‘I was going to say I saw a duckie and a horsie, but I changed my mind’

Add this nugget to the “quirky science” category.

Researchers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln have found that the way a person responds physiologically to certain visual stimuli may indicate whether his worldview is liberal or conservative.

As reported on Physorg.com:

In a series of experiments, researchers closely monitored physiological reactions and eye movements of study participants when shown combinations of both pleasant and unpleasant images. Conservatives reacted more strongly to, fixated more quickly on, and looked longer at the unpleasant images; liberals had stronger reactions to and looked longer at the pleasant images compared with conservatives.

Liberals lingered over images of bunny rabbits while conservatives focused on dirty toilets.

Consistent with the idea that conservatives seem to respond more to negative stimuli while liberals respond more to positive stimuli, conservatives also exhibited a stronger physiological response to images of Democratic politicians – presumed to be a negative to them – than they did on pictures of well-known Republicans. Liberals, on the other hand, had a stronger physiological response to the Democrats – presumed to be a positive stimulus to them – than they did to images of the Republicans.

So if you want to rile up the Republican base before an election, bombard them with pictures of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid (not that anyone has ever thought of that before).

By studying both physiological and cognitive aspects, the researchers established unique new insights into the growing notion that political leanings are at least partial products of our biology, UNL political scientist and study co-author Kevin Smith said.

Recent research on the subject has focused mostly on physiological reactions to negative stimuli. The new study’s use of cognitive data regarding both positive and negative imagery adds to the understanding of how liberals and conservatives see and experience the world, Smith said.

UNL political scientist and co-author John Hibbing said the results might mean that those on the right are more attuned and attentive to aversive elements in life and are more naturally inclined to confront them. From an evolutionary standpoint, that makes sense, he said.

While all such studies need to be taken with a grain of salt — perhaps a large one — this one is intriguing.

“When conservatives say that liberals are out of it and just don’t get it, from this standpoint, that’s true,” Hibbing said. “And when liberals say ‘What are (conservatives) so frightened of? Is the world really that dangerous?’ Given what each side sees, what they pay attention to, what they physiologically experience – the answer is both sides are right.”

For political consultants eager to glean practical knowledge they might apply to their tactics and strategy, the full results of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln study will be published soon in the scientific journal, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B.

[Special points for any commenter who can identify the quotation in the headline. No Googling, please.]

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