Politically polarized brains show an intolerance to uncertainty (Brown, Clinton, compared)

[rjshae]

Politically polarized brains share an intolerance of uncertainty

...scientists at Brown University measured and compared the brain activity of committed partisans (both liberals and conservatives) as they watched real political debates and news broadcasts. In a recent study, they found that polarization was indeed exacerbated by intolerance of uncertainty: liberals with this trait tended to be more liberal in how they viewed political events, conservatives with this trait tended to be more conservative.

Yet the same neural mechanisms was at work, pushing the partisans into their different ideological camps.

"This is the first research we know of that has linked intolerance to uncertainty to political polarization on both sides of the aisle," said study co-author Oriel FeldmanHall, an assistant professor of cognitive, linguistic and psychological sciences at Brown. "So whether a person in 2016 was a strongly committed Trump supporter or a strongly committed Clinton supporter, it doesn't matter. What matters is that an aversion to uncertainty only exacerbates how similarly two conservative brains or two liberal brains respond when consuming political content."

An interesting finding. It almost suggests a certain innate "conservative" nature in both wings, with moderates being more tolerant of uncertainty.

So how about you? Does this finding fit with the strength of your political beliefs?

[Lekrii]

I'd agree with that. I have a career where I deal in uncertainty daily...I've been a registered democrat, republican and libertarian in my life, depending on what I feel the country needs at the time. I do see similarities in the thought processes of the hardcore people on both sides of the isle, in terms of inflexibility.