this post was submitted on 16 Jul 2023
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A recent study in Israel used brain scans to explore the differences in empathy between political liberals and conservatives. The researchers found that when imagining other people suffering, liberals showed stronger brain reactions associated with empathy compared to conservatives. This pattern of brain activity was linked to participants' self-reported political beliefs and their acceptance of right-wing values. The study was published in Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience. ...

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[–] [email protected] 51 points 1 year ago

What a surprise.

[–] [email protected] 30 points 1 year ago (8 children)

Actually science shows that I'm the goodest person.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

You may be the goodest person, but my doggo is the goodest boy.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Nah, it's me. Empirically proven.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

No banana, though.

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[–] [email protected] 27 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (14 children)

Small sample size of 55 participants that were gathered online and all from Israel. They are all ~25 yrs old and were split up based on what newspaper they read. The participants were free to label themselves but it was backed by asking questions of how they feel about their current administration policies. Kind of odd study.

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Listen to any liberal and that much is obvious since it is literally their entire stance.

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That's what defines "conservative". They are sheltered and are afraid of everything that's different, so they're trying to conserve some distorted ideal of what they alone think is "normal". That's why they're racists, gender bigots, and hate other religions. That's why most conservatives live in rural areas, while most people who live in cities are liberal— because exposure to a variety of people and experiences creates empathy.

I'm surprised not more people have caught onto this by now.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

In other news, water is wet.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Both the popular article linked in the op as well as the actual paper seem to use the terms "liberal/conservative" and "leftist/rightist" interchangeably. Quote from the paper:

It is necessary to note that, first, similar to previous studies on this topic that consider the left–right dimension equivalent to the liberal–conservative dimension (Fuchs and Klingemann, 1990; Hasson et al., 2018), throughout this paper, the terms leftist and liberal (and similarly, rightist and conservative) were used interchangeably. The liberal–conservative dimension is often used in the United States, whereas the left–right dimension is commonly used in Europe and Israel (Hasson et al., 2018).

There were "only" 55 participants, but I assume that if some of them identified as socialist, they would already be included under "leftist/liberal" for the purpose of the study.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

I'd be interested in seeing if there's any difference between liberals and actual leftists. I'd assume so because liberals aren't egalitarian, but there may not be a measurable difference.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago

I knew conservatism was a physiological brain defect. I knew it.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Facts do not care about conservatives' feelings. 😘

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)
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