http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070909/hl_afp/scienceneuroscience_070909173324 

They’ve mapped out some of the psychological differences between liberals and conservatives.

Although this article makes a half-hearted attempt to be fair and balanced, it’s clear which side gets the better end of this deal:

The match-up was unmistakable: respondents who had described themselves as liberals showed “significantly greater conflict-related neural activity” when the hypothetical situation called for an unscheduled break in routine.

Conservatives, however, were less flexible, refusing to deviate from old habits “despite signals that this … should be changed.”

First, people who “describe themselves as liberal” aren’t necessarily liberals.  If you want a totally biased opinion about someone, you ask them.  If that doesn’t indicate to you that the study is already flawed, then you’ll probably want to skip the rest of this post.

Second, I’m also pretty sure the writer of this article has a 5th Grader’s idea of what “liberal” and “conservative” mean.

Let me tell you something, people:  you can be a radical conservative and a traditionalist liberal.  Those phrases probably look totally out of place next to each other, but it’s true.

Why?  Because America’s current tradition is New Deal/Great Society-era government programming.  Maintaining the status quo TODAY means keeping Roe v. Wade, continuing to spend on a massive domestic government, having no dissenting opinions about public education, and getting taxed like it’s the Middle Ages (as long as you’re middle class).  If anything, my conservative beliefs mean I’m often for total, radical change.

And, of course, the study itself doesn’t embrace the “ability to recognize abstract ideas” as it proposes liberals do:  political beliefs are far from one-dimensional.  It’s easy to present conservatives and liberals on a tug-of-war map in which the only reference point you get is a single line, or rope.  What about libertarians?  Independents?

Also, there’s this:

Obscuring causal links even more is the fact that the brain is malleable and neural functions can change as a result of new experiences.

…in other words, this article is totally worthless.  Thanks for putting that paragraph at the end.