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Old 05-21-2008, 04:20 PM
 
524 posts, read 837,616 times
Reputation: 62

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We've all heard it a million times - Conservatives are "angry" and "bitter" people, right? Rational thought must be a very bad thing.

Yet another case of the pot calling the kettle black....

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Jeanna Bryner
Senior Writer
LiveScience.com
Wed May 7, 8:32 AM ET


Individuals with conservative ideologies are happier than liberal-leaners, and new research pinpoints the reason: Conservatives rationalize social and economic inequalities.

Regardless of marital status, income or church attendance, right-wing individuals reported greater life satisfaction and well-being than left-wingers, the new study found. Conservatives also scored highest on measures of rationalization, which gauge a person's tendency to justify, or explain away, inequalities.

The rationalization measure included statements such as: "It is not really that big a problem if some people have more of a chance in life than others," and "This country would be better off if we worried less about how equal people are."

To justify economic inequalities, a person could support the idea of meritocracy, in which people supposedly move up their economic status in society based on hard work and good performance. In that way, one's social class attainment, whether upper, middle or lower, would be perceived as totally fair and justified.

If your beliefs don't justify gaps in status, you could be left frustrated and disheartened, according to the researchers, Jaime Napier and John Jost of Nwe York University. They conducted a U.S.-centric survey and a more internationally focused one to arrive at the findings.

"Our research suggests that inequality takes a greater psychological toll on liberals than on conservatives," the researchers write in the June issue of the journal Psychological Science, "apparently because liberals lack ideological rationalizations that would help them frame inequality in a positive (or at least neutral) light."

The results support and further explain a Pew Research Center study from 2006, in which 47 percent of conservative Republicans in the U.S. described themselves as "very happy," while only 28 percent of liberal Democrats indicated such cheer.

The same rationalizing phenomena could apply to personal situations as well.

"There is no reason to think that the effects we have identified here are unique to economic forms of inequality," the researchers write. "Research suggests that highly egalitarian women are less happy in their marriages compared with their more traditional counterparts, apparently because they are more troubled by disparities in domestic labor."

The current study was funded by the National Science Foundation.
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Old 05-21-2008, 04:24 PM
 
Location: Washington DC
5,922 posts, read 8,046,822 times
Reputation: 954
We know Rush is a bitter drug addicted person.
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Old 05-21-2008, 04:27 PM
 
Location: New Mexico
8,396 posts, read 9,421,143 times
Reputation: 4070
Default Think Conservatives are bitter?

Of course not!

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Old 05-21-2008, 04:27 PM
 
Location: Chicagoland
41,325 posts, read 44,849,967 times
Reputation: 7118
Oh, I knew this after the 2004 election. The dems/libs have an all-consuming hatred that's just eating them up from the inside out.

Can you imagine the scene when McCain is elected president?

Mass hysteria.
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Old 05-21-2008, 04:28 PM
 
524 posts, read 837,616 times
Reputation: 62
Quote:
Originally Posted by sanrene View Post
Oh, I knew this after the 2004 election. The dems/libs have an all-consuming hatred that's just eating them up from the inside out.

Can you imagine the scene when McCain is elected president?

Mass hysteria.
Oh, there will be riots, my friend. Count on it.
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Old 05-21-2008, 04:31 PM
 
Location: San Antonio, TX
3,542 posts, read 8,230,312 times
Reputation: 3777
That is an interesting study, but I find it hard to believe that political ideology has much to do with one's bitterness. I know plenty of individuals of either side of the spectrum who I'd classify as "bitter", and others who couldn't be happier with life.

I think the key that this study was trying to hit at was the independence factor. Conservatives tend to preach self-independence much more than Liberals, and that plays a factor on how they live their lives. But, my argument is that individual independence is not exclusive to one's political ideology.
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Old 05-21-2008, 04:32 PM
 
Location: Austin
4,105 posts, read 8,270,527 times
Reputation: 2134
So conservatives are happy because they are unconcerned about the plight of the poor and disadvantaged? How Christian.
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Old 05-21-2008, 04:52 PM
 
102 posts, read 54,097 times
Reputation: 19
Quote:
Originally Posted by sanrene View Post
Oh, I knew this after the 2004 election. The dems/libs have an all-consuming hatred that's just eating them up from the inside out.

Can you imagine the scene when McCain is elected president?

Mass hysteria.
Are you dem? You sound very bitter.
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Old 05-21-2008, 05:01 PM
 
Location: Charlotte
12,642 posts, read 15,560,261 times
Reputation: 1680
Are conservatives less Christian, or less concerned about following the tenets of Christianity?
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