The Psychology Behind Political Ideologies

It is abundantly clear that Democrats and Republicans have vastly different opinions. Discussions bloom into heated arguments, and it is near impossible to end a political discussion with a consensus that's more significant than to “agree to disagree.” Why is this? Discussions and debates should logically be meant for individuals to understand and become educated about different perspectives, is there a reason this rarely occurs? Is there a correlation between political involvement and individual psychologies? Or does it differ between different opinions? 

In short, there is a correlation and a relationship between political identification and personal psychology. Especially in terms of liberal and conservative opinions, there have been psychological trends in individuals that correlate with certain beliefs. For instance, liberals are generally more creative and curious about the world around them, while conservatives tend to be more driven by fear or stress [4,6]. This could explain why conservative beliefs are generally more resistant to change, especially socially, and have strong connections to the past [1], which in turn creates strong sentiment towards political slogans or ideas, like President Trump’s campaign promise to “Make America Great Again.” Similarly, conservatives tend to have very focused and reliably consistent ideas relating their self-identity and values; it was found that conservatives associated their beliefs and values with words like honor, tradition, and religion [6]. 

Contrastingly, liberals are much more open to change and tend to feel safer and more confident about the amount of control they have in both daily tasks and their general livelihoods [4]. In the same studies that found the words which conservatives associate themselves with, liberals were found to describe themselves as loving and compassionate [6,11].  Furthermore, the circle that liberals empathize with has been found to be more extensive than liberals, reaching “non-human and imaginary subjects like animals and aliens” [6]. This logically connects to the lesser feeling of fear, as conservative ideologies show a need to prioritize themselves and their closest ones out of their comparatively cynical view of the world [2,13].

Physically, these traits have been noticeable through research of brain structure using MRI scanning. In liberals, there is a larger gray matter volume of anterior cingulate cortex, which has been associated with feelings of pain, or empathy, and impulse control. Contrastingly, conservatives have increased right amygdala sizes, which has a correlation with stronger reactions to fearful or negative stimuli [9].

Overall, such research seems to be taken advantage of in political campaigns and the media to garner support from each side [3]. As Psychology Today describes, conservatives are “pro-family because being surrounded by close relatives is the best defense against threats that surround them” [2]. Conservatives have been shown to view social inequalities - where the status quo is frequently challenged - to be zero sum, that is, one party can only gain if another party loses [7]. On the other hand, liberal media and politicians trends towards focusing on the need for change, and drawing empathy for larger, marginalized groups [5,12]. 

While it may feel like political divisions are currently at an all-time high, John Hibbing, a political scientist  at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, argues that “we have always had this very same division, this very basic difference between people who are fairly sensitive to threats and think we need to be vigilant and those people who are more into experimentation and trying new things” [8]. But what if we could use this information to instead alleviate tensions and partisan thinking? With an understanding of our common differences—that our political opponents are not inherently bad people but simply view the world differently—we can finally begin to bridge the gap that divides us, even if we ultimately disagree with their conclusions.

References

1. Andreasson, S. Conservatism. Political Ideologies: An Introduction 2014, 47–70.

2. Barber, N. Why Liberal Hearts Bleed and Conservatives Don't.; 2012 https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-human-beast/201210/why-liberal-hearts-bleed-and-conservatives-dont 

3. Bovard, J. Why Presidents Want You Scared: James Bovard. https://mises.org/power-market/why-presidents-want-you-scared (accessed Oct 16, 2020).

4. Brueck, H. A Yale psychologist's simple thought experiment temporarily turned conservatives into liberals. https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-turn-conservatives-liberal-john-bargh-psychology-2017-10 (accessed Oct 16, 2020).

5. Brueck, H. Scientists have discovered two simple psychological differences that make you liberal or conservative. https://www.businessinsider.com/liberals-and-conservatives-process-disgust-and-empathy-differently-2018-1 (accessed Oct 16, 2020).

6. Brueck, H. These key psychological differences can determine whether you're liberal or conservative. https://www.businessinsider.com/psychological-differences-between-conservatives-and-liberals-2018-2 (accessed Oct 16, 2020).

7. Davidai, S.; Ongis, M. The Politics of Zero-Sum Thinking: The Relationship between Political Ideology and the Belief That Life Is a Zero-Sum Game. Science Advances 2019, 5 (12).

8. Hibbing, J. Nature, Nurture And Your Politics. NPR, 2018.

9. Kanai, R.; Feilden, T.; Firth, C.; Rees, G. Political Orientations Are Correlated with Brain Structure in Young Adults. Current Biology 2011, 21 (8), 677–680.

10. Kiley, G. Political polarization? Don't blame the web, Brown study says. https://www.brown.edu/news/2017-03-20/internetpolarization (accessed Oct 16,  2020). 

11. Public Opinion on Patriotism, Personal Traits, Lifestyles and Demographics. https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2014/06/26/section-9-patriotism-personal-traits-lifestyles-and-demographics/ (accessed Oct 16, 2020).  

12. Teaching the Children: Sharp Ideological Differences, Some Common Ground. https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2014/09/18/teaching-the-children-sharp-ideological-differences-some-common-ground/ (accessed Oct 16, 2020).

13. Waytz, A.; Iyer, R.; Young, L.; Haidt, J.; Graham, J. Ideological Differences in the Expanse of the Moral Circle. Nature Communications 2019, 10 (1). 

Romance from Afar: Navigating Long Distance Relationships

College is a time of great uncertainty. It is a world of new friends, experiences, and challenges. For many students, one of these challenges is navigating a long-distance relationship (LDR). Some have had to move far away from their partner for college. Others start LDRs in their time at college, perhaps with someone they met on the Internet or from traveling abroad. Regardless of the situation, LDRs can be difficult to navigate, but stick around, and you will see that LDRs can be meaningful and rewarding experiences.

Why are long-distance relationships so challenging?

Relationships are complicated, and when distance is a factor the consequences can be overwhelming. One such consequence is loneliness: in a study by Firmin, Firmin, and Lorenzen (2014), female college students in LDRs reported that their feelings of loneliness increased at certain points (e.g. after seeing their boyfriends or when seeing other happy couples) and that these feelings contributed to “needy” behaviors like calling their boyfriends often [1]. LDRs also affect other aspects of the college experience: Waterman et al. (2017) found that students going into college in LDRs had more difficulty adjusting to college life and that they participated in university activities less than single students [2]. 

Are long-distance relationships so terrible after all?

There are challenges involved in being in an LDR, but that does not mean that you should avoid them. In fact, they may be comparable to geographically close relationships (GCRs). For instance, in a study by Dargie et al. (2015), researchers compared participants in LDRs and GCRs and found that few differences existed between them in terms of relationship quality [3]. Goldsmith and Byers (2018) found consistent results from comparing people in LDRs and GCRs: those in both types of relationships had similar satisfaction despite observers perceiving those in LDRs to be less satisfied [4]. LDRs can also actually be rewarding in their own ways. From the results of questionnaires about the LDR experiences of a group of college students, Mietzner and Li-Wen (2005) found that participants reported gaining skills from being in an LDR including time management, independence, trust, patience, and better communication [5]. 

How can I navigate being in a long-distance relationship?

Along with the challenges of being in a relationship, the distance means that partners are not able to meet face-to-face, meaning that there are fewer opportunities for physical intimacy. However, this does not mean that there aren’t ways to maintain a healthy LDR. Firstly, it is important to begin the relationship with a strong foundation. Arditti and Kauffman (2004) interviewed participants in LDRs and found that strong foundations of friendship and trust were important aspects of the relationship. It is crucial to keep in touch, such as through the use of technology (phones, e-mail, video chat) [6]. Maintaining healthy relationships with others is also beneficial; having close family and friends to talk to can be helpful in difficult times and can also solidify the trust and commitment in the relationship [1]. Much like in any other relationship, the key is to have a good foundation, to keep in touch, and to also maintain other aspects of your life.

References

1. Firmin, M. W.; Firmin, R. L.; Lorenzen, K. A Qualitative Analysis of Loneliness Dynamics Involved with College Long-Distance Relationships. Coll. Stud. J. 2014, 48 (1), 57–71.

2. Waterman, E. A.; Wesche, R.; Leavitt, C. E.; Jones, D. E.; Lefkowitz, E. S. Long-Distance Dating Relationships, Relationship Dissolution, and College Adjustment. Emerg. Adulthood Print 2017, 5 (4), 268–279. https://doi.org/10.1177/2167696817704118.

3. Dargie, E.; Blair, K. L.; Goldfinger, C.; Pukall, C. F. Go Long! Predictors of Positive Relationship Outcomes in Long-Distance Dating Relationships. J. Sex Marital Ther. 2015, 41 (2), 181–202. https://doi.org/10.1080/0092623X.2013.864367.

4. Goldsmith, K. M.; Byers, E. S. Perceived and Reported Romantic and Sexual Outcomes in Long-Distance and Geographically Close Relationships. Can. J. Hum. Sex. 2018, 27 (2), 144–156. https://doi.org/10.3138/cjhs.2018-0016.

5. Mietzner, S.; Li-Wen Lin. Would You Do It Again? Coll. Stud. J. 2005, 39 (1), 192–200.

6. Arditti, J. A.; Kauffman, M. Staying Close When Apart: Intimacy and Meaning in Long-Distance Dating Relationships. J. Couple Relatsh. Ther. 2004, 3 (1), 27–52. https://doi.org/10.1300/J398v03n01_03.

7. The Telegraph, 2020. Lonely Hearts. [image] Available at: <https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/university-checklist/can-long-distance-relationships-work/> [Accessed 25 September 2020].

Am I Speaking Too Fast?

If you have ever tried to listen to native speakers of a language you are learning, you probably had trouble understanding them because they seem to be speaking too fast. It turns out that this might not just be because you are new to the language. People who speak different languages actually voice syllables at different rates, so some languages are consistently spoken faster than others. However, this doesn't mean that speakers of these languages convey information faster, according to a new study published in Science Advances.

A study conducted by researchers from the University of Lyon found that languages are constrained by a tradeoff between speed and efficiency. Languages spoken faster will contain less information per syllable, so that universally, languages tend to convey information at the same rate of 39.15 bits per second. Despite the large differences between languages-for instance, English has almost 7,000 distinct syllables, while Japanese only has a few hundred-a combination of biological, cultural, and social factors constrain them to be more similar than you think.

 The study investigated 17 Eurasian languages, including Japanese, Mandarin, German, Vietnamese, Spanish, French, and Italian. For each language, the researchers estimated the information density (ID) for each language, or the amount of information that is contained in each syllable, calculated in bits per second. A bit in linguistics is the amount of information contained in a syllable that reduces uncertainty by half. For example, in conversation, if you could narrow a topic of a conversation down by half from a single syllable, that syllable would contain 1 bit of information.

The researchers also asked 10 speakers for each language to read 15 texts and measured the duration and number of syllables spoken. They then calculated the speech rate (SR), the speed at which syllables are produced. You can imagine that speech rate would depend largely on the individual speakers, but the researchers found that it varied more by language than by speaker within a language.

 The information rate for each language was then calculated by multiple information density (ID) with average speech rate (SR). The researchers found that languages are more similar to each other in information rate than in speech rate, and that information rate negatively correlated with information density. These findings extend the results from a previous study, which found that English had an information density of 0.91, while Japanese had a density of almost half, at 0.49. However, English was spoken slower, at 6.19 syllables per second, compared to 7.84 syllables per second for Japanese.

 Overall, languages occupy a range of information rates, which the researchers suggest are due to the communicative and cognitive limitations of both speakers and listeners. If a high information density language was spoken to fast (termed "high-fast"), this would require the speaker to vocalize more complex sounds and require cognitive planning. As you can imagine, listeners would also have a hard time listening and understanding such speech. On the other hand, "low-slow" languages, low ID languages spoken slowly, would be less efficient and also require speakers and listeners to use more memory.

The researchers hope to broaden their results by studying more languages across the world from regions in Africa and the Americas. They are also interested in extending these findings to conversational speech, not just read speech. Interestingly, this study also relates to previous studies that found that within a single language, faster speakers tend to be less informational. Our brains find a balance between cognitive limitations and communication requirements, so that we can get our points across effectively and efficiently.

References

1. Coupé, C.; Oh, Y.; Dediu, D.; Pellegrino, F. Different Languages, Similar Encoding Efficiency: Comparable Information Rates across the Human Communicative Niche. Science Advances 2019, 5 (9).

2. Kluger, J. Slow Down! Why Some Languages Sound So Fast. http://content.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2091477,00.html (accessed Oct 13, 2019).