Study: Conservatives have larger ‘fear center’ in brain

[Freeper]

RamboLiberal Donating Member (1000+ posts)  Journal Click to send private message to this author Click to view this author's profile Click to add this author to your buddy list Click to add this author to your Ignore list    Tue Dec-28-10 07:54 PM
Original message
Study: Conservatives have larger ‘fear center’ in brain
   
Political opinions are considered choices, and in Western democracies the right to choose one's opinions -- freedom of conscience -- is considered sacrosanct.

But recent studies suggest that our brains and genes may be a major determining factor in the views we hold.

A study at University College London in the UK has found that conservatives' brains have larger amygdalas than the brains of liberals. Amygdalas are responsible for fear and other "primitive" emotions. At the same time, conservatives' brains were also found to have a smaller anterior cingulate -- the part of the brain responsible for courage and optimism.

If the study is confirmed, it could give us the first medical explanation for why conservatives tend to be more receptive to threats of terrorism, for example, than liberals. And it may help to explain why conservatives like to plan based on the worst-case scenario, while liberals tend towards rosier outlooks.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/12/conservatives-fear-c... /

And the damn Repukes & RW talkers know just how to play to their fears!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x84411

This coming from people who fear that evil Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, and any conservative voice.
 

[Chris_]

Fear is healthy.  Irrational, drug-fueled paranoia directed at Republican political figures is not.

Might want to get that checked out, DUmmies.

[true_blood]

If the study is confirmed, it could give us the first medical explanation for why conservatives tend to be more receptive to threats of terrorism, for example, than liberals. And it may help to explain why conservatives like to plan based on the worst-case scenario, while liberals tend towards rosier outlooks.

Hence why liberalism is a mental disorder.

[compaqxp]

This does not surprise me one bit, However fear is not always a bad thing.

[Freeper]

Fear is healthy.  Irrational, drug-fueled paranoia directed at Republican political figures is not.

Might want to get that checked out, DUmmies.

They fear their own shadow.
They fear guns.
They fear drug tests because they know they can't pass.
And they fear getting a job that makes them do some work.

Hence why liberalism is a mental disorder.

Exactly. In fact Beck has been saying that actually preparing for emergencies is smart.
I suppose to DUmmies waiting for the govt to help is smart to them.

[Freeper]

This does not surprise me one bit, However fear is not always a bad thing.

I see more despair and fear at DU than here. I wonder why that is.
It may have something to do with depending on the govt for everything while conservatives act on our fears and prepare to take care of what may happen, instead of standing there with hands open waiting for the govt to steal from the rich to give to us.

[true_blood]

Exactly. In fact Beck has been saying that actually preparing for emergencies is smart.
I suppose to DUmmies waiting for the govt to help is smart to them.

True. How can being "too prepared" be a bad thing? Liberals are just backwards, upside down thinking.

[The Hollywood NeoCon]

RamboLiberal Donating Member (1000+ posts)  Journal Click to send private message to this author Click to view this author's profile Click to add this author to your buddy list Click to add this author to your Ignore list    Tue Dec-28-10 07:54 PM
Original message
Study: Conservatives have larger ‘fear center’ in brain

That's not "fear," you sorry-assed fudgepacker...

That's my deep sense of arousal at the notion of violating everything you love pollute, whilst enjoying your ineffectual lamentations.

If I thought for a moment you were capable of anything resembling genuine emotion, I might feel guilty as your world crumbles and burns. Unfortunately, you're so thoroughly self-absorbed, I'm convinced you're descended from the Warsaw Jewish Police, and are therefore positively giddy at the notion of throwing your family under the bus if it means the realization of whatever bullshit libtard fantasies you've bought into.

"RamboLiberal," my ass, you ****ing impotent twat.

[franksolich]

I'm suspicious of the way the Lambo primitive puts the word "primitive" in quotation marks.

Does one suppose he's trying to talk to us, without breaching my fellow alum's rule about how the primitives on Skins's island aren't supposed to talk to people out here in the real world?

Those quotation marks are, like, really odd.

[true_blood]

I'm suspicious of the way the Lambo primitive puts the word "primitive" in quotation marks. Does one suppose he's trying to talk to us, without breaching my fellow alum's rule about how the primitives on Skins's island aren't supposed to talk to people out here in the real world?
Those quotation marks are, like, really odd.

I could be a "shot" at us. But, it also like that in the link that posted by Freeper as well. I think Lambo just copied and pasted those paragraphs.

[jukin]

Fear is healthy.  Irrational, drug-fueled paranoia directed at Republican political figures is not.

Might want to get that checked out, DUmmies.

BINGO!

I would add that it is not always fear but experience and rational concern.  IMHO, experience, concern, and logic are essential for good decision making.   DUmbasses fly by the seat of their pants and go with their emotions. That behavior pattern almost always brings about poor outcomes.

[thundley4]

This study may also explain why DUmmies are such lonely bitter, vile creatures.  It says that people with smaller amygdalas are less social.

[Carl]

Lurking DUmmies,Google is your friend.

The Amygdala and Depression
Other researchers are exploring how the amygdala might affect people who suffer from bipolar or unipolar (depression-marked melancholy episodes) illnesses, which run in families. "We found that [such people] have an abnormal increase in blood flow and glucose metabolism," says Wayne Drevets, chief of mood and anxiety disorders in the National Institute of Mental Health's neuroimaging section. He also reports that in patients with unipolar depression, the amygdala's left side is smaller by about 12 percent to 15 percent than it is in normal controls.8 Why this is so is not fully certain, but Drevets notes that the amygdala is linked with other brain structures, including the orbital frontal cortex, the thalamus, the striatum, all of which have been "implicated in emotional processing," he says. The overactive amygdala could be a sign of excitotoxicity, a lethal kind of overactivity that kills cells. That, Drevets suggests, might be why a shrunken amygdala is seen in depressed patients. And, he says, some anti-depressive drugs, like lithium, increase biochemical production; these protect neurons from the ravages of overexcitation, thus giving researchers a good reason to continue developing anti-depressants.

http://www.biopsychiatry.com/amygdala.htm

These things always cut more then one way.

[Chris_]

They do love their mental illness, don't they?  I suppose that's what you earn at the DUmp instead of merit badges or a paycheck.

The whole 'fear' argument reminds of the parable of the ant and the grasshopper.

[Duke Nukum]

Reward processing

Although fear is the emotion best understood in terms of brain mechanisms, the amygdala has also been implicated in a variety of other emotional functions. A relatively large body of research has focused on the role of the amygdala in processing of rewards and the use of rewards to motivate and reinforce behavior. As with aversive conditioning, the lateral, basal, and central amygdala have been implicated in different aspects of reward learning and motivation, though the involvement of these nuclei differs somewhat from their role in fear. The amygdala has also been implicated in emotional states associated with aggressive, maternal, sexual, and ingestive (eating and drinking) behaviors. Less is known about the detailed circuitry involved in these emotional states than is known about fear.

http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/Amygdala#Reward_processing

Seems like it may also be the "lust for life" center which is totally lacking in life-hating libs.

[Carl]

In a quick glance of several articles it also appears that when they are talking fear it is not related to some sort of cowering irrationality but how the brain responds to danger and the fight or flight mechanism we have all heard of.

In other words (unless I misunderstood and will stand corrected if so) it would be the "fear" response to a lion attack or similar.

[Evil_Conservative]

In a quick glance of several articles it also appears that when they are talking fear it is not related to some sort of cowering irrationality but how the brain responds to danger and the fight or flight mechanism we have all heard of.

In other words (unless I misunderstood and will stand corrected if so) it would be the "fear" response to a lion attack or similar.

Don't ruin their fun.  Let them think us conservatives are too scared to leave our homes.

[thundley4]

Don't ruin their fun.  Let them think us conservatives are too scared to leave our homes.

Don't rub it in that we still have homes. Think of bobo the hobo.

[true_blood]

Don't rub it in that we still have homes. Think of bobo the hobo.

She's got a transportable home. Much like a rv.

[Freeper]

Don't rub it in that we still have homes. Think of bobo the hobo.

I remember the good old days when the homeless didn't have internet access. 

[Chris_]

  You so bad, Mistah Freeper.

[compaqxp]

True. How can being "too prepared" be a bad thing?

It never has been, when SHTF the only person you can count on is yourself. Those who aren't prepared are the ones who often die.

[longview]

It never has been, when SHTF the only person you can count on is yourself. Those who aren't prepared are the ones who often die.

Watch it!  You're starting to make sense.

Bobo has an RV?  Hope s/he knows that WY gas stations are very sparse and expensive.

[Rebel]

This does not surprise me one bit, However fear is not always a bad thing.

Wars are won and the country is defended by conservatives. Not you pansy-assed ****in' liberal pussies.

[GOBUCKS]

I could be a "shot" at us. But, it also like that in the link that posted by Freeper as well. I think Lambo just copied and pasted those paragraphs.

The quotes were in the link posted by DUmmy Lambo, but the link was to a posting in Raw Story, which is just another blog by a bunch of DUmmies. DUmbasses at the DUmp, Raw Story, or where ever else they may be found, are aware of their tireless nemesis, coach franksolich. Hence, the curious mention of "primitive", not unlike the waving smilies posted by the harridans of the cooking group.