# Liberal Mind vs. Conservative Mind **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 11, 2013, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberal-mind-vs-conservative-mind/670974 "2013-10-11T13:34:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2013, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberal-mind-vs-conservative-mind/670974/21 "2013-10-11T15:00:37Z")
I don’t know if there’s ever been a study on this, but I think conservatives are much more likely to operate under the just-world fallacy. ---
**Author:** ![LinusK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/258eb7/32.png) [@LinusK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LinusK)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2013, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberal-mind-vs-conservative-mind/670974/22 "2013-10-11T15:01:15Z")
A liberal basically sees people who are poor or downtrodden as essentially victims of circumstance: whether it’s racism, sexism, poverty, abuse, mental illness, or lack of intelligence or education or poor upbringing; or even just bad genes. Liberals want to help those people. Conservatives see poor people as victims of their own bad decisions: they should have worked harder, stayed in school, stopped drinking or doing drugs, or whatever. They deserve their circumstances, and, if anything, society should make things harder on them to motivate them to work harder to I prove themselves. Conservatives see outcomes as punishments for bad decisions or rewards for good ones. It’s a matter of personal character. Liberals see life as a series of accidents, including, but not limited to the family you happen to have been born into and the genes you happen to have been born with. As a correllary, conservatives see life as fundamentally fair (except when liberals screw things up). So things should stay the same. Liberals view society as fundamentally unfair. So we need to change things. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2013, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberal-mind-vs-conservative-mind/670974/23 "2013-10-11T15:04:21Z")
> [@marshmallow](#): > > I don’t know if there’s ever been a study on this, but I think conservatives are much more likely to operate under the just-world fallacy. Most forms of traditional religion contribute to just world thinking, and are correlated to conservatism all across the world. ---
**Author:** ![AnthonyElite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b487fb/32.png) [@AnthonyElite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnthonyElite)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2013, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberal-mind-vs-conservative-mind/670974/24 "2013-10-11T15:08:35Z")
> [@LinusK](#): > > A liberal basically sees people who are poor or downtrodden as essentially victims of circumstance: whether it’s racism, sexism, poverty, abuse, mental illness, or lack of intelligence or education or poor upbringing; or even just bad genes. Liberals want to help those people. > > Conservatives see poor people as victims of their own bad decisions: they should have worked harder, stayed in school, stopped drinking or doing drugs, or whatever. They deserve their circumstances, and, if anything, society should make things harder on them to motivate them to work harder to I prove themselves. > > Conservatives see outcomes as punishments for bad decisions or rewards for good ones. It’s a matter of personal character. Liberals see life as a series of accidents, including, but not limited to the family you happen to have been born into and the genes you happen to have been born with. > > As a correllary, conservatives see life as fundamentally fair (except when liberals screw things up). So things should stay the same. > > Liberals view society as fundamentally unfair. So we need to change things. I wonder how much the human psyche play this to advantage without even knowing it. Like that successful guy down the street that drives like a jerk? He wasn’t a hard worker he just got lucky. And that down trodden, but sweet girl working at the convenience store? It wasn’t her fault she failed out of college, she had a poor education at her high-school. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2013, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberal-mind-vs-conservative-mind/670974/25 "2013-10-11T15:09:09Z")
> [@AnthonyElite](#): > > I fear aligning with either party because of the foam-at-the-mouth demonizing of the other side. I don’t want to ally with either to make a change because I feel one side ultimately seeks to eradicate the other. Instead I make a moral decision regarding each issue, issue to issue 1. Do not confuse the tv and radio pundits with most liberals and conservatives, please. 2. See 1. 3. So do most liberals and conservatives. ---
**Author:** ![AnthonyElite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b487fb/32.png) [@AnthonyElite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnthonyElite)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2013, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberal-mind-vs-conservative-mind/670974/26 "2013-10-11T15:19:17Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > 1. Do not confuse the tv and radio pundits with most liberals and conservatives, please. > 2. See 1. > 3. So do most liberals and conservatives. I don’t confuse human beings with pundits, of course. I simply don’t want to get caught in the trappings of a mindset. While I agree that the majority of libs/cons would truly align with the middle, whenever discussion on a subject begins many tend to flee to the extremist outskirts for safety. ---
**Author:** ![LinusK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/258eb7/32.png) [@LinusK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LinusK)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2013, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberal-mind-vs-conservative-mind/670974/27 "2013-10-11T15:19:39Z")
> [@AnthonyElite](#): > > I wonder how much the human psyche play this to advantage without even knowing it. Like that successful guy down the street that drives like a jerk? He wasn’t a hard worker he just got lucky. And that down trodden, but sweet girl working at the convenience store? It wasn’t her fault she failed out of college, she had a poor education at her high-school. Or maybe she’s just not academically-minded. That would not be her fault, either. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2013, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberal-mind-vs-conservative-mind/670974/28 "2013-10-11T15:26:59Z")
Conservatives = exclusive Liberals = inclusive ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2013, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberal-mind-vs-conservative-mind/670974/29 "2013-10-11T15:28:54Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > Conservatives = exclusive > Liberals = inclusive Do you reject the definitions given in post #15? ---
**Author:** ![LinusK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/258eb7/32.png) [@LinusK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LinusK)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2013, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberal-mind-vs-conservative-mind/670974/30 "2013-10-11T15:29:28Z")
Let me add one other thing (sorry for double-posting). Whenever people are fortunate in life they inevitably put it down to their own choices, abilities, and special character. When things go wrong, it’s always bad luck. I used to play a lot - and I mean _a lot_ of online poker. When I was running good, I couldn’t help but think my opponents were playing in slow-motion. I was a poker god. When the cards ran bad, on the other hand, I couldn’t help but think the poker gods were personally persecuting me. I knew, intellectually, that it was just random luck. Sometimes the cards run good, sometimes bad. The skill comes from playing the best you can regardless of which way the chips are going. But I still had the same basic emotional response each time the cards swung from one direction to the other. ---
**Author:** ![AnthonyElite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b487fb/32.png) [@AnthonyElite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnthonyElite)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2013, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberal-mind-vs-conservative-mind/670974/31 "2013-10-11T15:36:32Z")
> [@LinusK](#): > > Let me add one other thing (sorry for double-posting). Whenever people are fortunate in life they inevitably put it down to their own choices, abilities, and special character. When things go wrong, it’s always bad luck. > > I used to play a lot - and I mean _a lot_ of online poker. When I was running good, I couldn’t help but think my opponents were playing in slow-motion. I was a poker god. When the cards ran bad, on the other hand, I couldn’t help but think the poker gods were personally persecuting me. > > I knew, intellectually, that it was just random luck. Sometimes the cards run good, sometimes bad. The skill comes from playing the best you can regardless of which way the chips are going. But I still had the same basic emotional response each time the cards swung from one direction to the other. A kind of Positive Confirmation Bias, as it were? ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2013, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberal-mind-vs-conservative-mind/670974/32 "2013-10-11T15:40:35Z")
Liberal - person who thinks to the left of me. Conservative - persons who thinks to the right of me. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2013, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberal-mind-vs-conservative-mind/670974/33 "2013-10-11T15:42:19Z")
A conservative is somebody who wants to preserve things of value. A liberal is somebody who wants to make forward progress. ---
**Author:** ![LinusK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/258eb7/32.png) [@LinusK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LinusK)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2013, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberal-mind-vs-conservative-mind/670974/34 "2013-10-11T16:15:50Z")
> [@AnthonyElite](#): > > A kind of Positive Confirmation Bias, as it were? I would have said its just human nature. You want to have the highest evaluation of yourself as you can; so you ascribe good outcomes to your special skills, and bad ones to outside forces. Lawyers do it all the time: if you win a case it’s because you won it. If you lose, it was the judge’s fault. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Human\_Action](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@Human\_Action](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Human_Action)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2013, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberal-mind-vs-conservative-mind/670974/35 "2013-10-11T16:26:03Z")
> [@LinusK](#): > > I would have said its just human nature. You want to have the highest evaluation of yourself as you can; so you ascribe good outcomes to your special skills, and bad ones to outside forces. Lawyers do it all the time: if you win a case it’s because you won it. If you lose, it was the judge’s fault. 🙂 [Self-serving bias.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-serving_bias) > [@](#): > > A self-serving bias, sometimes called a self-serving attributional bias, refers to individuals attributing their successes to internal or personal factors but attributing their failures to external or situational factors. This bias is a mechanism for individuals to protect or enhance their own self-esteem. For example, a student who attributes a good grade on an exam to his or her own intelligence and hours of studying but a poor grade to the professor’s poor teaching ability and unfair test questions is exhibiting the self-serving bias. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2013, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberal-mind-vs-conservative-mind/670974/36 "2013-10-11T17:08:07Z")
> [@Bridget\_Burke](#): > > The Late Great Molly Ivins said that. “There are two kinds of people in the world: those who say, 'There are two kinds of people in the world: those who say there are two kinds of people in the world, and _the other kind,"_ and those who _don’t say._ Well, and then there’s me.” – J.R. “Bob” Dobbs during his mail fraud trial, 1978 ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2013, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberal-mind-vs-conservative-mind/670974/37 "2013-10-11T17:17:33Z")
There is actually [some neurological evidence](http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121101105003.htm) that liberals and conservatives have different kinds of brains and think and perceive and make decisions differently on a fundamental level; but, [take it with a grain of salt](http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Political_neuroscience). See also [_The Republican Brain,_](http://www.amazon.com/The-Republican-Brain-Science-Science/dp/1118094514) by Chris Mooney. I once ran a [thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=652792) on that. The problem appears to be, not that RWs are not **intelligent,** but that they **won’t** use their brains to deal with facts, but only to rebel against them and substitute “facts” more to their liking and defend those. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2013, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberal-mind-vs-conservative-mind/670974/38 "2013-10-11T17:17:36Z")
A conservative thinks any changes deliberately made to how society works now, no matter how well intentioned, are almost certain to screw things up in unexpected ways, and make things worse. A liberal thinks that how society works now is, in several or many respects, pretty bad, and that there are changes that that could be made that would clearly be beneficial, and have a minimum of unfortunate side effects. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2013, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberal-mind-vs-conservative-mind/670974/39 "2013-10-11T17:32:00Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > A conservative thinks any changes deliberately made to how society works now, no matter how well intentioned, are almost certain to screw things up in unexpected ways, and make things worse. > > A liberal thinks that how society works now is, in several or many respects, pretty bad, and that there are changes that that could be made that would clearly be beneficial, and have a minimum of unfortunate side effects. I would amend this to “the way society used to work.” I mean, Conservatives (sometimes) rail against Social Security, while liberals generally want to protect it. Conservatives want to ban abortion, while liberals want current law to remain as it is. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2013, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberal-mind-vs-conservative-mind/670974/40 "2013-10-11T17:38:40Z")
I think in these times the only differences are particular political issues. There are plenty of people identifying with each label that otherwise share the same mindset. Somewhere I read that political parties in this country traditionally would all claim to be conservative, often arguing over which was more conservative than the other. The ‘liberal’ label was apparently a 20th century invention by conservatives to try to secure the ‘conservative’ label for themselves. You can see that both sides will claim to favor freedom and liberty as ideals, but readily reject them in favor of their own special interest such as social order or economics. They also switch sides on particular issues over time. Legalized unregulated abortions were once considered a conservative issue because that was the tradition, while groups now considered liberal originated the concept of the right to life for people not yet born. The liberals won that cause and made it the law, which later the conservatives driven by religion based politics picked up as abortions became legal again on the state level. Religious groups once considered liberal had taken a swing to the conservative side over time changing the equation. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberal-mind-vs-conservative-mind/670974.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberal-mind-vs-conservative-mind/670974.md?page=3)