Post by the Scribe on Feb 6, 2021 8:24:33 GMT
Neurology: Conservative Amygdala = Fake News; Liberal Anterior Cingulate Cortex = Rational Analysis
www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/4/9/1651771/-Neurology-Conservative-Amygdala-Fake-News-Liberal-Anterior-Cingulate-Cortex-Rational-Analysis
alterego55
Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)
Sunday April 09, 2017 · 5:26 PM PDT
Conservative Amygdala = Conspiracy Theories;
Liberal Anterior Cingulate Cortex = Rational Analysis
We watched as Trump told us about the non-existent thousands of Muslims dancing on the roofs in Jersey city. We watched as Trump scared Americans into confirming Jefferson Beauregard Sessions as Attorney General based upon false crime statistics, thus ushering in the era of the American Fascist Police State. We watched as Trump made Americans unduly afraid of Mexican “drug dealers” and “rapists”, *eyes roll*. Trump has Americans scared to death of Syrian families who have been the victims of the worst of the worst crimes against humanity. We all know that conservatives are far more susceptible to Fake News and conspiracy theories. But why?
Multiple corroborating psychological studies show that fear is a greater influencing factor for conservatives when forming their social and political views. They are more likely to be motivated by fear and more likely to believe in conspiracy theories. This is in correlation with an overdeveloped primitive part of the brain called the right amygdala which among other primitive functions, triggers the fear response. The amygdala is located approximately where the “Constantly talk about Jesus” part of the brain is located in the Conservative Brain diagram above, but it is on the right hemisphere.
The same studies show that liberals are better at filtering the knee jerk fear response of the right amygdala and acting in a more tempered and analytic manner. This is in correlation with having a larger, more complex part of the brain called the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), which among other things analyzes and tempers the fear response of the amygdala. The ACC is located directly behind the highly complex prefrontal cortex and adjacent to the corpus callosum, which is the brain’s broadband system connecting the right and left halves of the brain.
This is one of the reasons you'll never see an analogue to Rush Limbaugh, Alex Jones or Mark Levin on the liberal end of the spectrum. Many liberals have tried to develop highly successful liberal radio or TV broadcasts, but they aren’t nearly as successful as conservative shows, because liberals simply don't respond to fear and and they don’t rally around conspiracy theories to the same extent as conservatives do. That’s exactly why the conservative media are able to get away with Fake News day after day after day, and the liberal media are not.
The studies were conducted independently by New York University, UCLA and University College London are reported by by Nature Neuroscience, Current Biology and Social Neuroscience magazines. They are online but you have to pay for them. However, there is a free synopsis on the National Institute of Health website: Political Orientations Are Correlated with Brain Structure in Young Adults. You can read articles at the following links for free:
The complete reports are also available online, but you have to pay a fee to to download them. Excerpts from the articles:
The synopsis has references to 29 different studies, papers and other reference material. We always knew the “what” about conservatives being susceptible to conspiracy theories, now we know the “why”. When we learn the “how”, we’ll be able to help them unwind the unhealthy conspiracy consciousness out of their Fake News minds and our media as well.
www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/4/9/1651771/-Neurology-Conservative-Amygdala-Fake-News-Liberal-Anterior-Cingulate-Cortex-Rational-Analysis
alterego55
Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)
Sunday April 09, 2017 · 5:26 PM PDT
Conservative Amygdala = Conspiracy Theories;
Liberal Anterior Cingulate Cortex = Rational Analysis
We watched as Trump told us about the non-existent thousands of Muslims dancing on the roofs in Jersey city. We watched as Trump scared Americans into confirming Jefferson Beauregard Sessions as Attorney General based upon false crime statistics, thus ushering in the era of the American Fascist Police State. We watched as Trump made Americans unduly afraid of Mexican “drug dealers” and “rapists”, *eyes roll*. Trump has Americans scared to death of Syrian families who have been the victims of the worst of the worst crimes against humanity. We all know that conservatives are far more susceptible to Fake News and conspiracy theories. But why?
Multiple corroborating psychological studies show that fear is a greater influencing factor for conservatives when forming their social and political views. They are more likely to be motivated by fear and more likely to believe in conspiracy theories. This is in correlation with an overdeveloped primitive part of the brain called the right amygdala which among other primitive functions, triggers the fear response. The amygdala is located approximately where the “Constantly talk about Jesus” part of the brain is located in the Conservative Brain diagram above, but it is on the right hemisphere.
The same studies show that liberals are better at filtering the knee jerk fear response of the right amygdala and acting in a more tempered and analytic manner. This is in correlation with having a larger, more complex part of the brain called the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), which among other things analyzes and tempers the fear response of the amygdala. The ACC is located directly behind the highly complex prefrontal cortex and adjacent to the corpus callosum, which is the brain’s broadband system connecting the right and left halves of the brain.
This is one of the reasons you'll never see an analogue to Rush Limbaugh, Alex Jones or Mark Levin on the liberal end of the spectrum. Many liberals have tried to develop highly successful liberal radio or TV broadcasts, but they aren’t nearly as successful as conservative shows, because liberals simply don't respond to fear and and they don’t rally around conspiracy theories to the same extent as conservatives do. That’s exactly why the conservative media are able to get away with Fake News day after day after day, and the liberal media are not.
The studies were conducted independently by New York University, UCLA and University College London are reported by by Nature Neuroscience, Current Biology and Social Neuroscience magazines. They are online but you have to pay for them. However, there is a free synopsis on the National Institute of Health website: Political Orientations Are Correlated with Brain Structure in Young Adults. You can read articles at the following links for free:
The complete reports are also available online, but you have to pay a fee to to download them. Excerpts from the articles:
"Individuals with a large amygdala [conservatives] are more sensitive to fear, which, taken together with our findings, might suggest the testable hypothesis that individuals with larger amygdala are more inclined to integrate conservative views into their belief system."
"Moreover, the amplitude of event-related potentials reflecting neural activity associated with conflict monitoring in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is greater for liberals compared to conservatives . Thus, stronger liberalism is associated with increased sensitivity to cues for altering a habitual response pattern and with brain activity in anterior cingulate cortex.”
"Moreover, the amplitude of event-related potentials reflecting neural activity associated with conflict monitoring in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is greater for liberals compared to conservatives . Thus, stronger liberalism is associated with increased sensitivity to cues for altering a habitual response pattern and with brain activity in anterior cingulate cortex.”
The synopsis has references to 29 different studies, papers and other reference material. We always knew the “what” about conservatives being susceptible to conspiracy theories, now we know the “why”. When we learn the “how”, we’ll be able to help them unwind the unhealthy conspiracy consciousness out of their Fake News minds and our media as well.