[lbo-talk] "Liberalism" - It's in the genes

Wojtek S wsoko52 at gmail.com
Fri Oct 29 05:39:31 PDT 2010


[WS:] They actually say it is an interaction between genetic makeup and environment. An what they are saying makes perfect sense - genetic makeup determines general cognitive framework, which in turn results in making life choices consistent with that framework, of which political ideology is one.

This confirms my long held belief that a rational discussion between liberals and conservatives is pointless, because cognitive frames used to form each point of view (or "motivated cognition" in psychological parlance) are a priori determinants of how information is being processed - i.e. deciding what is relevant and what is not and how the relevant information is arranged and interpreted. Therefore, any information obtained in a discussion will be either deemed irrelevant by the other side or interpreted in a manner that is consistent with his own cognitive framework. This is especially true of conservatives who tend to be more cognitively rigid than liberals.

Another point - cognitive conservatives are not necessarily limited to the political right. There are also on the political left. They tend to be lumped together with liberals because they typically stay in the same political encampment - but they have more in common with the conservatives on the other side of the front line than with the liberals in their own camp. David Horowitz is a case in point.

Wojtek

On Fri, Oct 29, 2010 at 8:08 AM, Ismail Lagardien <ilagardien at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Researchers have identified a gene that can influence political preferences.
>
> http://www.world-science.net/othernews/101028_liberal
>
>
> Ismail Lagardien
> Department of Politics and Public Administration
>
> Elon University
> Elon, NC
> 27244
>
> Tel: +1(612) 227-5037 (Personal)
>
>
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