "only" $68,000.

When I mentioned this to Rona, she said, "I can't wait to see him again to hear what he has to say about this."

"Also," I added, retired firemen need to have worked 25 years, not 20, to collect a full pension."

"I wonder," Rona said, "why we are in general and so frequently finding that most of what people claim to be true when attacking Obama and Democrats is so often not based on facts. Actually, made up."

"I have been reading," I said, "about how some of this may be hardwired. That one's ideology may be neurologically influenced."

"That sounds interesting."

"It may be that Republicans and Democrats, really liberals and conservatives, are neurologically different."

"Tell me more."

With an invitation to pontificate, I of course couldn't resist.

I told Rona about research by cognitive scientists at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. They have found that a person’s politics are heavily determined by the physiological responses to primal feelings such as revulsion, fear, and confusion. Their studies suggest that people’s physiological predispositions help to shape their political orientation.

With our current divisive political atmosphere, the neurophysiology of conservatives and liberals, an outgrowth of the study of the biology of morality, has become a hot topic in the field of cognitive research. Ultimately those who identify themselves as conservative have a deeper and faster “disgust” reflex, a physiological reaction to images and ideas they find revolting.

Neurologists focus on feelings of disgust because, as it’s such a fundamental sensation, an emotional building block so basic that feelings of moral repugnance originate in neurobiological processes shared, among other things, with repugnance for rotten food. In the UN study this was measured through the viewing of photos of a man eating earthworms. Conservatives had a faster and stronger reaction to the photos than liberals.

The broader findings of similar studies equate this with a difference in cognitive flexibility. According to the broad consensus of data, conservatives tend to have greater level of discomfort with ambiguity and respond more quickly to feelings of fear and disgust. Those identifying liberal tend to have greater comfort with ambiguity and are less emotionally reactive to stimuli.

It is important to note that there are no judgements of intelligence, creativity, or any other inherent characteristics about either political ideology. Instead, it is simply a sensitivity to stimuli that is more active (or reactive) to unpleasant or undesired information.

To illustrate, below is a taste of ideological neurology in vivid action. From this past weekend here is something from Republican Congressman Allen West, who happens to represent Delray Beach.

He ranted:

We need to let President Obama, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, (audience boos) and my dear friend the chairman of the Democrat National Committee, we need to let them know that Florida ain't on the table," West said. "Take your message of equality of achievement, take your message of economic dependency, take your message of enslaving the entrepreneurial will and spirit of the American people somewhere else. You can take it to Europe, you can take it to the bottom of the sea, you can take it to the North Pole, but get the hell out of the United States of America.

Talk about repugnance.