Wayne Besen - Author, Activist, Columnist, Public Speaker

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

Study: Adult Conservatives Were Whiny Brats As Children

A study from the Journal of Research Into Personality reveals that conservative adults were obnoxious and whiney as children. Anyone who has ever debated these often irrational, stubborn and selfish people knows this to be true.

"In the 1960s Jack Block and his wife and fellow professor Jeanne Block (now deceased) began tracking more than 100 nursery school kids as part of a general study of personality. The kids' personalities were rated at the time by teachers and assistants who had known them for months. There's no reason to think political bias skewed the ratings -- the investigators were not looking at political orientation back then. Even if they had been, it's unlikely that 3-and 4-year-olds would have had much idea about their political leanings.

A few decades later, Block followed up with more surveys, looking again at personality, and this time at politics, too. The whiny kids tended to grow up conservative, and turned into rigid young adults who hewed closely to traditional gender roles and were uncomfortable with ambiguity.

The confident kids turned out liberal and were still hanging loose, turning into bright, non-conforming adults with wide interests. The girls were still outgoing, but the young men tended to turn a little introspective."

This is absolutely fascinating stuff. In other words, conservatism stems from childhood issues and can likely be cured through therapy. Interestingly, this is not the first such study to show that right wingers have psychological issues.

Similar work was performed by John T. Jost of Stanford and colleagues in 2003. The researchers reviewed 44 years worth of studies into the psychology of conservatism, and concluded that people who are dogmatic, fearful, intolerant of ambiguity and uncertainty, and who crave order and structure are more likely to gravitate to conservatism. Critics branded it the "conservatives are crazy" study.

Well, if the diagnosis fits...

27 Comments:

This post has been removed by a blog administrator.
posted by Anonymous, at 3/22/2006 12:38 PM

Kurt, your ability to reason logically is non-existent. "Disagreeing with liberalism" does not automatically make one a conservative. You suffer from what psychologists call "Dichotomous Thinking", a symptom of borderline personality disorder. Kurt, please, turn off the right wing radio. It's turning your mind to jelly.
posted by Chris L., at 3/22/2006 12:46 PM

Dichotomous thinking disorder.

Chris, let's put that theory to the test this November.

If republicans retain control of the house and senate (and thereby pretty much removing all chance of impeaching George W. Bush), we'll see how many non-dichotomous thinkers there are on this blog who can see the potential for immediate good in that situation...
posted by Anonymous, at 3/22/2006 12:55 PM

Wrong yet AGAIN! Just amazing. Not liking the outcome of an election has nothing to do with being diagnosed a Dichotomous thinker. Kurt, where are you located? Colorado Springs, per chance?
posted by Chris L., at 3/22/2006 1:05 PM

Chris, before I do that, let's expound on this.

Tell me the good things you see happening if the republicans retain control of the house and senate this November...
posted by Anonymous, at 3/22/2006 1:11 PM

You miss the point. Dichotomous Thinking isn't indicated by one's devotion to a particular political party. But I will answer you nonetheless, even though you rudely set aside my question about your location and whether or not you are in that great oasis of beauty, tolerance and intellectual thought, Colorado Springs.

The best thing that would happen if the G.O.P. retained control would be that income taxes will remain low or at least not be increased. But again, your premise is all wrong. Millions of people are party-line voters, and they are NOT dichotomous thinkers. Such a condition extends to almost all areas of one's life. It is to be expected that many people would take sides when dealing with politics and that is completely normal.
posted by Chris L., at 3/22/2006 1:34 PM

Chris, thanks.

First of all, that link that Wayne furnished has a lot of criticism of the researcher. (I think Mr. Besen made that post tongue-in-cheek, anyway, as was, in a way, my response.)

Second, [url=http://www.palace.net/llama/psych/bpd.html]I appreciate your telling me about BPD...hadn't ever heard of it.[/url] I appreciate your saying that taxes might be lower if the republicans maintain control of the congress and senate, though, sadly, it appears the republicans just blew through GWB's proposed spending caps a week or so ago. Fiscally, this hasn't been the most conservative of administrations. (Uh-oh...I just said something not complimentary to GWB and his administration, so that may jeopardize my DTD diagnosis. However, I may be too secure and filled with joy to qualify for it anyway.)

As for where I live, many would say it's a far more evil place than Colorado Springs...Bentonville, AR. (And no, I don't work for the big "W".)
posted by Anonymous, at 3/22/2006 1:52 PM

Kurt, it is true, the GWB administration has not been true to conservative values at all. But I guess that the benefits of power trump the purity of ideology for some. In other words, they don't want to give up their parking space. As for your diagnosis, I am not a psychologist, so you can take it with a grain of salt. But it could be true. :-)
posted by Chris L., at 3/22/2006 2:01 PM

If anyone saw Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, except for Charlie, the rest of the kids in that movie were all good examples of the whiny brats who grow up to become neocon republicans. The german kid gorging on chocolate bars was a taylor made part for karl rove. I think clinton would have made a good slick willy wonka!
posted by Anonymous, at 3/22/2006 2:16 PM

Haven't seen the newer study, but the earlier Jost study cited is mostly bunk. Among other problems, they somehow defined both Hitler and Stalin as conservative. Hey, if there was one thing those two agreed on, it was the importance of preserving the status quo. "Don't rock the boat" was their motto.
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