Brain scans taken while people perform tasks and while resting accurately were able to predict a person's political persuasions. The findings provide evidence that partisan political stances may have biological roots.
A person with a wider face was considered to be more dominant and possess stronger leadership skills than a person with a narrower face. This was especially true of males, who were also considered to be more electable when they had a wider face. Conservatives showed more bias toward women's faces and were less likely to vote for a woman because, despite having wider faces, they perceived the candidate as less dominant. Liberals were more likely to vote for a woman but, as with conservatives, they perceived a woman with a wider face to be less dominant than a male.
Ordinary citizens may start to mirror the angry emotions of politicians they are exposed to in the news. The "emotional contagion" may dive people who normally tune out to politics to head to the polls.
For politically polarized people, their brain activity syncs up with like-minded people who share their political ideologies to perceive information in the same way. However, and regardless of political affiliation, those with personality traits linked to intolerance, and who were less tolerant of daily uncertainty, had more polarized brain responses than those who were more tolerant to uncertainty.
Neuroimaging study reveals that when politicians take politically incongruent stances, people show stronger activation in the insula and anterior cingulate.
Men and women who endorsed hegemonic masculinity were more likely to vote for, and have positive opinions of Trump.
People with strong moral and political convictions who saw images of protestors congruent to their own views showed activation in the brain's reward system. The study suggests violent acts in political protests can arise as a desire to act morally, rather than from bad intentions.
Study reveals those with narcissistic personality traits may be more politically active. Those with high levels of narcissism were more likely to contact politicians, sign petitions, and donate to political causes. Previous studies linked narcissistic traits to behaviors harmful to functioning democracies, including conflict and civic strife.
Study found a correlation between adolescents who reported high levels of family conflict while growing up and those who later identified socially undesirable traits as ideal leadership qualities. A person who experiences high conflict during their teen years was 20% more likely to prefer a tyrannical model of leadership.
When those around you are indecisive, it can have a big influence on your own choices.
Study finds evidence that present-day Germans who live close to World War Two concentration camp sites are more xenophobic, more likely to support extreme right-wing politics, and less tolerant to immigrants and religious minorities. A similar link was previously established in the US between extreme political beliefs, racism, and living in close proximity to areas where owning slaves was the norm.
Individuals perceive certain fonts used on political campaign signs as having partisan leanings. The more people view a font as aligned with their ideology, the more they favor it.
