Left wing or right wing? It's written in the brain

Interesting!

Years ago I read a study (I don't know if I can find it again but I'll look) about how a certain kind of brain injury could change a persons very strongly held beliefs about politics and religion so I've always kind of wondered if our beliefs weren't somehow dependent on the structure of our brains.

The things we've learned about the brain just over the last few years is simply stunning. I'll bet that in 100 years when you go to the doctor for anything other than an obvious physical injury the first place they send you for diagnosis is a neurologist.

Brains:

The logical brain is conservative.

The irrational brain is liberal.

Obviously. Why bother with proof or evidence?

This seems to bear out my gut feeling that lefty liberals see everything in terms of grey, whereas conservatives tend to see issues as black and white.

Then again maybe we should be looking at what we mean we say 'left wing' and liberal? I've always used the terms 'abstract thinkers' and 'concrete thinkers' which I think is psych 101, handed on by the lovely Kim forever ago. The test was simple. A little story about Alfred the Great being defeated in battle and hiding out in a peasants hut. The peasant woman asked him to watch the buns in the fire oven to make sure they didn't burn. They burned and she 'boxed his ears'. And then the question "Was Alfred a good cook?"

Concrete thinkers say yes or no, abstract thinkers can't answer either way.

Interesting if this seems to has a basis in the structure of the brain.

Hopelessly subjective. What if climate change was fear-driven propaganda? Based on what I mentioned in my previous post I'd say abstract thinkers are more likely to change their opinion based on new evidence, wherease concrete thinkers are more likely to discount new evidence if it contradicts the 'known'. But we aren't talking dichotomy, we are talking continuum.

douche bag conservatives, have their asses and their mouths reversed.
Oh hiya Spurt!! Still whackin off in public?

Yeah, conservatives would never believe, I don't know, something ridiculous like Barack Obama wasn't born in the USA.

That subject is just a smoke screen - everyone knows he was born here. Those that say otherwise were caught up in a well planned distraction.

After reading the initial post and your response, I immediately thought of Phineas Gage, the 19th railroad worker who suffered an accident after an explosion he was setting to blast rock caused an iron tamping rod to pierce his skull.

About 20 years ago, the NYTimes presented a very long feature on Gage that carried what Wiki (can we trust Wiki when the Republican party pays people to edit articles within?)now reports are contradictory and poorly documented "facts" about Gage and his supposed personality changes.

Since the Times article, two photographs of Gage have been discovered and documented. They show a handsome man, albeit with prominent injuries, holding an iron rod.

He died 12 years after his accident and had convulsions for several months preceding his death.

The Times article made much of the injury and the behavior problems, linking the injury to his alleged profanity and inability to hold a job. It is now believed that the irresponsible and bellicose behavior was only apparent during the final year of his life.

Actually, the evidence endymion posts is in direct contradiction to your statement that the logical brain is conservative and the irrational brain is liberal.

Was the course taught at a certified college or was it part of some adult education discussion group?

I couldn't find that article today but I'm going to look again when I have more uninterrupted time. I read a lot about neurology and for a while I was reading a lot of stuff by one particular doctor, Bruce Miller. I think it was written by him.

Anyway, I came across an article that mentions his research in "acquired savants" -- people who suffer brain injury then display savant behaviors or sudden artistic interests and talents.

Here's that article: http://www.wisconsinmedicalsociety.org/savant_syndrome/savant_articles/acquired_savant.

It's really interesting stuff. I wish this thread hadn't taken such a tail spin into political rhetoric.

It started in politics! However, this is a2k where even threads about baking pies spin into political rhetoric!

I just tried clicking on your link and was told the page is no longer in the directory.

Really I have it up on my computer and copied the link directly.

You might try a google search of "acquired savant, accidental genius". This article is from the Wisconsin Medical Society but I'm sure there are many others.

I totally missed that tag!

I had girlfriend who was doing psych at university who was applying the test as part of some coursework. I remember being taped for it, there were several other questions.