{"id":135452,"date":"2017-11-27T23:35:20","date_gmt":"2017-11-28T06:35:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/?p=135452"},"modified":"2017-11-28T00:44:31","modified_gmt":"2017-11-28T07:44:31","slug":"physical-safety-liberal-conservative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/11\/27\/physical-safety-liberal-conservative.html","title":{"rendered":"On physical safety, being liberal, and being conservative"},"content":{"rendered":"

I tend to be leery of articles that seem psychological or biological differentiation between “conservatives” and “liberals,” for a variety of reasons. First, such articles almost always show a bias as to which end of the spectrum is better. Second, “liberal” and “conservative” are so broad and slippery of labels that they tend to be difficult to make meaningful from a scientific standpoint.<\/p>\n

The experiment (and background experiments) discussed in this article, though, is fascinating and, beyond the clickbait headline (which, mercifully, G+’s current treatment of WaPo articles obscures) takes a relatively straightforward approach, and in a way that rings true, drawing a correlation between a sense of physical safety (or fear of physical danger) and one’s conservative vs liberal bent.<\/p>\n

All of which makes sense, and maybe even just a truism. Conservative political leaders and pundits often take a fearful view of the world (rapist Mexican immigrants, gun-toting narco-gangs, molesters in the public restrooms, ISIL terrorists sneaking in as refugees, tyrannical big government coming to take your guns and freedom, etc.). Regardless of whether this is realistic,<\/i> (let alone whether this is fearmongering to garner or even create votes, vs sincerely held beliefs), the identification of conservatism with a sense of fear for the physical safety of oneself and one’s loved ones lines up all too well.<\/p>\n

What makes the experiment described so interesting is that by creating a sense of safety,<\/i> of immunity to physical harm, the researchers were able to get Republicans in the study to answer questions on a number of “fearful” topics in a way that was consistent with how Democrats answered, least for a period of time. That indicates that such attitudes can be shifted (presumably in either direction), and that they are less ideologically based than they are emotionally based.<\/p>\n

Again, this is broad-based stuff. Liberal politicians often dabble in fear-mongering, too, though not perhaps of an explicitly physical nature. But understanding the whys and wherefores of ideological differences may make us more aware of how our own emotions are driving what we think are intellectually sound belief systems, and how to approach people who believe very differently from us in a way that is effective, and not targeting the wrong root of their beliefs.<\/p>\n


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\n<\/a>
\nwashingtonpost<\/a><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

View on Google+<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I tend to be leery of articles that seem psychological or biological differentiation between “conservatives” and “liberals,” for a variety of reasons. First, such articles almost always show a bias as to which end of the spectrum is better. Second, “liberal” and “conservative” are so broad and slippery of labels that they tend to be … Continue reading “On physical safety, being liberal, and being conservative”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":135453,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106,715,298,17,9,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-135452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-plusposts","category-crime-punishment","category-guns","category-homeland-security","category-politics-law","category-science"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/brain-and-ideology.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":130614,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/05\/07\/crafting-conservative-vs-liberal-messages-on-the-environment.html","url_meta":{"origin":135452,"position":0},"title":"Crafting Conservative vs. Liberal messages on the environment","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 7-May-16 2:08pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Interesting study about how the values you appeal to can affect whether a pro-environment message you craft has a positive or negative effect on conservatives who read it.[1] A message that appeals to compassion, justice, and fairness will tend to trigger negative reactions from conservative readers; a pro-environment message that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9094,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2006\/02\/20\/the_more_things.html","url_meta":{"origin":135452,"position":1},"title":"The more things change …","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 20-Feb-06 12:40pm","format":false,"excerpt":"The FreeRepublic website is known as being, um, rabidly \"conservative,\" i.e., radibly supportive of the Bush Administration (which is the new definition of conservatism, it seems). Which makes makes this...","rel":"","context":"In "Homeland Security"","block_context":{"text":"Homeland Security","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law\/homeland-security"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28609,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/07\/15\/the-shrinking-of-the-episcopal-church.html","url_meta":{"origin":135452,"position":2},"title":"The shrinking of the Episcopal Church","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 15-Jul-12 3:43pm","format":false,"excerpt":"An interesting article linked below on how the Episcopal Church has declined in size over the last decade, even as it has grown more progressive and liberal. \u00a0A few thoughts on my part:1. A substantial amount of that decline is, from my observations, from more conservative Christians who have left\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11311,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2007\/09\/27\/episcopal_stuff_2.html","url_meta":{"origin":135452,"position":3},"title":"Episcopal Stuff","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 27-Sep-07 7:14am","format":false,"excerpt":"I really don't have time to write on this at length, but various bits and pieces from the House of Bishops meeting in New Orleans this week. First off,...","rel":"","context":"In "LGBTQ &c"","block_context":{"text":"LGBTQ &c","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/gay-stuff"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/episcshield_15_188.gif?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":44162,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/08\/06\/conservative-vs-liberal-cities.html","url_meta":{"origin":135452,"position":4},"title":"Conservative vs Liberal Cities","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 6-Aug-14 6:30am","format":false,"excerpt":"An interesting chart. No great surprise in seeing where Colorado Springs is vs. Denver. The measurement is regarding policy preferences by the public in the cities in question.More on this study here (http:\/\/www.economist.com\/node\/21610375), and the study itself is here (http:\/\/www.ctausanovitch.com\/Municipal_Representation_140502.pdf).\u00a0Reshared post from +The EconomistThis chart reveals how liberal or conservative\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/783-eda2ac2e6ec3d8b2301e5004fb74bfc1.jpg.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":130154,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/03\/10\/gop-senator-admits-blocking-obama-scotus-nom-is-politics-not-principle.html","url_meta":{"origin":135452,"position":5},"title":"GOP Senator admits blocking Obama SCOTUS nom is politics, not principle","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 10-Mar-16 7:41pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Not that anyone's actually surprised, mind you, except maybe that Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) would be so blunt about it.\"Generally, and this is the way it works out politically, if you\u2019re replacing \u2014 if a conservative president\u2019s replacing a conservative justice, there\u2019s a little more accommodation to it. But when\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135452"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135452\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":135454,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135452\/revisions\/135454"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}