Do Political Beliefs Boil Down to Biology?
Sarah Palin's fondness of guns, the Bible, and legislating your uterus? It probably won't come as much comfort to learn that it all comes down to biological impulses dictating how her brain reacts to perceived threats, according to research published this week in Science. A group of people was shown photos of objects while attached to an arousal-measuring machine, and the avowed Republicans reacted much more strongly to, say, a large spider on someone's face or a bloodied person.
Liberals, however, didn't "show any difference in physical response between a picture of a spider on someone's face and a picture of a bunny..." said the researcher, political scientist John Alford, who we would take much more seriously without the indignant italics and cutesy term for rabbit. Anyway, this is good for both sides. Republicans: Alert to pictorialized dangers! Liberals: Unswayed by baby animals' adorableness!
