Kalina Faulks - Unconscious Reactions Separate Liberals and Conservatives.docx - Unconscious Reactions Separate Liberals and Conservatives Psychological

Unconscious ReactionsSeparate Liberals andConservativesPsychological insights might tone down the bitterfeuding between Democrats and RepublicansBy Emily Laber-WarrenBlue state, red state. Big government, big business. Gayrights, fetal rights. The United States is riven by the politics ofextremes. To paraphrase humor columnist Dave Barry,Republicans think of Democrats as godless, unpatriotic, Volvo-driving, France-loving, elitist latte guzzlers, whereas Democratsdismiss Republicans as ignorant, NASCAR-obsessed, gun-fondling religious fanatics. An exaggeration, for sure, but thereality is still pretty stark. Congress is in a perpetual stalematebecause of the two parties' inability to find middle ground onpractically anything.According to the experts who study political leanings,liberals and conservatives do not just see things differently.Theyaredifferent—in their personalities and even theirunconscious reactions to the world around them. For example, ina study published in January, a team led by psychologist MichaelDodd and political scientist John Hibbing of the University ofNebraska–Lincoln found that when viewing a collage ofphotographs, conservatives' eyes unconsciously lingered 15percent longer on repellent images, such as car wrecks andexcrement—suggesting that conservatives are more attuned thanliberals to assessing potential threats.Meanwhile examining the contents of 76 college students'bedrooms, as one group did in a 2008 study, revealed thatconservatives possessed more cleaning and organizational items,such as ironing boards and calendars, confirmation that they areorderly and self-disciplined. Liberals owned more books andtravel-related memorabilia, which conforms with previousresearch suggesting that they are open and novelty-seeking.

“These are not superficial differences. They are psychologicallydeep,” says psychologist John Jost of New York University, a co-author of the bedroom study. “My hunch is that the capacity toorganize the political world into left or right may be a part ofhuman nature.”