Liberals and conservatives see differently physically By By Paul Wallis Dec 11, 2010 in Science Liberals and conservatives don’t just think about things differently. They physically look at things differently. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln has discovered they react in opposite ways to “gaze cues”, how other people's line of sight moves. Science Daily reports: "We thought that political temperament may moderate the magnitude of gaze-cuing effects, but we did not expect conservatives to be completely immune to these cues," said Michael Dodd, a UNL assistant professor of psychology and the lead author of the study. Think of this what you will, the difference is striking. So far researcher Professor Kevin Smith observes that the two mindsets literally perceive the world differently. This experiment included extensive testing, and the subjects were asked about their beliefs after the tests. There was no particular targeting in terms of gathering the data, and subjects all got the same basic tests. Controls in this sort of testing are very important, because the test results could easily be skewed by any biases of that kind. These differences are what’s called “cognitive differences”, meaning measurement of cognition, based on a statistical approach. Political science generally ascribes political differences to life environments, but not actual perceptions of the world. This is a quite unusual study, and previous studies of political viewpoints, not surprisingly, have been based on far more mundane things, not something as fundamental perceptions. Exactly where this study leads is also likely to be interesting. This sort of information is open to a vast range of interpretations, and it also needs peer review and verification. A question likely to be raised is exactly what these findings mean. The exact social ramifications of such almost polarized forms of perception can be interpreted any way, and it’s almost inevitable the interpretations will be equally polarized. Does reacting to eye movement mean better or worse social skills? In some ancient societies, looking straight into someone’s eyes is considered insulting. In European culture, not looking into the eyes is almost rude, and considered suspicious behavior, as if you’re avoiding someone. When it comes to looking where someone else is looking, however, there are no social mores. Not looking could be interpreted as ignoring the area of interest of the other person, or defensively watching something else without distraction. Looking where another person is looking could be construed as interest, or checking out for yourself what’s attracting the attention of the other person, without asking. It’s unlikely social behavior will ever become an exact science, but it will always be an interesting study. Liberals follow eye movements to where another person is looking. Conservatives don’t."We thought that political temperament may moderate the magnitude of gaze-cuing effects, but we did not expect conservatives to be completely immune to these cues," said Michael Dodd, a UNL assistant professor of psychology and the lead author of the study.Think of this what you will, the difference is striking. So far researcher Professor Kevin Smith observes that the two mindsets literally perceive the world differently.This experiment included extensive testing, and the subjects were asked about their beliefs after the tests. There was no particular targeting in terms of gathering the data, and subjects all got the same basic tests. Controls in this sort of testing are very important, because the test results could easily be skewed by any biases of that kind.These differences are what’s called “cognitive differences”, meaning measurement of cognition, based on a statistical approach. Political science generally ascribes political differences to life environments, but not actual perceptions of the world.This is a quite unusual study, and previous studies of political viewpoints, not surprisingly, have been based on far more mundane things, not something as fundamental perceptions. Exactly where this study leads is also likely to be interesting. This sort of information is open to a vast range of interpretations, and it also needs peer review and verification.A question likely to be raised is exactly what these findings mean. The exact social ramifications of such almost polarized forms of perception can be interpreted any way, and it’s almost inevitable the interpretations will be equally polarized.Does reacting to eye movement mean better or worse social skills? In some ancient societies, looking straight into someone’s eyes is considered insulting. In European culture, not looking into the eyes is almost rude, and considered suspicious behavior, as if you’re avoiding someone.When it comes to looking where someone else is looking, however, there are no social mores. Not looking could be interpreted as ignoring the area of interest of the other person, or defensively watching something else without distraction. Looking where another person is looking could be construed as interest, or checking out for yourself what’s attracting the attention of the other person, without asking.It’s unlikely social behavior will ever become an exact science, but it will always be an interesting study. More about Liberals, Dodd smith, Conservatives, Gaze cues More news from liberals dodd smith conservatives gaze cues