Thursday, September 25, 2008

Research news: Political conservatives fear chaos; Liberals fear emptiness

The News:
Political Conservatives Fear Chaos; Liberals Fear Emptiness
ScienceDaily (Sep. 25, 2008) — Political conservatives operate out of a fear of chaos and absence of order while political liberals operate out of a fear of emptiness, a new Northwestern University study finds.
“Social scientists long have assumed that liberals are more rational and less fearful than conservatives, but we find that both groups view the world as a dangerous place,” says Dan McAdams, study co-author and professor of human development and psychology at Northwestern University. “It’s just that their fears emerge differently.”
To better understand the differences between politically conservative Christian Americans and their liberal counterparts, McAdams and Northwestern University co-author Michelle Albaugh asked 128 socially active churchgoers this question: What if there were no God? Read on...

The Research:
Read the research behind this story in the Journal of Research in Personality.

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