Amygdala ~ Does that Scare You?

If it does you are probably a Republican. The amygdala is an almond shaped dohicky deep in the brain that gets all excited and active during times of fear and anxiety. In contrast the anterior cingulate cortex is that part of the brain that helps one deal with fear and anxiety and complexity. Isn’t this exciting?

The University College London just completed a study of students using MRI’s to study those parts of the brain. The found that conservative students had a big amygdala and liberal students had more gray matter in the anterior cingulate cortex. Harvard and UCLA San Diego have done similar studies with the same findings.

So are you innately wired to be conservative or liberal at birth or were their childhood experiences that stimulated these parts of the brain to make you liberal or conservative?

Liberals are defined here as folk who like change and challenge and conservatives or those who resist change. Conservatives are big on defense because they worry about folk out to hurt us – scary terrorists abound. Liberals tend to be more intellectual and conservatives more anti-intellectual thus differing views on education and the like.

So, this helps clarify why conservatives and liberals have such difficulty conversing with each other; they come from significantly different mindsets.

I find this very interesting though I haven’t a clue as to what to do with it. But knowledge is always helpful. When I was pasturing I would give a mini Meyers-Briggs test to the church board to see how they differed so we would understand each other better and realize that we need each other for more complete views of the world and how to be productive as a church in society. This seems to fall within the same purview.

Thanks BBIdaho for finding this most interesting information.