Bad News: Education Won't Help

But if you know a smart conservative, you already knew that.

Just like the brains of men and women are not physically or chemically the same, studies seem to show that Conservatives and Liberals are not created equal.

Yale researcher Dan Kahan and his colleagues set out to study the relationship between political views, scientific knowledge or reasoning abilities, and opinions on contested scientific issues like global warming. In their study, more than 1,500 randomly selected Americans were asked about their political worldviews and their opinions about how dangerous global warming and nuclear power are. But that’s not all: They were also asked standard questions to determine their degree of scientific literacy [...] as well as their numeracy or capacity for mathematical reasoning.

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[H]ere was the result. If you were already part of a cultural group predisposed to distrust climate science—e.g., a political conservative or “hierarchical-individualist”—then more science knowledge and more skill in mathematical reasoning tended to make you even more dismissive. Precisely the opposite happened with the other group—“egalitarian-communitarians” or liberals—who tended to worry more as they knew more science and math. The result was that, overall, more scientific literacy and mathematical ability led to greater political polarization.

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What accounts for [this] effect?

For one thing, well-informed or well-educated conservatives probably consume more conservative news and opinion, such as by watching Fox News. Thus, they are more likely to know what they’re supposed to think about the issues—what people like them think—and to be familiar with the arguments or reasons for holding these views. If challenged, they can then recall and reiterate these arguments. They’ve made them a part of their identities, a part of their brains, and in doing so, they’ve drawn a strong emotional connection between certain “facts” or claims, and their deeply held political values. And they’re ready to argue.

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In fact, there is even research suggesting that the most rigid and inflexible breed of conservatives—so-called authoritarians—do not really become their ideological selves until they actually learn something about politics first. A kind of “authoritarian activation” needs to occur, and it happens through the development of political “expertise.”

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Nuclear power is a classic test case for liberal biases—kind of the flip side of the global warming issue–for the following reason. It’s well known that liberals tend to start out distrustful of nuclear energy: There’s a long history of this on the left. But this impulse puts them at odds with the views of the scientific community on the matter (scientists tend to think nuclear power risks are overblown, especially in light of the dangers of other energy sources, like coal).

[Contrary to the effect in conservatives, as] members of the “egalitarian communitarian” group in the study—people with more liberal values – knew more science and math, they did not become more worried, overall, about the risks of nuclear power. Rather, they moved in the opposite direction from where these initial impulses would have taken them. They become less worried—and, I might add, closer to the opinion of the scientific community on the matter.

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Before you start off your next argument with a fact, then, first think about what the facts say about that strategy. If you’re a liberal who is emotionally wedded to the idea that rationality wins the day—well, then, it’s high time to listen to reason.

  Salon

And this is a lesson anyone who has ever had to live with an alcoholic knows very well. Which makes me wonder...how is an alcoholic brain similar to a conservative one? I'm not being glib or even trying to denigrate conservative views. (I have some of those myself- don't anybody panic.)  I think that might provide some interesting information. Of course, I've known some liberals whose brains shut off when they've made a decision to support or oppose something, too. Maybe they weren't included in the study.

And here's the next part for the education study – since it's not a matter of education, is a conservative vs liberal brain a matter of nature or nurture?

Frankly, precisely because of those adamant and radical liberal minds that are anything but open, I suspect that we are not really dealing with conservative vs liberal brains here, but something else.  And that something else still supports the conclusion:  education doesn't help.

Here's another article that discusses the scientific differences in political brains, for you to consider,which I think gets closer to what we're looking at.

As the new research suggests, conservatism is largely a defensive ideology -- and therefore, much more appealing to people who go through life sensitive and highly attuned to aversive or threatening aspects of their environments. By contrast, liberalism can be thought of as an exploratory ideology -- much more appealing to people who go through life trying things out and seeking the new.

  Chris Mooney

Read it.  The studies are very interesting.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.