Political conservatives were found to form opinions consistent with an individualistic and hierarchical outlook. The more liberal respondents tended to adopt opinions that support an egalitarian and communitarian framework. This means conservatives will tend to dismiss global warming because to show concern would invite the possibility that we — individuals — aren’t up to the task of preventing it. Likewise, a liberal with distrust of big business is inclined to oppose genetically modified organisms, not necessarily because of evidence, but because GMOs are often developed and sold by big corporations, which are seen as incongruent with egalitarian and communitarian mindset. As Kahan noted in a follow-up paper, “liberals and conservatives were uniformly prone to ideologically motivated reasoning.” Consciously or unconsciously, we parse evidence to reinforce our views and the views of the groups with which we identify. And the more sophisticated we are, the better we are at it.
Posted on: Wed, 19 Mar 2014 14:05:37 +0000
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