"Why don't you understand?": How the brain plays a role in political leanings

How your psychology and your neurology shape your ideology

Art by Veronica Cruz

By Alicia Szczesniak

America is about as divided as it has ever been. Frankly, our division seems to be the only thing Americans can agree on, with 82% of Republicans, 80% of Democrats and 81% of Independents stating they believe the country is more divided than united. But, what caused this?

The partisan divide has a multitude of sources. But, one of these starts from deep inside. A growing body of research suggests that while a person’s political beliefs may be heavily influenced by the social setting they grow up in, beliefs are also heavily shaped by a person’s neurology and psychological makeup. 

But, before we dive into what facets of a person’s brain shape their political leanings, we first need to look at the pillars of the political right and left. 

“Ideological Asymmetries and the Essence of Political Psychology” by John T. Jost posits that the political right’s ideologies are built off of traditional values and a desire for a sense of certainty, simplicity, order and security. This, in turn, leads to a rejection of a lack of structure and uncertainty. On the other hand, the political left’s ideologies are built off of diversity, equality, tolerance and progress. Conversely, this leads more often to a rejection of traditional values and rigidity. 

So there you have it: the political right favors traditionalism and a more rigid social structure, while the political left favors a less rigid social structure and progressive ideals. Therefore, if these preferences are associated with a certain political party, it is therefore reasonable to say that there are psychological phenomena that are more likely to indicate a person’s political ideals. 

When political differences are viewed from a psychological perspective, we can look at the big five personality traits: openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism. Right and left-leaning individuals tend to score higher on certain traits than others. Namely, right-leaning individuals tend to score higher on conscientiousness and extraversion, meaning that they are more likely to exhibit traits such as being hardworking, productive, responsible, assertive and sociable.

Conversely, left-leaning individuals tend to score higher on openness and agreeableness. This means that they are more likely to exhibit traits such as curiosity, creativity, compassion, and trustworthiness. They also tend to score higher on neuroticism, meaning that they are more likely to display symptoms of anxiety and depression. 

However, scientists acknowledge that this is correlational and not causational, meaning that the findings are not concrete indicators of a person’s political beliefs. After all, political beliefs are formed through a complex web of external and internal factors that will eventually cause a person to lean one way or the other. Basically, this is not to say that left-leaning people are all lazy and gullible and all right-leaning people are totally uncompassionate. Rather, they extend their empathy to different groups.

In fact, left and right-leaning people will give their time and money relatively equally. The difference? Right-leaning people are more willing to give their money to people they are close to, such as family members who are less fortunate. Additionally, they are more likely to empathize with people from their own country and human subjects. On the other hand, left-leaning people are more willing to give money to people they do not know, and are more sympathetic to the less fortunate outside their social circles.

Alongside this, differences can be seen in the problem solving styles of left-leaning and right-leaning individuals. A 2016 study from Northwestern University showed that when presented with a series of problems, right-leaning people tended to utilize more analytical thinking, whereas left-leaning people tended to favor more insightful thinking. This correlates with the notion that conservatives prefer more ordered thinking structures and liberals are more okay with some cognitive flexibility. 

But, psychology is not the only internal reason for a person’s political beliefs. Certain physical phenomena have been seen within human brains that trend towards a certain political belief. 

Look back to the Northwestern study on problem solving. The researchers noted that liberal-identifying people had a more active anterior cingulate cortex when solving problems. This is a region of the brain that is important for cognitive function and social processing. Additionally, left-leaning people tend to have more grey matter present within their brains. Grey matter is the type of tissue that forms the surface of the brain. It is responsible for things such as cognitive function and physical movement. 

Conversely, people that lean right tend to have more active amygdalas than their left-leaning counterparts. The amygdala is a region of the brain that processes emotions, handles unconscious memory (which helps people do things that they may not remember learning how to do) and social communication. But, it is primarily associated with being the part of the brain that processes fear and uncertainty.

But, once again, these are all just tendencies, and are not an end-all-be-all of a person’s political leanings. In fact, we may actually be more alike than we are different. 

For example, phenomena like bias and tribalism are still rampant in both groups, as they are an innate psychological aspect of being human. An interview conducted by the American Psychological Association (APA) with Cory Clark, PhD, the executive director of the new Adversarial Collaboration Research Center at the University of Pennsylvania expanded on this. 

In the interview, she explained that both groups of people are equally susceptible to confirmation bias. When presented with conflicting information about a political topic, both groups will rate the evidence that corroborates their beliefs as more reliable. 

Additionally, a study was conducted on left-leaning and right-leaning individuals on their beliefs on various topics, such as religion, vaccination, and gender differences. 

Interestingly enough, both groups were equally likely to deny evolved gender differences, although for different reasons. Those who leaned right were more likely to accept that men and women were different, but were also more likely to deny evolution as both the cause of their differences and as a theory. Conversely, those who leaned left were more likely to accept evolution, but were also more likely to deny differences between the genders. Both groups were willing to accept and deny certain pieces of scientific data and theory in order to support their own beliefs. 

Furthermore, in the interview Clark spoke about how moralization plays a role in political tribalism. Both parties have a tendency to view the other as morally inferior, and view their own group morally superior. Specifically, researchers found that when placed in an economic game, members of both parties assumed that their own group’s members would play the game in a more prosocial manner. 

Political leanings form from a variety of internal and external elements. Among those, though, is the way a person’s brain is shaped, and the way a person’s brain works. 

Wanna chat? Email Alicia at as589820@ohio.edu, or follow her on instagram @alicia_szcz