Liberal brains bigger in areas dealing with complexity, wingnut brains bigger in area of fear

 

Want to know what's driving the budget debate?

Liberals have more gray matter in a part of the brain associated with understanding complexity, while the wingnut brain is bigger in the section related to processing fear, said the study on Thursday in Current Biology.

People with a large amygdala are "more sensitive to disgust" and tend to "respond to threatening situations with more aggression than do liberals and are more sensitive to threatening facial expressions," the study said.

Liberals are linked to larger anterior cingulate cortexes, a region that "monitor(s) uncertainty and conflicts," it said.

"Thus, it is conceivable that individuals with a larger ACC have a higher capacity to tolerate uncertainty and conflicts, allowing them to accept more liberal views."

And you'd think a fear-based brain would be less evolutionarily advanced, since when we lived like animals fear probably would be the most important life-preserving mechanism. Not so helpful in modern society.