The discussion section in the article is very interesting and how they interpret the results: ----- Research has widely explored the differences between conservatives and liberals, and dozens of studies indicate that several variables like dogmatism, intolerance for ambiguity and disorder, fear of threat, and death anxiety are more closely tied to conservatives [6], [9], [30], [26], [4]. Some of these variables (e.g., fear of threat) suggest that negativity has a special value for conservatives, and recent research has indeed found ideology-based asymmetrical reactions to positive and negative stimuli, both in terms of physiological reactions [14], and intended strategies while exploring novel stimuli [15]. In the current work we explored the role of basic attentional processes, hypothesizing that people embracing conservative as compared to liberal views of the world would also display attentional mechanisms that prioritize the processing of negative information appearing in the environment. Results from three studies consistently support the existence of ideology-based differences in the automatic allocation of attentional resources. [... snip ...]
... However, although the present studies strongly support the hypothesis of ideology-based attentional asymmetries in the processing of valenced information, future research will have to compare responses to neutral and affectively-laden items and assess whether responses toward positive stimuli are also associated with ideological orientations. Thanks to attentional processes people filter the incoming information and left-right ideological differences appear to shape these early automatic processes. As a consequence, conservatives, as compared to liberals, may indeed build up discrepant representations of the world with the former being more biased toward negativity. The outcome of this automatic selective attention for threatening information, in turn, may then further increase the motivation to embrace ideological conservatism as a way to manage uncertainty and threat [4], [32][34]. Ideological identification permeates our daily personal and social life. The key message is that this influence appears to emerge at very early stages of stimulus processing, indicating that negative information exerts a stronger automatic attention-grabbing power in the case of political conservatives, as compared to liberals. Thus, basic attentional processes differentiate right- and left-wingers, and they may represent one of the cognitive underpinnings creating and sustaining ideology-based different perceptions of the outside world. ----- And as an exercise for the student, you can dig up the cited references. On Thu, Dec 13, 2012 at 4:33 PM, Larry C. Lyons <larrycly...@gmail.com> wrote: > I was making a comment on Judah's comment. I was merely being > skeptical that it would happen, after all past behavior is the best > predictor of present and future behavior. > > No name calling, just an observation that the right wing extremists > seem to need an enemy. My later comment was how it fits within current > neuropsych and cognitive research on political choice. One new study > (http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0026456) > presents a very good examination of the cognitive/attentional > differences among conservatives and liberals that conform very nicely > to the neurophysical differences mentioned elsewhere. - Nice to have > confirmation based on both neuropsych and cognitive psych. > > On Thu, Dec 13, 2012 at 4:13 PM, Cameron Childress <camer...@gmail.com> wrote: >> >> The irony is crushing this email! >> >> Larry vilifying the right wing about vilifying someone else. >> >> Name calling as a call for the end to name calling. >> >> Awesomely blind. >> >> Devastating. Crushing. Irony. >> >> On Thu, Dec 13, 2012 at 4:03 PM, Larry C. Lyons <larrycly...@gmail.com>wrote: >> >>> Won't happen Judah, the right wing needs an enemy to vilify and >>> demonize. So if the darned Commies or Socialists don't fit, its going >>> to be Union Thugs or Sharia loving Muslims. Need to fire up the base >>> after all. >> >> >> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:359204 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
