Political Science
Researchers may have found a link between a person's bedroom or office condition and their political affiliation. According to controversial new study, you can tell what a person's political affiliation is by looking at their bedroom and office décor.
The bedrooms and offices of Liberals, who are categorized as carefree, "loose" individuals, tend to be colorful, have books about travel, ethnicity, feminism, and music. They have rock 'n' roll CDs, art supplies, movie tickets, and travel mementos.
Conservatives, on the other hand, surround themselves with calendars, postage stamps, laundry baskets, irons, and sewing materials. Their rooms are well-lit and have sports paraphernalia and display American flags.
There are differences in personality traits too. Positive traits associated with Liberals include: independent, tough, controlling, and animated and negative traits associated with conservatives include: easily victimized or offended, irresolute, hesitant, and rigid. Scientists have even connected the strength of a person's startle response to their political association. Conservatives get frightened much easier than liberals.
What causes these differences in personalities and interior design? That is a question that experts and researchers are debating. Many experts have rejected these conclusions, saying the statements are based only on public opinion. One explanation is that mirror neurons, circuits of cells that transmit signals when we see someone act or speak in a was that is familiar, played a major role in the upcoming 2008 presidential election. When Republican candidate John McCain selected Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate, many white, female Obama supporters may have switched parties and supported McCain and Palin. The mirror neurons in your brain set off alarms that say "this person is just like me." This causes you to question your political party and to decide whether you are truly conservative (republican) or liberal (democratic). Another major result is that genetics may play a role in politics. Researchers have found that people with variants of the MAOA and 5HTT genes , which affect serotonin, which regulates social interaction, trust, and fear, were 10 percent more likely to vote in the 2000 presidential election than people with less efficient versions of the genes.
In conclusion, there may not be an Obama gene or a McCain gene, but genes have an effect on the way we think socially, which affects our political beliefs, which has an impact on many things.
My response:
This article was very intriguing to me because of the upcoming presidential election. It gave suggestions that the way people vote, election participation, and the way that people decorate their rooms are all controlled by mirror neurons or genetics. I personally believe both of these possible explanations. The author did an excellent job in explaining the possible explanations and providing quotes to support the beliefs of experts. God plays a role in everything in life, including politics, and whatever happens in elections, it is important to understand that it is God's will.
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=organization-and-political-leanings
posted by Nick @ 3:53 PM
5 Comments:
I personally do not believe the first part of this theory, though i do not totally rule it out, because in this point of time this theory would guess me a liberal. I honestly always saw myself as more conservative than liberal. I do think it is interesting that they have found genes that they think could relate to how a person votes. I also find it intriguing that liberals tend to not be frightened as easily as conservatives. I personally believe this could be because liberals tend to live life more on the edge, doing exciting things such as going to haunted houses and the such, that induce fright. This would cause them to be frightened less easily because they could be desensitized to these stimuli, but this is merely my thought.
I think this is somewhat of a controversial article. I never thought that genes might affect the way we vote or think about politics. It makes sense though that one might switch a party based on the mirror neurons. However, that might have nothing to do with neurons or genes at all. Human nature is that we are generally attracted to people like ourselves. I though it was interesting that people with the genes that affect serotonin were more likely to vote. This makes sense in that if those genes affect social interection, trust, and fear, the people with these genes may feel a greater urge to respond and feel that they can have an impact.
it is very interesting that there is a gene that can determine the way you vote. I think that the items in a persons room and office is always going to tell something about the person even if it is their political preferances. adding the spiritual endind to tie together the world and what god says was a effective way to complete the summary.
I never thought about genes affecting political beliefs. I don't know that I agree with it, because every person makes his or her own decision, but I don't disregard it. It's definitely a possibility that genes play a role, even if only a small one. The interior design seems to be stretching it, but it's possible that it does reflect how a person thinks, which affects what they believe.
This article made several good points about what influences our potitical deccesions. But maybe its not so much the genes dictating who we vote for but maybe its just our lifestyle. Though I did agree that we probaly do tend to lean towards people of the same sex and race. But I think that what probaly happens is that our genes help influence our lifestyle which then inturns influence our political decesions. So Im not sure if I agree that genes directly effect who we are going to vote for.
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