Given that is has been shown that the most significant factor in determining ones stance on AGW is ones political leaning and given that there was recently a rash of posts that basically asserted that supporting AGW was a sign of being mentally defective and/or a Green. I thought I would just have a look and see what peer reviewed information was available on the differences between the conservative and progressive/liberal minds.
Quite a bit as it seems. I knew there were some studies that showed that the conservative mind had difficulty with uncertainty and was more fearful in general. But I found a compilation of a peer reviewed papers on the subject. 16 in total. I will list them below. The link at the end contains links to all the original papers for review. It is hard-wired and it really does explain a lot.
1. Conservatives spend more time looking at unpleasant images, and liberals spend more time looking at pleasant images.
2. Reliance on quick, efficient, and "low effort" thought processes yields conservative ideologies, while effortful and deliberate reasoning yields liberal ideologies.
3. Conservatives react more strongly than liberals to disgusting images, such as a picture of someone eating worms.
4. Liberals have more tolerance to uncertainty (bigger anterior cingulate cortex), and conservatives have more sensitivity to fear (bigger right amygdala).
5. Conservatives have stronger motivations than liberals to preserve purity and cleanliness.
6. Liberals follow the direction of eye movements better than conservatives.
7. Republicans are more likely than Democrats to interpret faces as threatening and expressing dominant emotions, while Democrats show greater emotional distress and lower life satisfaction.
8. Conservatives and liberals react similarly to positive incentives, but conservatives have greater sensitivity to negative stimuli.
9. Conservatives have more activity in their dorsolateral prefrontal cortices, the part of the brain that activates for complex social evaluations.
10. Conservatism is focused on preventing negative outcomes, while liberalism is focused on advancing positive outcomes.
11. Genetics influence political attitudes during early adulthood and beyond.
12. Compared to liberals, conservatives are less open to new experiences and learn better from negative stimuli than positive stimuli.
13. Conservatives tend to have a stronger reaction to threatening noises and images than liberals.
14. Liberals are more open-minded and creative whereas conservatives are more orderly and better organized.
15. When faced with a conflict, liberals are more likely than conservatives to alter their habitual response when cues indicate it is necessary.
16. Conservatives sleep more soundly and have more mundane dreams, while liberals sleep more restlessly and have a more bizarre, active dream life.
Here is the link to the list of published papers: http://2012election.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=004818
It is so clear now. The conservative mind has difficulty comprehending the complexity and uncertainty of the science. The conservative mind wants simplicity and black and white answers. The conservative mind is motivated and incentivised by fear, fear of change, fear of the "warmist Gore-loving cultists". The conservative mind doesn't want change and seeks a world view where that is not necessary. It must be a scary place.
