Somehow I doubt the American press would ever report this. But the Toronto Star did:
Remember the whiny, insecure kid in nursery school, the one who always thought everyone was out to get him, and was always running to the teacher with complaints? Chances are he grew up to be a conservative.
At least, he did if he was one of 95 kids from the Berkeley area that social scientists have been tracking for the last 20 years. The confident, resilient, self-reliant kids mostly grew up to be liberals.
More after the fold.
http://www.thestar.com/...
If you've ever thought that there's just something FUNDAMENTALLY wrong with Conservatives, well here's a study that backs it up.
And get this -- the last time someone published the same findings:
Similar conclusions a few years ago from another academic saw him excoriated on right-wing blogs, and even led to a Congressional investigation into his research funding.
So it's scientific fact: Conservatives are COWARDS. They are whiny little fraidy cats.
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.
Block admits in his paper that liberal Berkeley is not representative of the whole country. But within his sample, he says, the results hold. He reasons that insecure kids look for the reassurance provided by tradition and authority, and find it in conservative politics. The more confident kids are eager to explore alternatives to the way things are, and find liberal politics more congenial.
In a society that values self-confidence and out-goingness, it's a mostly flattering picture for liberals. It also runs contrary to the American stereotype of wimpy liberals and strong conservatives.
Yeah, well who spread that stereotype around? It sure wasn't the liberals? That's right, it's the conservatives who have spread that mistruth. Because not only are they cowardly scairdy-cats, they're LIARS as well.
Of course, if you're studying the psychology of politics, you shouldn't be surprised to get a political reaction. Similar work by John T. Jost of Stanford and colleagues in 2003 drew a political backlash. 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 and accused the authors of a political bias.
And some people wonder why conservatives hate science.
It's because science reveals them to be scared little whiny bastards.
Assholes.
You know, I once knew a guy back in Austin Texas who was one of the biggest pricks I'd ever had to deal with in my life. I was on a job with him once, and at one point I had to tell him that I would no longer speak to him, work with him, and I would not permit him to speak to me either.
See, I wasn't from Austin. I couldn't put up with this jerk. However, people in Austin are the NICEST people I've ever met in my life. My theory was that this guy lived in Austin (he wasn't from there either) because in any other place he'd be beaten to within an inch of his life in a matter of hours.
Why are Austinites so nice? Because they're liberal. They're "live and let live". They're the most tolerant people I've ever seen.
This is why a bunch of whiny scairdy-cat little liars have taken over the United States.
Because the rest of us are too damn nice.
It's time to quit being nice.