<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" ><tr><td valign="top" style="font: inherit;"><div id="yiv738877469">Thanks, Paul. <br><br>Amusing indeed! The article should be perhaps be titled "<span style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); cursor: pointer;" class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1221844952_0">The Politics</span> of Hard-Core <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1221844952_1">Biological Determinism</span>." The real question is WHY are some people so afraid? <br><br>I'd
reckon it has more to do with historical and political factors than
"physiology", "reflexes" or "genetics": the Politics of Fear, the rise
of neoliberalism, the historical destruction of the left and of
independent journalism, the absence of perceived political
alternatives...<br><br>Best,<br><br>Lucia<br><br>--- On <b>Fri, 9/19/08, <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1221844952_2">Paul Miller</span> <i><<span style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); cursor: pointer;" class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1221844952_3">anansi5000@gmail.com</span>></i></b> wrote:<br>From: Paul Miller <anansi5000@gmail.com><br>Subject: [iDC] The Politics of <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1221844952_4">Perception</span><br>To: "<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://idc-mailman.thing.net"><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1221844952_5">idc-mailman.thing.net</span></a>" <<span style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); cursor: pointer;" class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1221844952_6">idc@mailman.thing.net</span>><br>Date: Friday,
<span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1221844952_7">September 19</span>, 2008, 10:15 AM<br><br><pre>an amusing scenario:<br><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7623256.stm"><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1221844952_8">http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7623256.stm</span></a><br>Paul<br><br><br>Political views 'all in the mind'<br>By <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1221844952_9">Matt McGrath</span><br><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1221844952_10">Science reporter</span>, BBC World Service<br><br>Voters' mind are made up long before they arrive at the <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1221844952_11">ballot box</span><br><br>Scientists studying voters in the US say our political views may be an <br>integral part of our physical makeup.<br>Their research, published in the journal Science, indicates that <br>people who are sensitive to fear or threat are likely to support a <br>right wing agenda. Those who
perceived less<br> danger in a series of <br>images and sounds were more inclined to support liberal policies. The <br>authors believe their findings may help to explain why voters' minds <br>are so hard to change.<br><br>In the study, conducted in Nebraska, 46 volunteers were first asked <br>about their political views on issues ranging from foreign aid and the <br> <br><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1221844952_12">Iraq war</span> to <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1221844952_13">capital punishment</span> and patriotism. Those with strong <br>opinions were invited to take part in the second part of the <br>experiment, which involved recording their physiological responses to <br>a series of images and sounds. The images included pictures of a <br>frightened man with a large spider on his face and an open wound with <br>maggots in it. The subjects were also startled with loud noises on <br>occasion.<br><br><span class="yshortcuts"
id="lw_1221844952_14">Conducting</span> experiments<br><br>By measuring the <span style="border-bottom: medium none; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; cursor: pointer;" class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1221844952_15">electrical conductance</span> of the volunteers' skin and <br>their blink responses, the scientists were able to work out the degree <br>of fear they were experiencing - how sensitive they were to the images <br>and sounds.<br> <br>"Instead of political opponents thinking the opposite party are being <br>wilfully bull-headed, you can say 'well ok, they see the world <br>differently than I do'"<br>John Hibbing.<br><br>They found that subjects who were more easily<br> startled tended to have <br>political views that would be classified as more right wing, being <br>more in favour of capital punishment and<br>
higher defence spending, but <br>opposed to abortion rights.<br><br>The scientists explained that these political positions were <br>protective of the volunteers' social groups.<br><br>"We focused primarily on things that we call 'protecting the social <br>unit'," said John Hibbing from the <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1221844952_16">University of Nebraska</span>. "So<br>the <br>idea is we have this unit - maybe it's the US - and we want to protect <br>this from outsiders; so we might be opposed to immigration, we might <br>advocate patriotism, and we like leaders who are strong and clear who <br>are able to protect us from those outsiders. "We might even be opposed <br>to pornography or any kind of corrosive element that we see <br>threatening the social unit. "On the other hand, you have people who <br>are more supportive of pacifism and who advocate<br> gun control - and <br>there are lots of areas where people who are less sensitive
to<br> threat <br>would project those kinds of feelings into the political arena."<br><br>Different strokes<br><br>The researchers say there is no political relevance to their research <br>- but Dr Hibbing feels it may help explain why it is so hard to change <br>someone's mind in a political debate. Different people, he said, <br>started from a different psychological point. "You have people who are <br>experiencing the world, who are experiencing threat, differently.<br><br>"It's just that we have these very different physiological <br>orientations. We're not sure where they came from, they may be <br>genetic, they may be something from childhood; we do know, though, <br>that they run deep because it's a reflex, it's not something you can <br>change tomorrow, the depth of that may be something of an asset in <br>figuring out why people are so stubborn in their<br> political beliefs," <br>he said. "I even have the hope that this might
facilitate <br> <br>understanding a little bit. Instead of political opponents thinking <br>the opposite party are being wilfully bull-headed, you can say 'well <br>ok, they see the world differently than I do'. "People haven't<br>just <br>thought about things differently, they feel things differently."<br>_______________________________________________<br>iDC -- mailing list of the Institute for <span style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); cursor: pointer;" class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1221844952_17">Distributed Creativity</span><br>(<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://distributedcreativity.org"><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1221844952_18">distributedcreativity.org</span></a>)<br>iDC@mailman.thing.net<br><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://mailman.thing.net/mailman/listinfo/idc"><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1221844952_19">https://mailman.thing.net/mailman/listinfo/idc</span></a><br><br>List Archive:<br><a
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