wow This is really great stuff. A scientific explanation for why the sheep respond so well to the republican political strategy of fear mongering.

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In the study, the scientists recruited 46 volunteers living in Lincoln, Nebraska, all of whom had strong political beliefs. They were asked for their opinions on a wide variety of controversial issues. All the questions concerned social or international issues, rather than economic matters.

The participants were then given two laboratory tests, to establish their physiological responses to frightening or unexpected stimuli. In the first test, they viewed 33 images, three of which were distressing or threatening: a large spider on the face of a frightened person; a dazed person with a bloody face; and maggots in an open wound. The scientists measured the electrical conductance of the skin, a standard measure of distress and arousal.

In the second test, the volunteers were subjected to a loud, unexpected noise, with scientists measuring the involuntary blinking that followed. A strong startle response is indicative of heightened fear and arousal. The results, which are published in the journal Science, revealed significant differences in both responses, which corresponded with people’s political views. Those with “markedly lower physical sensitivity to sudden noises and threatening visual images” tended to support liberal positions, while those with strong responses tended to be more conservative.

This would fit with the hypothesis that people who have more fearful responses to perceived threats are more likely to be conservative, while those who have weaker responses develop more liberal views.

The scientists considered it likely that “physiological responses to generic threats and political attitudes on policies related to protecting the social order may both derive from a common source”. This was unlikely to be indoctrination by parents and peer-groups, they said, because involuntary reflexes could be altered only with systematic training, which usually involves punishment. More probable was that political outlook and startle responses were affected by differences in brain activity, possibly in the amygdala region, which processes emotions such as fear and disgust. “Amygdala activity is also crucial in shaping responses to socially threatening images, and may be connected to political predispositions,” they said.

Full text available at http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article4783077.ece