Neuroscientists believe our political loyalties may actually be hard-wired into our brains.
Research in the Netherlands has suggested that conservatives have a different brain shape than leftists.
Scans of more than 900 Gen Z adults showed that right-wing voters have larger amygdalae, the area of the brain connected to emotion.
Experts today called the results “surprising” but warned they were not accurate enough to predict a person’s posture from a scan alone.
Scans of more than 900 Gen Z adults showed that right-wing voters have larger amygdalae, the area of the brain connected to emotion.
It also draws on landmark research, originally commissioned by actor Colin Firth in 2010 as part of his role as guest editor of BBC 4’s Today programme, which found a “strong correlation” between increased grey matter in the amygdala and political views.
Professor Diamantis Petropoulos Petalas, lead author of the study and a psychology expert at the University of Amsterdam, said: “It was really a surprise that we replicated the amygdala finding.
Honestly, we didn’t expect to replicate any of these findings.
‘The amygdala controls the perception and understanding of threats and risk uncertainty.
“So it makes a lot of sense that people who are more sensitive to these issues would have higher security needs, something that typically aligns with more conservative ideas in politics.”
The findings build on landmark research, originally commissioned by actor Colin Firth (pictured) in 2010, which found a “strong correlation” between increased grey matter in the amygdala and political views.
In the study, researchers from the University of Amsterdam and the American College of Greece evaluated the scans of 928 Dutch adults aged 19 to 26 who had different levels of education.
Each was asked where they stand on social and economic issues, including women’s and LGBTQ+ rights, income equality, and which political party they identify with.
Their brain data were then compared to the questionnaire.
They found that self-proclaimed right-wingers had a more pronounced amygdala — an almond-shaped cluster of neurons located deep in the brain’s medial temporal lobe, which processes emotions.
Writing in the diary iScienceHowever, the researchers said this association was “three times lower compared to the original study.”
In the initial 2010 study, scientists at University College London evaluated brain scans of 90 students.
They also found that those aligned to the left had thicker anterior cingulate, an area associated with courage and decision-making.
But today’s scientists They found no association between conservatism and lower gray matter volume in the ACC.
Instead, they found a link between conservatives and more gray matter in the right fusiform gyrus, a region of the temporal lobe that is essential for visual and cognitive functions.
Professor Petropoulos said: ‘These regions are involved in facial recognition, so it makes sense that they might be involved when one thinks about political issues, because political issues often remind us of the political people who represent the ideology on those issues.
‘Just remembering a politician’s face, for example, might make the fusiform gyrus light up a bit.
“We see ideology as a complex and multidimensional product, including different attitudes on social and economic issues, as well as identification with progressive or conservative ideals; it’s really not just about left or right,”
- An earlier version of this article suggested that the study had concluded that conservative voters are more compassionate. The title has been changed and we are pleased to clarify that while the area of the brain referred to in the study is related to emotions, the article did not refer specifically to “compassion”.