WaPo reports on a fascinating study done at Yale that concludes that conservatives can be made more liberal. But it does not appear to be easy.
Brain imaging studies have even shown that the fear center of the brain, the amygdala, is actually larger in conservatives than in liberals. And many other laboratory studies have found that when adult liberals experienced physical threat, their political and social attitudes became more conservative (temporarily, of course). But no one had ever turned conservatives into liberals.
Until we did.
There is a strong correlation between an enlarged amygdala and conservative views and attitudes. And fear ‘lives’ in the amygdala. But can the development of a enlarged fear center be reversed. The study indicates that the answer is likely, ‘yes’.
So, how did they ‘make’ liberals out of conservatives?
In both instances, we had manipulated a deeper underlying reason for political attitudes, the strength of the basic motivation of safety and survival. The boiling water of our social and political attitudes, it seems, can be turned up or down by changing how physically safe we feel.
Simple, little activities of daily living actually convert conservatives into liberals, albeit slightly and temporarily.
In another study, using hand sanitizer after being warned about the flu virus had the same effect on immigration attitudes as had being vaccinated. A simple squirt of Purell after we had raised the threat of the flu had changed their minds. It made them feel safe from the dangerous virus, and this made them feel socially safe from immigrants as well.
Maybe these conversions are not enormous, and likely they are not permanent, but what if they are continuously administered in a concerted campaign to reduce fear and induce liberal attitudes?
Instead of allowing our strings to be pulled so easily by others, we can become more conscious of what drives us and work harder to base our opinions on factual knowledge about the issues, including information from outside our media echo chambers. Yes, our views can harden given the right environment, but our work shows that they are actually easier to change than we might think.
So, there you have it: a virtual recipe for making your red friends, family, co-workers, and acquaintances just a little more purple, and maybe even blue.
Make them feel safe.
Having those constant arguments, especially about how much damage the GOP is doing may not be helping at all. Talking about taking away their guns, even just their AR-15s and no others, likely makes them hold on all the more tightly, because that is talking about ripping away their blankies.
Offer them some hand sanitizer. Make them feel safe, in any small way you can. Because the feeling of safety, if constantly induced and reinforced, may push them away from the constant fear-mongering of Fox News and InfoWars, and such. Let them know that, yeah you may be on the other side of the issue but we’re all Americans and we have each other’s backs.
Make them feel physically safe.
Don’t rip away Linus’s blanket. That does not make him feel physically safe. Convince him that he doesn’t need it, and he may set it aside of his accord.
This is not a short-term fix. It’s a long-term campaign, because conservatives are made at home by other fearful conservatives. Their amygdalas are grown large and early from the constant bombardment by their fearful parents and relatives of the notion that they are *in danger*, always and from everywhere.
And guard yourself against the fear-mongering that is now pervasive among those of like mind. That’s the true danger of this current environment, that we will sweat ourselves into creatures that we abhor, that we will become what we despise. That is the cautionary tale hidden in this study.
We can and we will continue to resist. We will overcome. Guard against fear and despair. It eats your blue soul, and it kills your joy.