China Posted January 24, 2006 Share Posted January 24, 2006 :obvious: says all they had to do was come here and read a few of the political threads and they would have figured this out a long time ago. Democrats and Republicans Both Adept at Ignoring Facts, Study Finds By LiveScience Staff posted: 24 January 2006 10:03 am ET Democrats and Republicans alike are adept at making decisions without letting the facts get in the way, a new study shows. And they get quite a rush from ignoring information that's contrary to their point of view. Researchers asked staunch party members from both sides to evaluate information that threatened their preferred candidate prior to the 2004 Presidential election. The subjects' brains were monitored while they pondered. The results were announced today. "We did not see any increased activation of the parts of the brain normally engaged during reasoning," said Drew Westen, director of clinical psychology at Emory University. "What we saw instead was a network of emotion circuits lighting up, including circuits hypothesized to be involved in regulating emotion, and circuits known to be involved in resolving conflicts." Bias on both sides The test subjects on both sides of the political aisle reached totally biased conclusions by ignoring information that could not rationally be discounted, Westen and his colleagues say. Then, with their minds made up, brain activity ceased in the areas that deal with negative emotions such as disgust. But activity spiked in the circuits involved in reward, a response similar to what addicts experience when they get a fix, Westen explained. The study points to a total lack of reason in political decision-making. "None of the circuits involved in conscious reasoning were particularly engaged," Westen said. "Essentially, it appears as if partisans twirl the cognitive kaleidoscope until they get the conclusions they want, and then they get massively reinforced for it, with the elimination of negative emotional states and activation of positive ones." Notably absent were any increases in activation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain most associated with reasoning. The tests involved pairs of statements by the candidates, President George W. Bush and Senator John Kerry, that clearly contradicted each other. The test subjects were asked to consider and rate the discrepancy. Then they were presented with another statement that might explain away the contradiction. The scenario was repeated several times for each candidate. The brain imaging revealed a consistent pattern. Both Republicans and Democrats consistently denied obvious contradictions for their own candidate but detected contradictions in the opposing candidate. "The result is that partisan beliefs are calcified, and the person can learn very little from new data," Westen said. Vote for Tom Hanks Other relatively neutral candidates were introduced into the mix, such as the actor Tom Hanks. Importantly, both the Democrats and Republicans reacted to the contradictions of these characters in the same manner. The findings could prove useful beyond the campaign trail. "Everyone from executives and judges to scientists and politicians may reason to emotionally biased judgments when they have a vested interest in how to interpret 'the facts,'" Westen said. The researchers will present the findings Saturday at the Annual Conference of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spaceman Spiff Posted January 24, 2006 Share Posted January 24, 2006 Oh no! say it ain't so! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WinSkins Posted January 24, 2006 Share Posted January 24, 2006 :obvious: says all they had to do was come here and read a few of the political threads and they would have figured this out a long time ago. Cannot argue with the study or your leadoff quote...although seems the rabid right wing fact-inventors seem to outnumber the left leaning posters on this website. I'm particularly speaking to the experts on military affairs who claim that they speak for all veterans and active duty. When I was active duty and even after I got out and went back to the real world, I could never get the other sobs I was serving withor hanging with to agree on a doggone thing...no matter how simple it might be. We were mostly a bunch of independent, irascible, opinionated thinkers who were pretty sure that most everyone in authority, particularly politicians, were full of gas. Still haven't met anyone able to refute those ideas but still open to listening to contrary arguments. Unfortunately most of these "political" threads start off in the toilet rather than ending up there. The threads are predictably spewing the 'talking points' of the day as issued by the spinners in the party offices rather than expolring the relative merits of the argument particulars. We won't reclaim our country until we can break up the two-party stranglehold on the election systems and stop attacking the people rather than the arguments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
China Posted January 25, 2006 Author Share Posted January 25, 2006 I see this thread has been largely ignored by the forum politicos thereby confirming the conclusion claimed by the study. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spaceman Spiff Posted January 25, 2006 Share Posted January 25, 2006 I see this thread has been largely ignored by the forum politicos thereby confirming the conclusion claimed by the study. :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: how long have you been waiting to use that line? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gbear Posted January 25, 2006 Share Posted January 25, 2006 Now I can believe the Republicans might ignore facts that are contrary to their beliefs, but the liberals and dems? We don't don't ignore facts no matter what some opionated study might say. Ah, I feel better for getting that out. Now it's on to the next rightwing/Bush bash...afterall I need my fix! :laugh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prosperity Posted January 25, 2006 Share Posted January 25, 2006 I don't think we needed a study to prove this. I just hope it is more about people not caring enough about politics than not caring enough to try thinking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burgold Posted January 25, 2006 Share Posted January 25, 2006 I don't think there is much to question here. Hell, it may even be an innocent explanation for why politicians never answer the questions they hear in press conferences or debates. They actually zone out on all the questions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SUNSTONE Posted January 25, 2006 Share Posted January 25, 2006 Well we know why the politicians do it, they do it for the money. But I want to know is why do people on forums get all crazy over this stuff? :insane: :shot: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SUNSTONE Posted January 25, 2006 Share Posted January 25, 2006 I was telling a co-worker about this thread yestuday. I said there are a certian number of people that will rip each other up over political debates all day long, but this thread slipped down to the next page before anyone other than myself looked at it. It's kind of scarey, but some people get their kicks in these no win arguements. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PleaseBlitz Posted January 25, 2006 Share Posted January 25, 2006 I don't think we needed a study to prove this. I just hope it is more about people not caring enough about politics than not caring enough to try thinking. Yep. Its not that politics are boring, its just that every article written for the most part has either a right-leaning or left-leaning agenda floating right below the surface. Its not that is hard wading through the BS, its just that their isnt anything on the other side. Or maybe its just the articles posted on this site. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Winslowalrob Posted January 25, 2006 Share Posted January 25, 2006 I see this thread has been largely ignored by the forum politicos thereby confirming the conclusion claimed by the study. Haha, what are you talking about? I never had any reasoning to begin with, how could they detect my brain patterns? Could not agree more with the study, I am glad the results are officially out there for all of us to ignore and go straight back to talking points. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PleaseBlitz Posted January 25, 2006 Share Posted January 25, 2006 Can I post this link on EVERY OTHER THREAD IN THE TAILGATE? That'd be fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Westbrook36 Posted January 25, 2006 Share Posted January 25, 2006 The Liberals hate American and don't support the troops. Wait, what was this thread about again? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cadets08 Posted January 25, 2006 Share Posted January 25, 2006 Shocker:laugh: Good Post Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gichin13 Posted January 26, 2006 Share Posted January 26, 2006 great post China. I find the cited article pretty darn interesting -- not just the ignoring facts in favor of emotional reaction, but the actual biochemistry involved. Pretty fascinating ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ancalagon the Black Posted January 26, 2006 Share Posted January 26, 2006 I choose to ignore this study. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
China Posted October 17, 2008 Author Share Posted October 17, 2008 Thought this deserved a bump. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MurrayH81 Posted October 17, 2008 Share Posted October 17, 2008 I don't think we needed a study to prove this. I just hope it is more about people not caring enough about politics than not caring enough to try thinking. Liberty, are you deliberately ignoring the facts that most people don't know how to think, or find it too difficult to think.... or are you just on something that you are not sharing? :cool: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IHOPSkins Posted October 17, 2008 Share Posted October 17, 2008 Add me to the Ignore this study list...unless liberals are on it also Then I will vote "Present" like Obama OLS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GibbsFactor Posted October 17, 2008 Share Posted October 17, 2008 This forum is an excellent case study. Hard core donkeys and elephants are blind and deaf to being objective. All of these political threads are really a drain on intelligence since they all only offer bickering and tit for tats. This is what politics have become. It's a reality TV show. Seriously, go to TWOP and read those forums and then read the political threads here. Exactly the same. Arguing over nothing important. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Predicto Posted October 17, 2008 Share Posted October 17, 2008 Absolutely true. It's one of the things that frustrates me most about the Tailgate. Everyone is too partisan and stubborn to acknowledge reality, even when I point it out to them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaddukes Posted October 17, 2008 Share Posted October 17, 2008 even when I point it out to them. Hilarious. Politics is a highly ritualized activity. It doesn't suprise me that this happens. We've all been noticing it while reading these threads. What would be interesting to me would be to see how those people who switched parties would react. For instance if you grew up a Dem and then became a Repub would you brain react differently than most Repubs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Predicto Posted October 17, 2008 Share Posted October 17, 2008 Hilarious.Politics is a highly ritualized activity. It doesn't suprise me that this happens. We've all been noticing it while reading these threads. What would be interesting to me would be to see how those people who switched parties would react. For instance if you grew up a Dem and then became a Repub would you brain react differently than most Repubs? Well, since that would be me (started out a Republican, became a Democrat)... go ahead and strap on the electrodes.! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MurrayH81 Posted October 17, 2008 Share Posted October 17, 2008 This forum is an excellent case study.Hard core donkeys and elephants are blind and deaf to being objective. All of these political threads are really a drain on intelligence since they all only offer bickering and tit for tats. This is what politics have become. It's a reality TV show. Seriously, go to TWOP and read those forums and then read the political threads here. Exactly the same. Arguing over nothing important. GF- Read an older 'narrative style' US History book from the library. You will see that this behavior is not unique at all to now. Been with us ever since two party politics emerged as the system we used here. Both parties are really the same animal at their core, and both practice the politics of distracting the voters from what we really need as a country, and generally escape accountability for not delivering it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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