The psychology of political parties: Why conservatives fall in line and liberals don’t

[one...two...tree 2,762]

(excerpt)

In the first study, hundreds of people online answered forty questions about preferences and beliefs, half of them political (“America should strive to strengthen its military”) and half non-political (“I like poetry”). They then estimated what percentage of study participants who share their political beliefs (political in-group members) would agree with them on each item – in other words, if you’re a conservative, and you indicated that you liked poetry, you then estimated what percentage of other conservatives in the study liked poetry as well. Stern and colleagues then compared those estimateswith the actual figues to determine whether each participant overestimated their similarity to their political in-group (false consensus) or underestimated it (false uniqueness).

Conservatives overestimated how similar their preferences were to those of other conservatives (false consensus), while liberals underestimated how similar their preferences were to those of other liberals (false uniqueness). Political moderates also overestimated their similarity to other moderates, in line with previous findings that people in general overestimate how much other people share their preferences and beliefs. This was the case for both political (e.g., military spending) and non-political (e.g., poetry) preferences.

The second study replicated the design of the first, with one twist: everyone also filled out the Need for Uniqueness scale, with questions like “If I must die let it be an unusual death rather than an ordinary death in bed.” Again, conservatives and moderates overestimated how similar they were to their political in-group, while liberals underestimated their similarity to their political in-group. Further, these ideological differences were in part accounted for by people’s need for uniqueness – the more you expressed the desire to be different from those around you, the more you underestimated how similar you were. This suggests that liberals think they’re unique among liberals in part because they want to be unique.

Anyone who’s ever been part of a liberal counter-cultural clique will recognize this pressure to be unique, which can easily turn into an arms race. You’ve got a tattoo? Well, my skin is nothing but tattoos. You make artisanal pickles? Well, I make artisanal horseradish. You have a pet ferret? Well, I have a pet camel. And so on. But it’s this motivation to be unique – even among other liberals – that makes liberals alike. It’s a bit like the scene from Monty Python’s Life of Brian where a crowd of hundreds chants in unison: “Yes, we are all individuals! Yes, we are all different!”

http://www.scientificamerican.com/

Edited January 24, 2014 by Porterhouse

[luckytxn 2,264]

Both parties are for chumps.

[Merle 458]

So does this mean that not all conservatives call the United States 'murica' and that they don't all have a love of Nascar? It seems that all of the liberals on this website seem to generalize them in that manner.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Well feel free to speak up for the significantly more self styled conservatives who make equivalent generalisations on a daily basis.

The lesson being, people who make such generalisations are idiots and @ssholes. There are just more of those on the other side of the fence ;-)

Edited January 24, 2014 by Papa Lazarou

[Merle 458]

Well feel free to speak up for the significantly more self styled conservatives who make equivalent generalisations on a daily basis.

The lesson being, people who make such generalisations are idiots and @ssholes. There are just more of those on the other side of the fence ;-)

Well according to the study conservatives are less alike with eack other than liberals are with each other. That's what I was pointing out. Or am I having a reading comprehension problem with the first post?

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I'm talking about the posters in VJ more than anything. It's that representative of real life? No idea.

I think it's pretty clear who is doing the stereotyping.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

[JohnR! 5,495]

I heard an in-depth segment aboiut this report on WGAF... Most enlightening...

Edited January 24, 2014 by Gegel

[DavenRoxy 1,073]

The lesson being, people who make such generalisations are idiots and @ssholes. There are just more of those on the other side of the fence ;-)

That's not a fence you're attempting to look over. It's a mirror...

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

You wish.

[mota bhai 2,675]

... people who make such generalisations are idiots and @ssholes. There are just more of those on the other side of the fence ;-)

Hey, fu*k you too buddy.

[decocker 7,198]

i dunno about this. i want to remove all mentions of 'liberal' and replace with 'hipster'. we can leave conservative alone because well, who cares?

Hey, fu*k you too buddy.

terrance? phillip? is that you?

[Pooky 3,784]

Well according to the study conservatives are less alike with eack other than liberals are with each other. That's what I was pointing out. Or am I having a reading comprehension problem with the first post?

No, that's the way I interpreted it, too. Conservatives think they are more alike than they are. Liberals think they are more different than they are. So Liberals, who wish to be more different, are the more likely to actually fall in line.

And Independents, well they just don't like lines.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

And Independents, well they just don't like lines.

You have to stand for something, or you will fall for anything, which is good, because both sides tell lies to win over the mushy stuff in the middle.

[BatmanUSA 105]

Maybe I missed it, but I followed the link to scientific America, and I could not find the study you are talking about...

seems to me this is just another attempt to divide and destroy our country...