Post by Alexandre De on May 3, 2016 3:30:39 GMT
I this week's reading, there was an article called "Political Orientations Are Correlated with Brain Structure in Young Adults" that, as the title indicates, talked about the relation between brain structure and political orientation. The scientists who conducted the research took individuals, asked them for their political preferences and recorded MRI scans of their brains. They concluded that people with more grey matter in the anterior cingulate cortex were more liberal and that people with a bigger right amygdala were more conservative.
This article got me thinking, and I feel like politics have very little to do with genetics, and if there is a relation it is a very indirect one. For example, a lot of people change their political stance during their lifetime, but there is no change in their genetics. The most obvious factors for political orientation is obviously our surrounding, upbringing and social status. Other these three, what do you think affects our stance in politics?
Furthermore, I would like to gather opinions on the effect of a "failed political experience". I will define the latter as a president who did not fulfill one's expectations about him. How do you think a "failed political experience" affects a voter? Some people will decide to vote for a candidate of the other party, but why? It seems unreasonable to think that their values changed because of a president not fulfilling their expectations.
Lastly, I was wondering how we could explain the fact that politics create a huge division between people which sometimes leads to violence etc. I know that not everyone has the same values, but if politics are related to genetics, then wouldn't our instinct and rationality push us to help preserve our species rather than self-destruct?
This article got me thinking, and I feel like politics have very little to do with genetics, and if there is a relation it is a very indirect one. For example, a lot of people change their political stance during their lifetime, but there is no change in their genetics. The most obvious factors for political orientation is obviously our surrounding, upbringing and social status. Other these three, what do you think affects our stance in politics?
Furthermore, I would like to gather opinions on the effect of a "failed political experience". I will define the latter as a president who did not fulfill one's expectations about him. How do you think a "failed political experience" affects a voter? Some people will decide to vote for a candidate of the other party, but why? It seems unreasonable to think that their values changed because of a president not fulfilling their expectations.
Lastly, I was wondering how we could explain the fact that politics create a huge division between people which sometimes leads to violence etc. I know that not everyone has the same values, but if politics are related to genetics, then wouldn't our instinct and rationality push us to help preserve our species rather than self-destruct?
