Political views reflected in brain structure, scientists find

We all know that peo ple at op po site ends of the po lit i cal spec trum of ten can’t see eye to eye. Now, a study has found those dif fer ences are tied to varia t ions in the very struc­tures of our brains.

Peo ple who de scribe them selves as con serv a tive tend to have a larg er amyg dala, a brain struc ture linked to threat rec og ni tion, sci en tists found. And those who call them­selves lib er al tend to have a larg er an te ri or cin gu late cor tex, a struc ture in volved in cop ing with con flict ing in forma t ion.

The study was pub lished April 7 on line in the re search jour nal Cur rent Bi ol o gy.

“Pre vi ously, some psy cho log i cal traits were known to be pre dic tive of an in di vid u al’s po lit i cal ori enta t ion,” said re searcher Ry ota Kanai of the Un ivers ity Col lege Lon don. “Our study now links such per son al ity traits with spe cif ic brain struc ture.”

Kanai said his study was prompted by re ports from oth ers show ing great er an te ri or cin­gu late cor tex re sponse to con flict ing in forma t ion among lib er als. “That was the first neu ro sci en tif ic ev i dence for bi o log i cal dif fer ences be tween lib er als and con serv a­tives,” he ex plained. There had al so been stud ies show ing con serv a tives are more sen si tive to threat or anx i e ty in the face of un cer tain ty, while lib er als tend to be more open to new ex pe ri ences. Kanai’s team sus pected that such fun da men tal dif fer ences in per son al ity might show up in the brain.

That’s what they in deed found. Kanai said they can’t yet say for sure which came first: it’s pos si ble that brain struc ture is n’t set in early life, but rath er can be shaped over time by our ex pe ri ences. And, of course, some peo ple have been known to change their views.

Moreo ver, con serv a tive vs. lib er al is by no means the only way to clas si fy our po lit i cal per sua sions.

“In prin ci ple, our re search meth od can be ap plied to find brain struc ture dif fer ences in po lit i cal di men sions oth er than the sim plis tic left- ver sus right-wingers,” Kanai said. Per haps dif fer ences in the brain ex plain why some peo ple really have no in ter est in pol i tics at all or why some peo ple line up for Macs while oth ers stick with their PCs, he added.

Kanai cau tioned against tak ing the find ings too far, cit ing many un cer tain ties. “It’s very un likely that ac tu al po lit i cal ori enta t ion is di rectly en cod ed in these brain re gions,” he said. “More work is needed to de ter mine how these brain struc tures me di ate the forma t ion of po lit i cal at ti tude.”