The Washington Post is reporting today on a new study that links startled response to political leanings. "The finding suggests that people who are particularly sensitive to signals of visual or auditory threats also tend to adopt a more defensive stance on political issues, such as immigration, gun control, defense spending and patriotism."
Now I find this interesting mostly because the first thought I had was, "Well what about people who change their political beliefs?" The study sort of implies that your political leaning are ingrained so deeply in your brain, there's not much you can do about it. However many people I know have changed their ideals or beliefs at some point in their lives, directly on the issues they discuss in the article such as gun control, immigration, and defense spending.
The article says this study is "a step beyond psychology... suggesting that innate physiological differences among people may help shape their startle responses and their political inclinations." So basically, in most cases, your unconscious mind is in control. It would take the immense feat of stomping your reptilian brain into submission to change your political beliefs. If that's the case I would think that all political advertising could possibly hope to do is reinforce your feelings on an issue and not actually ever sway your opinion. I can't see a two minute political ad changing the makeup of any ones physiology. It seems like it must be extremely hard to overcome the darkest depth of your brain to adopt new view.
The findings suggests to me that someone becoming more liberal is learning to manage their unconscious fears, where someone who becomes more conservative is realizing that threats are more dire than their unconscious brain would have them believe. You could also make the argument that becoming more conservative is giving into those same fears while becoming more liberal is becoming more naive.
Perhaps I am reading too much into this and it's just a stepping stone on the path to understanding ourselves a little better through science. I definitely see the results of the study reflected in some of the people I know. I do feel though that it's important to remember that while being predisposed to a certain type of thinking, you are free to make up your own mind however hard it may be. Don't let that little amygdala rule your life people. We've long ago discovered there are a lot more responses to a problem than fight or flight.
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