Why are Conservatives like that?

We know conservatives tend be to less intelligent, hateful, selfish, etc. But has anyone looked into why? There must be something beyond lack of intelligence because there are plenty of smart people, George Will, Ted Cruz, etc. who nonetheless are conservatives. What underlies the basic hate and selfishness?

Actually there has been quite a bit of research into that.] It’s quite possible that we are evolving into more conservative creatures, and that is not necessarily good for us. This is just one of many articles.

Actually there has been quite a bit of research into that.] It's quite possible that we are evolving into more conservative creatures, and that is not necessarily good for us. This is just one of many articles.
I'll have to read that later, but it's pretty apparent it has to be wrong, or they use a very different definition or conservative. Overall it's obvious the world as a whole is becoming more liberal, as in the church holds almost no sway compared to centuries past, women are far more free, minorities, etc.
We know conservatives tend be to less intelligent, hateful, selfish, etc. But has anyone looked into why? There must be something beyond lack of intelligence because there are plenty of smart people, George Will, Ted Cruz, etc. who nonetheless are conservatives. What underlies the basic hate and selfishness?
A strong belief in Libertarian free will. So rather than accepting that fundamentally life is a lottery. They believe that people deserve what happens to them as a result of their choices. I know this isn't unique to conservatives but I think it's more dominant in them.
We know conservatives tend be to less intelligent, hateful, selfish, etc. But has anyone looked into why? There must be something beyond lack of intelligence because there are plenty of smart people, George Will, Ted Cruz, etc. who nonetheless are conservatives. What underlies the basic hate and selfishness?
A strong belief in Libertarian free will. So rather than accepting that fundamentally life is a lottery. They believe that people deserve what happens to them as a result of their choices. I know this isn't unique to conservatives but I think it's more dominant in them.But I mean deeper. Why do they believe that way? For example, I can understand why after being beaten as a boy, a husband beats his wife. I don't agree with it, but I understand where it came from. It's got to be something along those lines...some psychological trauma or something to explain the hate and fear of "other" that really underpins their mindset.
Actually there has been quite a bit of research into that.] It's quite possible that we are evolving into more conservative creatures, and that is not necessarily good for us. This is just one of many articles.
I'll have to read that later, but it's pretty apparent it has to be wrong, or they use a very different definition or conservative. Overall it's obvious the world as a whole is becoming more liberal, as in the church holds almost no sway compared to centuries past, women are far more free, minorities, etc. I just grabbed a random article with Chris Mooney's name on it to give some indication of the amount of research being done and some links to follow. The "evolved" part was my word, but I have heard it used before in this context. I'm referring to the evolution of our brains, not our culture. The phenomena you list are fairly recent in human history and there is no guarantee of MLK's arc of history continuing in that direction. The move toward liberal has been a process of taming the more savage and short-sighted aspects of our nature. The scientific method is designed to help us be rational despite our tendencies toward confirmation bias. For now, the success of liberal policies, policies that took generations to get in place, are keeping those policies in place, but it doesn't take much to erase those gains and erase them from the textbooks and to destroy the archives. It takes a lot more than it used to, but I'm not resting on my laurels just yet. Teaching people to use reason is far more difficult than teaching hate. I like to believe that good will win in the end, but history is about rising and falling, not a steady progress. I guess what I'm saying is, conservatives are acting like people have acted since, forever.
We know conservatives tend be to less intelligent, hateful, selfish, etc. But has anyone looked into why? There must be something beyond lack of intelligence because there are plenty of smart people, George Will, Ted Cruz, etc. who nonetheless are conservatives. What underlies the basic hate and selfishness?
A strong belief in Libertarian free will. So rather than accepting that fundamentally life is a lottery. They believe that people deserve what happens to them as a result of their choices. I know this isn't unique to conservatives but I think it's more dominant in them. This is a concise analysis. I've seen a few sarcastic memes lately, things like "if a person is poor or uneducated, it's due to some fault of their own, if they inherited money or when given a free educated, it's due to their own initiative."
We know conservatives tend be to less intelligent, hateful, selfish, etc. But has anyone looked into why? There must be something beyond lack of intelligence because there are plenty of smart people, George Will, Ted Cruz, etc. who nonetheless are conservatives. What underlies the basic hate and selfishness?
A strong belief in Libertarian free will. So rather than accepting that fundamentally life is a lottery. They believe that people deserve what happens to them as a result of their choices. I know this isn't unique to conservatives but I think it's more dominant in them. This is a concise analysis. I've seen a few sarcastic memes lately, things like "if a person is poor or uneducated, it's due to some fault of their own, if they inherited money or when given a free educated, it's due to their own initiative." Yep
We know conservatives tend be to less intelligent, hateful, selfish, etc. But has anyone looked into why? There must be something beyond lack of intelligence because there are plenty of smart people, George Will, Ted Cruz, etc. who nonetheless are conservatives. What underlies the basic hate and selfishness?
A strong belief in Libertarian free will. So rather than accepting that fundamentally life is a lottery. They believe that people deserve what happens to them as a result of their choices. I know this isn't unique to conservatives but I think it's more dominant in them.But I mean deeper. Why do they believe that way? For example, I can understand why after being beaten as a boy, a husband beats his wife. I don't agree with it, but I understand where it came from. It's got to be something along those lines...some psychological trauma or something to explain the hate and fear of "other" that really underpins their mindset. The hate and blame comes from belief in Libertarian free will, or at least is intensified and made longer lasting by it. This is a big deal, atheist, humanist, skeptics have been very slow to acknowledge this. Libertarian free will is the myth they tend not to go after and yet it causes so many problems.

Check out Jonathan Haidt’s research on the morality of political groups. Jonathan Haidt - Wikipedia http://people.stern.nyu.edu/jhaidt/
In short, Liberals care about one moral value (harm reduction) far more than other values, whereas conservatives have a more balanced appreciation for them all.
Take the test his team developed - http://www.yourmorals.org

Check out Jonathan Haidt's research on the morality of political groups. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Haidt http://people.stern.nyu.edu/jhaidt/ In short, Liberals care about one moral value (harm reduction) far more than other values, whereas conservatives have a more balanced appreciation for them all. Take the test his team developed - http://www.yourmorals.org
"More balanced appreciation"? Morality is about harm reduction.
Check out Jonathan Haidt's research on the morality of political groups. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Haidt http://people.stern.nyu.edu/jhaidt/ In short, Liberals care about one moral value (harm reduction) far more than other values, whereas conservatives have a more balanced appreciation for them all. Take the test his team developed - http://www.yourmorals.org
Wow, "a more balanced approach"? As in Liberals want to help everyone, whereas Cons seem to be interested in helping white christians only. Talk about whitewashing!
Check out Jonathan Haidt's research on the morality of political groups. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Haidt http://people.stern.nyu.edu/jhaidt/ In short, Liberals care about one moral value (harm reduction) far more than other values, whereas conservatives have a more balanced appreciation for them all. Take the test his team developed - http://www.yourmorals.org
Wow, "a more balanced approach"? As in Liberals want to help everyone, whereas Cons seem to be interested in helping white christians only. Talk about whitewashing! You should look into this before commenting on it. It was an eye opener for me, and explains a lot about the last 50 years. You point out something that Haidt acknowledges, that "in group" stuff that is common among conservatives. But he looks at history and notes how that sense of protecting your group has helped preserve a lot of culture. But he doesn't defend one of these values over the other, he just notes the positive and negative affects of each. Something all of us should do more of instead of dumping each other into buckets and not listening.
We know conservatives tend be to less intelligent, hateful, selfish, etc. But has anyone looked into why? There must be something beyond lack of intelligence because there are plenty of smart people, George Will, Ted Cruz, etc. who nonetheless are conservatives. What underlies the basic hate and selfishness?
A strong belief in Libertarian free will. So rather than accepting that fundamentally life is a lottery. They believe that people deserve what happens to them as a result of their choices. I know this isn't unique to conservatives but I think it's more dominant in them.But I mean deeper. Why do they believe that way? For example, I can understand why after being beaten as a boy, a husband beats his wife. I don't agree with it, but I understand where it came from. It's got to be something along those lines...some psychological trauma or something to explain the hate and fear of "other" that really underpins their mindset. The hate and blame comes from belief in Libertarian free will, or at least is intensified and made longer lasting by it. This is a big deal, atheist, humanist, skeptics have been very slow to acknowledge this. Libertarian free will is the myth they tend not to go after and yet it causes so many problems. It also means they're not in charge, which they can't bear. To them if it feels like they are making decisions consciously, it must be so, and it fits in with their preconceived notions about themselves. Self-made, masters of their souls and all that. Lois
Check out Jonathan Haidt's research on the morality of political groups. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Haidt http://people.stern.nyu.edu/jhaidt/ In short, Liberals care about one moral value (harm reduction) far more than other values, whereas conservatives have a more balanced appreciation for them all. Take the test his team developed - http://www.yourmorals.org
Wow, "a more balanced approach"? As in Liberals want to help everyone, whereas Cons seem to be interested in helping white christians only. Talk about whitewashing! Liberal or conservative, we are what we are because of factors beyond our control and not consciously driven, it just feels better to pat ourselves on the back for doing the "right" thing. We are not in control of our thoughts and actions, even if we have convinced ourselves that we are. Lois
Check out Jonathan Haidt's research on the morality of political groups. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Haidt http://people.stern.nyu.edu/jhaidt/ In short, Liberals care about one moral value (harm reduction) far more than other values, whereas conservatives have a more balanced appreciation for them all. Take the test his team developed - http://www.yourmorals.org
Wow, "a more balanced approach"? As in Liberals want to help everyone, whereas Cons seem to be interested in helping white christians only. Talk about whitewashing! Liberal or conservative, we are what we are because of factors beyond our control and not consciously driven, it just feels better to pat ourselves on the back for doing the "right" thing. We are not in control of our thoughts and actions, even if we have convinced ourselves that we are. LoisAwesome. I'll tell you my address and you send me all your money. And if you choose not to, I'll know you don't believe what you just posted. ;)

Can we please not make this another thread about free will. I realize the conservative view of free will has some relevancy, but whether or not someone freely chooses to be conservative is not.

Check out Jonathan Haidt's research on the morality of political groups. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Haidt http://people.stern.nyu.edu/jhaidt/ In short, Liberals care about one moral value (harm reduction) far more than other values, whereas conservatives have a more balanced appreciation for them all. Take the test his team developed - http://www.yourmorals.org
Wow, "a more balanced approach"? As in Liberals want to help everyone, whereas Cons seem to be interested in helping white christians only. Talk about whitewashing! Liberal or conservative, we are what we are because of factors beyond our control and not consciously driven, it just feels better to pat ourselves on the back for doing the "right" thing. We are not in control of our thoughts and actions, even if we have convinced ourselves that we are. LoisAwesome. I'll tell you my address and you send me all your money. And if you choose not to, I'll know you don't believe what you just posted. ;) What makes you think I'm determined to send you my money? I never said we are determined to do what people demand. That's not a all what determinism is. For all you know I might be determined to send you a bomb. Send me your address and let's see what my determining influences lead me to do. I guarantee it will have nothing to do with what you demand. PS I DO believe what I posted and there is scientific evidence that our minds make decisions before we are consciously aware of them. Lois
Check out Jonathan Haidt's research on the morality of political groups. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Haidt http://people.stern.nyu.edu/jhaidt/ In short, Liberals care about one moral value (harm reduction) far more than other values, whereas conservatives have a more balanced appreciation for them all. Take the test his team developed - http://www.yourmorals.org
Wow, "a more balanced approach"? As in Liberals want to help everyone, whereas Cons seem to be interested in helping white christians only. Talk about whitewashing! Liberal or conservative, we are what we are because of factors beyond our control and not consciously driven, it just feels better to pat ourselves on the back for doing the "right" thing. We are not in control of our thoughts and actions, even if we have convinced ourselves that we are. LoisAwesome. I'll tell you my address and you send me all your money. And if you choose not to, I'll know you don't believe what you just posted. ;) Lois is right. In those circumstances she could not send you the money. You knew that which is why you tried to make your case that way. But actually it just made Lois' case. The crux of the matter are two statements are true. 1) To have done otherwise circumstances not chosen by Lois would have had to have been different. 2) If circumstances not chosen by Lois had been appropriately different she would have done otherwise. So there is a sense in which what we all get to do is sheer luck. When people don't care about inequality as is often the case with conservatives it's because they believe the poor deserve to be poor. The rich deserve to be rich. This is at odds with what we do being sheer luck (only in the sense I described in statements 1) and 2). Believing we have control in this sense is to believe in Libertarian free will, which almost everybody does, but I think it's more dominant in conservatives brains when thinking about what a fair society would look like.
Can we please not make this another thread about free will. I realize the conservative view of free will has some relevancy, but whether or not someone freely chooses to be conservative is not.
Here here. I just had to say that one thing though, and didn't mean it as a serious tangent into free will. That's definitely a dead end discussion.