Nature vs Nurture: Republican brains are different from Democratic brains
AlterNet / By Laura Gottesdiener
Are Republican Brains Different?
A new study indicates a biological basis for conservative tendencies.
February 21, 2013
Downloaded February 21, 2013 from https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-po...ains-different
A brain scan study recently revealed that Democrats and Republican process and understand risk in different ways, with Democrats more attuned to their emotions and those of others, while Republicans are more driven by fear and potential reward.
The study analyzed the brain scans of 83 people as they played a gambling game in which participants could either score the easy low points or hold out for possible higher rewards. Both Democrats and Republicans exhibited similar levels of risk-taking—in other words, they were equally likely to hold out for the higher but riskier rewards—but different regions of their brains were activated during these decisions.
For Democrats, the region of the brain with the most activity was the left posterior insula, a region that is associated with processing emotions and understanding what other people are thinking or feeling. The region is sometimes called the “theory of the mind,” and it’s the part of one’s brain that allows you to estimate, for example, what your friend, partner or even a stranger may be thinking by imagining yourself in their shoes, so to speak. (No word yet on whether woman’s brains have vastly more developed “theory of the mind” regions.) It’s a region that’s associated with empathy and the understanding that each person has their own unique point of view.
For Republicans, the region of the brain that was most active during risky behavior was the right amygdala. This region of the brain is primarily responsible for producing fear, although it can also create anticipation of reward. It’s the part of the brain that teenagers often rely on to make decisions, one of the reasons that teens are more impulsive and aggressive than adults. The larger role of the amygdala in teenage brains—a role that diminishes as people reach their mid-20s—is one of the justifications for laws that prohibit people from drinking alcohol and doing other things until their early to mid-20s. (Apparently the U.S. military still doesn’t care whether its soldiers have brains that are able to mitigate impulsivity and aggression.) This higher level of activity in the amygdala in Republican brains is something that scientists have observed before, although not directly in this risk environment.
So, what does this mean? Is this a blank check to write off Republicans’ decisions as rash and fear-inspired? Not exactly, although it does begin to give us some clues into the human behavior that could be behind some of this year’s most important political battles. If anything, it helps put into context the insane debt ceiling / fiscal cliff / sequestration cut controversy, which is pretty much screaming Amygdala, Amygdala!
Plus it allows us to ask the question: If Republicans actually are more heavily influenced by their amygdala, should they really be allowed to rent cars?
* * * * * * * * * *
This study does not necessarily identify a genetic difference between Republican and Democratic brains. Mirror neurons have been shown by functional magnetic resonance imaging studies to produce the effects called "theory of mind" in this article, an effect where one can empathize with what another is experiencing. These mirror neurons develop in the context of a healthy maternal dyad. Allan Schore has recently written that " intersubjective affective experiences embedded in the attachment relationship with the mother influence the maturation of emotion processing limbic circuits of the developing right brain."
When the attachment relationship with mother is defected for whatever reason, the functions of compassion, empathy, and prosociability do not develop or do not develop fully. The locus of emotional control remains in the primitive amygdala instead of moving to higher and higher centers like the insula and the right orbitofrontal cortex.
The finding that Republicans regulate emotion from the amygdala suggests that there were deficiencies in the maternal relationship for Republicans and that Democrats are more likely to have had a healthy maternal attachment. This finding is certainly consistent with Republican attitudes toward women, pregnancy, abortion, birth control, and rape.
We must be careful drawing more than tentative conclusions from this study, because it only involved 83 participants.
At the same time, I wonder what Sean Hannity's brain would look like in this study, or Rush Limbaugh's, or for that matter Ann Coulter's.
The author of the article asks if Republicans should be allowed to rent cars. I think it's more appropriate to ask if they should be allowed to vote or hold office.
Star Man
Re: Nature vs Nurture: Republican brains are different from Democratic brains
Quote:
Posted in reply to the post by Star Man:
....
The finding that Republicans regulate emotion from the amygdala suggests that there were deficiencies in the maternal relationship for Republicans and that Democrats are more likely to have had a healthy maternal attachment. This finding is certainly consistent with Republican attitudes toward women, pregnancy, abortion, birth control, and rape.
We must be careful drawing more than tentative conclusions from this study, because it only involved 83 participants.
there are other reasons beyond the small number, too.
The first part was objective, then the part I quote above slides smoothly into judgemental speculation. Hmmm... I bet the writer of that paragraph isn't Republican. If I can plausibly make that inference, I'm not reading a scientific report - I'm reading an editorial.
Re: Nature vs Nurture: Republican brains are different from Democratic brains
Quote:
Posted in reply to the post by podfish:
there are other reasons beyond the small number, too.
The first part was objective, then the part I quote above slides smoothly into judgemental speculation. Hmmm... I bet the writer of that paragraph isn't Republican. If I can plausibly make that inference, I'm not reading a scientific report - I'm reading an editorial.
Oh, Podfish. I did refer to research summarized by Allan Schore in my commentary. I am very careful about discriminating between reporting the results of scientific investigation and editorializing. For your information, here are three articles that summarize extensive scientific research, all supported with copious citations, to back up the conclusions I report about the effect of maternal caregiving on the development of mirror neurons. To conclude, your inference is implausible.
Schore, Allan N (2005). A Neuropsychoanalytic Viewpoint: Commentary on Paper by Steven H. Knoblauch
Psychoanalytic Dialogues15. 6: 829-854.
Gallese, V. (2009). Mirror Neurons, Embodied Simulation, and the Neural Basis of Social Identification. Psychoanalytic Dialogues, 19:519–536.
Kafka, H. (2008). The Man Who Could Not Cry and the Psychoanalyst Who Could: Mutual Healing in the Maternal Transference/Countertransference. American Journal of Psychoanalysis, suppl. Special Issue II Clinical Sándor Ferenczi Conference 68. 2: 156-68.
Star Man
Re: Nature vs Nurture: Republican brains are different from Democratic brains
Quote:
Posted in reply to the post by Star Man:
AlterNet /
By Laura Gottesdiener
Are Republican Brains Different?
A new study indicates a biological basis for conservative tendencies.
February 21, 2013
Downloaded February 21, 2013 from
https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-po...ains-different
A brain scan study recently revealed that Democrats and Republican process and understand risk in different ways, with Democrats more attuned to their emotions and those of others, while Republicans are more driven by fear and potential reward.
A now a report out today demonstrates that men who carry guns or support the NRA want to be feared. It all fits together. A very tidy picture.
Star Man
Re: Nature vs Nurture: Republican brains are different from Democratic brains
Quote:
Posted in reply to the post by Star Man:
A now a report out today demonstrates that men who carry guns or support the NRA want to be feared. It all fits together. A very tidy picture.
Star Man
I think it's a chicken and egg perspective. I'd read it as saying that people who have a strong reaction to fear - their own and what they perceive in others - are drawn to guns. There are other reasons to find them interesting, though. You've found a correlation that shows applying the stereotype may often fit the person. Stereotypes are still a very blunt tool - racial issues aren't the only ones where we should be careful of invoking them.
Re: Nature vs Nurture: Republican brains are different from Democratic brains
Quote:
Posted in reply to the post by Star Man:
A brain scan study recently revealed that Democrats and Republican process and understand risk in different ways, with Democrats more attuned to their emotions and those of others, while Republicans are more driven by fear and potential reward.
* * * * * * * * * *
The finding that Republicans regulate emotion from the amygdala suggests that there were deficiencies in the maternal relationship for Republicans and that Democrats are more likely to have had a healthy maternal attachment. This finding is certainly consistent with Republican attitudes toward women, pregnancy, abortion, birth control, and rape.
The author of the article asks if Republicans should be allowed to rent cars. I think it's more appropriate to ask if they should be allowed to vote or hold office.
Star Man
As if the evidence from the study I cited was not enough, today's news (3/5/13) reports that Iowa Republican legislators have introduced a bill to prevent divorce because parental divorce causes the daughters of that marriage to be "promiscuous."
People, we are watching America become more like the countries we are attacking: Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Mali, Yemen. In these countries the Taliban promotes Sharia Law, a fundamentalist creed that denies all women's rights. Recently a 22 year old woman was shot to death publicly by Taliban for the crime of allegedly having been sexual. Recently a teenage Pakistani woman was shot nearly to death by Taliban for creating a protest movement.
The Republicans of Iowa and of America are determined to bring on an American Sharia. These White Men are the American Taliban. They're denying women birth control, abortion, Plan B. They deny that rape causes pregnancy. Then they deny child care to the babies of rape.
I wonder (and Huffington Post would not allow this comment) how long it will be before the American Taliban follows the lead of the men of many African countries who circumcise women to decrease the pleasure they might derive from sexuality. Iowa Legislator Gassmann might approve of this means of decreasing the "promiscuity" of teenage women.
Star Man
