Nicholas D. Kristof writes:
The larger point is that liberals and conservatives often form judgments through flash intuitions that aren’t a result of a deliberative process. The crucial part of the brain for these judgments is the medial prefrontal cortex, which has more to do with moralizing than with rationality.
Kristof also cites Professor Jonathan Haidt as saying
Minds are very hard things to open, and the best way to open the mind is through the heart … Our minds were not designed by evolution to discover the truth; they were designed to play social games.
Kristof’s column links to http://www.civilpolitics.org/, which includes resources on how people think (or more acurately, feel) politically. The website also advocates the goal of getting people to try to move beyond these flinch-like reactions toward engagement and deliberation.
Obviously, this research raises intriguing questions for democratic political theory. In short, can the public competently govern itself over the long-run? What institutional structures or non-governmental organizations might help individuals make more rational decisions? Etc.
Source: Nicholas D. Kristof, “Would You Slap Your Father? If So, You Are a Liberal,” New York Times, May 28, 2009