Why Liberals and Conservatives Can’t Change Each Other’s Minds

The chart below suggests that Republicans/conservatives perceive the world as a more threatening, less beautiful place than their counterparts.

This was also the finding of a related study, one performed in a university that measured unconscious or pre-conscious thought.  The activity of each participant’s amygdala (the “reptilian” or “fight or flight” portion of their brains) was charted as they were shown various visual images.  Some stimuli were benign, perhaps a river or a kitten, others potentially dangerous, like a snake or a spider.  When self-described conservatives encountered a threatening stimulus, their brain activity was much higher than that of self-described liberals.

It is for this reason that we believe that people are simply “wired differently” than others, and that this is what makes arguments between liberals and conservatives futile.  By virtue of our brain chemistry, we’re simply incapable of changing the way we see the world.