Kevin Pezzi, MD

Conservative is supposed to mean a person who:
(1) favors traditional customs, views, and values; tending to oppose change or innovation, or to limit it by supporting, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society;
(2) is reluctant or averse to change, novelty, or new ideas and opposes sudden change in the established order, endorsing change only if it occurs slowly and in small measures;
(3) is disposed to preserving existing institutions and conditions, or restoring traditional ones;
(4) is traditional, cautious, guarded, conformist, old-fashioned, square, or unimaginatively conventional (don't shoot the messenger—that's what the dictionary said!)

Liberal is supposed to mean:
(1) not limited to established, traditional, or authoritarian attitudes, views, or dogmas; free from bigotry;
(2) open to proposals for reform or new ideas for progress;
(3) tolerant of change or the ideas and behavior of others; broad-minded;
(4) accepting; not criticizing or disapproving;
(5) showing respect for the opinions, practices, or rights of others;
(6) full of love and generosity;
(7) tolerant and forgiving under provocation;
(8) inclined to forgive and show mercy;
(9) indulgent, easy-going, charitable, open-minded, understanding, sympathetic, kind-hearted, unprejudiced.

Who doesn't perceive the need for change? People who:
(1) Have rocks in their heads
(2) Are stoned on drugs
(3) Are too young to know better
(4) Are sitting on a pile of gold and oblivious to the suffering around them

“Political junkies might be interested to learn that conservative women are particularly blissful: about 40 percent say they are very happy. That makes them slightly happier than conservative men and significantly happier than liberal women. The unhappiest of all are liberal men; only about a fifth consider themselves very happy.”

Notes:

1. The brain's autocomplete feature oversimplifies complex issues and impedes tolerance
2. Neurocognitive correlates of liberalism and conservatism
3. June 1, 2023: Q&A: Are liberals truly more depressed than conservatives?
   Excerpt: “Do self-identified liberals suffer from higher levels of depression than their conservative counterparts? Research suggests so …”
4. Red Brain, Blue Brain: Evaluative Processes Differ in Democrats and Republicans
5. Political Orientations Are Correlated with Brain Structure in Young Adults
6. Biology and political orientation
7. Conservatives make the best investors, according to study
8. The politics of insight
9. Your Brain on Politics: The Cognitive Neuroscience of Liberals and Conservatives
10. Book: The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion
11. People think harder and produce better political arguments when their views are challenged
    Comment: I've done that for decades, bashing both liberal and conservative opinions, with people on both ends of the political spectrum not grasping how challenging them is a catalyst for sharpening them—and their minds.
12. What is the meaning of life? Ask a conservative
    Excerpt: “ … conservatives, more so than liberals, report feeling that their lives are meaningful or have purpose.”
13. Hard-wired: The brain's circuitry for political belief
    Excerpt: “When people's political beliefs are challenged, their brains become active in areas that govern personal identity and emotional responses to threats, neuroscientists have found.”
14. People use emotion to persuade, even when it could backfire
15. Analyzing the tweets of Republicans and Democrats
    Excerpt: “… when discussing mass shootings on social media … Republicans talk more about the shooter and Democrats focus more on the victims.”
    Comment: Focusing on innocent victims never evinces why shooters go postal; understanding them is the logical thing to do — obviously.
16. Scientists Are Beginning to Figure Out Why Conservatives Are … Conservative
17. Perceptions of God make Democrats more conservative, Republicans more liberal in some ways: Some types of theology make conservatives more 'compassionate,' while others make liberals 'harsher,' Baylor researchers find
18. Lower class wiser about interpersonal conflict than middle class
    Comment: This interesting tidbit dovetails with what I've witnessed in the real world in which folks with more money are more often the ones blasting others with different political opinions.
19. Hearing an opinion spoken aloud humanizes the person behind it
20. Discrimination on the grounds of political ideas prevails over any other based on Discrimination on the grounds of political ideas prevails over that exercised on the basis of other criteria
21. Why the Republican Party may have an advantage when it rains: Voters change their minds
22. What can Twitter reveal about people with ADHD?
23. Left-brained: Study suggests conservative Democrats don't compute for liberal voters
24. Best-looking politicians lean right, best-looking scholars lean left
25. Study suggests that fear and anger had different effects on conservatives and liberals
26. People become more economically conservative when angered: Study finds relationship between economic political opinions and competitiveness, resource scarcity
27. Believing the future will be favorable may prevent action
    Excerpt: “People tend to believe that others will come around to their point of view over time … this "belief in a favorable future" holds across various contexts and cultures … "It often seems that partisans believe they are so correct that others will eventually come to see the obviousness of their correctness," says behavioral scientist Todd Rogers of the Harvard Kennedy School, lead author on the research. "Ironically, our findings indicate that this belief in a favorable future may diminish the likelihood that people will take action to ensure that the favorable future becomes reality."”
    Comment: I came to the same conclusion decades ago.
28. Birth of politics in children: The case of dominance
29. Why Clinton and Trump backers don't mix
    Excerpt: “Living around people with opposing political viewpoints affects your ability to form close relationships and accept other perspectives—and may even change your personality …”
30. Hey, tall guy! What's the politics like up there?: Study finds taller people are more politically conservative
31. Nearly 80 percent of drivers express significant anger, aggression or road rage
    Comment: Cars provide anonymity that frees drivers to vent rage they would otherwise suppress, such as when encountering jerks in stores. Anonymity also gives Internet users freedom to blast others with the slightest provocation or justification, especially when discussing hot-button issues such as politics.
32. Conservatives demonstrate more self control than Liberals, studies suggest
33. Photo selection study reveals we don't look like we think we look
    Comment: That applies more to ID and online dating, yet it is also relevant to this topic in a more general sense because people often don't accurately perceive themselves. During my years of being a jerk, did I think I was? No, I thought I was perfectly reasonable and others were the problem.
34. Physiological responses reveal our political affiliations
    Excerpt: “ … political partisanship is rooted in affective, physiological processes that cause partisans to toe the party line on policies and issues, regardless of policy content. Previous research has shown that party identifiers are more inclined to agree with policy proposals that are proposed by their own party, independent of the content of the proposal. If the same proposal is issued by a competing party, they will be inclined to respond negatively to it.”
    Comment: This explains why partisans often reflexively agree with policies from their leaders even when those policies are morally or legally objectionable.
35. Liberals are more emotion-driven than conservatives
36. Most partisans treat politics like sports rivalries, instead of focusing on issues
37. Thinking about a majority-minority shift leads to more conservative views
38. Study finds Americans prize party loyalty over democratic principles
39. August 10, 2020: New model shows how voting behavior can drive political parties apart
40. Personality Predicts Political Preferences based on Compassionate Liberals and Polite Conservatives: Associations of Agreeableness With Political Ideology and Moral Values


Not many men would reject a woman who looks like this even if their political ideology differed. Of all the women I dated, I discussed politics with only one. Perhaps politics is increasingly important in this era of hyperpartisan polarization and opponent demonization.

Red-blue (Republican-Democrat) marriages can work out just fine. Example: My conservative brother who married an über-liberal. She knows Michael Moore personally and isn't shy about expressing her opinions, but we got along fine when I was an über-conservative.

41. Does Cupid Play Politics? That 'Something Special' Might Be Your Mate's Political Ideology
    Comment: See sidebar … as if I need to direct your attention to it! :-)
42. Political Preferences Play Different Role in Dating, Mating based on Do bedroom eyes wear political glasses? The role of politics in human mate attraction
43. Republicans have happier marriages than Democrats, study indicates
44. What Do Liberals and Conservatives Look for in a Date?
45. Political Participation Is Partially Rooted In Genetic Inheritance based on Two Genes Predict Voter Turnout
    Comment: What's fascinating about this is that some of the effects of those genes can be influenced by one's diet (as in nutritional status, not dieting to lose weight) and other factors. Considering what's at stake, and considering how far political parties go (overboard) to win, it is very surprising they don't avail themselves of the many scientific facts that could help them win elections now and in the future.
    
    I discussed one facet of biopolitics (how physiology affects behavior that affects politics) in Fascinating Health Secrets. I gave two copies to Al Gore (through a friend who worked for him). She said he loved reading the book on Air Force Two, but I wish he would have paid more attention to one part. Had he done that, he likely would have defeated George W. Bush and thereby saved the nation from Bush's #1 mistake.
    
    Missing the linchpin: Republicans who profess to revere education are blissfully ignorant of a power available to them as politicians they could use to ensure more future Republicans as well as immediate steps to increase conservative voter turnout. I graduated in the top 1% of my class in medical school and still (decades later) read every day about chemistry, biochemistry, physics, and physiology (and lots more), and I'm good at putting two and two together, but connecting the dots to see what politicians are missing in this case was child's play: just connect Fact A to Fact B, and let it gel in the mind for a split-second. If they can't figure out something so basic and so crucial to their success, perhaps it is no wonder why they can't solve our other national problems.
46. How does your body respond to feelings of moral outrage? It depends on your politics
    Excerpt: “The authors say their study is the first to indicate that political orientation influences where and how violations of specific moral concerns — including care, fairness, purity, loyalty and authority — are felt in the body. For example, liberals feel violations of purity in their crotch area, chest and slightly in their heads while conservatives feel these violations almost exclusively — and very strongly — in their heads.”
47. New research shows how to make effective political arguments, sociologist says
48. Conservatives and liberals do think differently: Research shows different ways of solving everyday problems linked to political ideology
49. Democrat/Republican divide is worst it's ever been
50. American liberals and conservatives think as if from different cultures
51. Political extremists may be less susceptible to common cognitive bias
52. Study finds partisanship most fierce among highly educated Americans
53. If you believe it, it's truer: People reflexively accept information as accurate if it aligns with their worldview, according to Ben-Gurion U. researchers
    Excerpt: “ … rapid, involuntary mental processes kick in when responding to statements that correspond with an already held viewpoint … The research … shows how people's tendency to remain entrenched in their worldviews is supported by their automatic cognitive ‘reflexes.’”
54. Mitt Romney's Face Looks Different to Republicans and Democrats
55. Like my body odor, like my politics: People are attracted to the body odor of others with similar political beliefs
56. This Is Your Brain On Politics: Neuroscience Reveals Brain Differences Between Republicans and Democrats
57. Obese Democrats blame genetics; Normal weight Democrats and most Republicans blame lifestyle
58. Republican And Democratic Values Compared
59. For Liberals and Conservatives, 'Belief Superiority' Is Bipartisan: People With Extreme Views Feel Most Superior About Their Beliefs
60. Democrats, Republicans see each other as mindless, unless they pose a threat
61. Parenthood Makes Moms More Liberal, Dads More Conservative
62. Does Religion Make A Difference In Politics?
63. Parenting and Temperament in Childhood Predict Later Political Ideology based on Developmental Antecedents of Political Ideology: A Longitudinal Investigation From Birth to Age 18 Years
64. Liberal or conservative? Reactions to disgust are a dead giveaway
65. Adults' political leanings linked with early personality traits
66. The Role of Genes in Political Behavior based on The genetics of politics: discovery, challenges, and progress
67. There May Be a 'Party' in Your Genes based on Is There a “Party” in Your Genes?
68. Political Views May Be Genetically Influenced, Twin Study Shows
69. Researchers Find a 'Liberal Gene' based on Friendships Moderate an Association between a Dopamine Gene Variant and Political Ideology
70. Politics and Eye Movement: Liberals Focus Their Attention On 'Gaze Cues' Much Differently Than Conservatives Do based on The politics of attention: gaze-cuing effects are moderated by political temperament
71. Political Views Are Reflected in Brain Structure based on Political Orientations Are Correlated with Brain Structure in Young Adults
72. Political Conservatives Fear Chaos; Liberals Fear Emptiness based on What if there were no God? Politically conservative and liberal Christians imagine their lives without faith
73. Satisfied People Are More Likely to Vote based on Life Satisfaction and Political Participation: Evidence from the United States
74. Physical Activity Linked to Political Participation based on Participating in Politics Resembles Physical Activity: General Action Patterns in International Archives, United States Archives, and Experiments
75. Partisanship Shapes Views On Political, Non-Political Issues
76. New Study of Political Defections Identifies 'Personality Type' Prone to Switch Sides
77. Politics and Prejudice Explored based on Reconstruing Intolerance: Abstract Thinking Reduces Conservatives’ Prejudice Against Nonnormative Groups (Excerpt from the first article: “ … prejudice is not restricted to a particular political ideology.”)
78. Something we should all keep in mind: Core Values Unite Americans, Despite Divisions and Republicans and Democrats Can Agree On Some Moral Issues, Study Suggests
79. More Similar Than They Think: Liberals and Conservatives Exaggerate Perceived Moral Views
80. Denying problems when we don't like the political solutions: Why conservatives, liberals disagree so vehemently
81. U.S. states' personalities linked to their politics
82. Psychological Common Ground Could Ease Tensions Among Those With Different Religious Beliefs
83. Political attitudes derive from body and mind: 'Negativity bias' explains difference between liberals and conservatives
84. Political Attitudes Are Predicted By Physiological Traits, Research Finds
85. Tendency to Fear Is Strong Political Influence based on Fear as a Disposition and an Emotional State: A Genetic and Environmental Approach to Out-Group Political Preferences
86. CBS Senior Legal VP, Hayley Geftman-Gold, Fired For Callous Las Vegas Victim Statement …
    Comment: This article elucidates the psychology that makes liberals tick.
87. Name-Brand or Generic? Your Political Ideology Might Influence Your Choice
88. Red Brain, Blue Brain: Republicans and Democrats Process Risk Differently, Research Finds
89. Are conservatives more obedient and agreeable than their liberal counterparts?
90. Political Motivations May Have Evolutionary Links to Physical Strength based on The Ancestral Logic of Politics: Upper-Body Strength Regulates Men’s Assertion of Self-Interest Over Economic Redistribution
91. How the views of liberals evolved from the 19th century to the present day
92. Moments of Spirituality Can Induce Liberal Attitudes, Researchers Find
93. Liberals Aren't Like the Rest, or So They Think
94. Most U.S. physicians are socially liberal, fiscally conservative.
95. Here Are The Most Liberal And Most Conservative Towns In Each State
96. Political leanings and time spent sitting around: Left wing 'armchair socialists' more physically active than political centrists
97. Solved: Why Poor States Are Red and Rich States Are Blue
98. How will Congressmen vote? Just look at their social circles, study finds
99. How your brain is telling you to vote
100. Emotional brains 'physically different' from rational ones
101. As baby boomers age, do their decisions get better or worse?
102. Musical tastes offer a window into how you think
103. To strengthen an opinion, simply say it is based on morality: 'Moral' label instantly makes opinions more resistant to change
104. Men Supporting Hillary Clinton Have Lower Testosterone
     Comment: The claim in that title isn't yet documented by science, but it would be interesting to research that.
105. A study shows that electoral outcomes affect the way we treat other people: After the 2016 US Presidential election, the willingness of Democrats to share resources with Republicans dropped abruptly as a consequence of a drop in self-esteem, according to Bocconi University's Celia Moore and colleagues
106. Liberals Are From the ACC, Conservatives Are From the Amygdala?
107. Liberals and conservatives have different views on equity, but share 'protestant work ethic'
108. The partisan brain: Cognitive study suggests people on the left and right are more similar than they think
109. Left vs Right is dead: Politics is about anarchists vs centrists, new CAGE study shows
110. Conservative and Liberal Brains Might Have Some Real Differences: Scanners try to watch the red-blue divide play out underneath the skull
111. Conservatives value personal stories more than liberals do when evaluating scientific evidence
112. Conservatives and liberals motivated by different psychological factors, new study shows
113. How politics drive our personal relationships – and even where we live
114. Researchers examine how the subtle choice of synonyms may tip your hand as to which political party you support
115. June 14, 2021: White boys growing up with Black neighbors more likely to vote for Democrats
116. April 8, 2022: Faces of dominance: Why the faces of women and men are perceived differently by liberals and conservatives
117. June 2, 2022: Brain scans remarkably good at predicting political ideology: Study provides evidence of biological roots of partisan views
118. June 16, 2022: When parenting style predicts political leanings
     Based on: Hovering at the polls: Do helicopter parents prefer paternalistic political policies?
119. June 28, 2022: Republicans and Democrats see their own party's falsehoods as more acceptable
120. October 20, 2022: Project debunks the idea that conservatives think the world is more dangerous than liberals
121. November 9, 2022: US political partisanship affects first impressions of faces
122. January 30, 2023: Political orientation could be predicted by differences in brain activation and synchronization
123. April 19, 2023: To understand American politics, you need to move beyond left and right, say researchers
124. May 9, 2023: A new theory of what drives partisan conflict and hostility
     Excerpt: “Conservatives focus on amassing resources, while liberals concentrate on distributing resources.”