Forget the size of the crowd — A new study This confirms that conservatives have slightly larger amygdalas (the part of the brain that plays a key role in identifying and reacting to potential threats) than liberals.
“A slightly larger amygdala may reflect the brain's increased sensitivity to these-related issues.” Security Neededa reduction in uncertainty and threat, or perhaps a more careful processing of negative stimuli,” study author Diamantis Petropoulos Petalas told the Post.
Amygdala Petropoulos said the difference is about the size of a shelled peanut — and the difference between conservatives and liberals is about the size of a sesame seed.
Having a larger amygdala could be due to genes, environment or, most likely, a combination of both, he said. It's probably related to a “greater tendency to perceive threat.”
Petropoulos' research published Thursday in the Cell Press journal iSciencewhose purpose is widely shared 2011 University College London study Criticized Only 90 participants,
Petropoulos' team examined brain scans of 928 Dutch adults aged 19 to 26.
The researchers combined the brain data with insights into the participants' politics. The volunteers were asked about their social and economic identities, such as where they see themselves on a sliding scale from progressive to conservative, and which political party they affiliated with.
Other questions pertained to their social and economic ideologies, such as their stance on women’s and LGBTQ rights, income inequality, and profit sharing.
“We see ideology as a complex, multidimensional product that includes different perspectives on social and economic matters, as well as identification with progressive or conservative ideals,” said Petropoulos, a political psychology and neuroscience researcher at the American College of Greece. “It's really not just about left or right.”
Petropoulos said his team does not expect to replicate any of the findings of the 2011 study.
Oscar winner Colin Firth co-authored that research, which was called “The first neuroscientific evidence for biological differences between liberals and conservatives.”
That study found that conservatives had larger amygdalas and smaller anterior cingulate cortexes (ACC), which are involved in error detection, impulse control, and emotional regulation, than liberals.
These findings made headlines in 2011 such as “Conservatives are far ahead in terms of fear, brain study finds” and “Conservative people are cowards, science says,” referring to the amygdala's role in processing fear and anxiety.
“It’s no surprise that findings like this were ‘framed’ to promote polarization,” Petropoulos told the Post. “The same study found that liberals had a larger ACC, but my guess is that there were less forceful headlines about that finding: I guess liberals have a much higher probability of error detection, but that doesn’t sell as much.”
In the new research, Petropoulos and his colleagues failed to identify any consistent relationship between politics and the ACC.
They found a relationship between stereotyping and the volume of grey matter in the amygdala – although the relationship was three times weaker than in the 2011 study.
The team is calling for more research on the “complex relationship” between brain structure and political beliefs.
