Science seems to confirm the political stereotype of ordered but stupid rightwingers and messy but clever lefties.
According to the New Scientist we all have (and need) both intuitive and analytical methods to solve problems. But conservatives tend toward mainly intuitive solutions and lefties analytical.
Intuitive methods are quicker and accurate enough in most circumstances. Whereas analytical methods are slower but less prone to error.
So Tories rely on emotion and gut instinct (or prejudice) to make quick decisions. While lefties dither over the facts but tend to get it right more of the time. Which is better depends on your viewpoint.
Neil, send me an email.
ReplyDeleteAs to the topic in hand, I thought that you were one of the people who thought the EU was unreservedly brilliant? This is exactly the sort of thing which the EU-sceptics were trying to warn you about!
I think there is something to that. I just read a book called The Decisive Moment by Jonah Lehrer all about the brain functions and which types of problem are better solved emotionally and which are better solved rationally.
ReplyDeleteThere was a lot of good stuff to back it up.
Also relevant is a book called The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt which touches on the different functions of the primitive parts of the brain and the developed rational parts, but it goes into how this affects the opinions of conservatives and liberals.
I'd recommend both. They are serious books but more in the popular psychology market so not too difficult.
(Skuds - not Admin. I called my profile so that posts on a Labour website wouldn't look too weird. Must get round to changing it)