# The psychological traits that shape your political beliefs | TED talk **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 9, 2020, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-psychological-traits-that-shape-your-political-beliefs-ted-talk/922566 "2020-10-09T14:42:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2020, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-psychological-traits-that-shape-your-political-beliefs-ted-talk/922566/41 "2020-10-11T11:50:24Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > A large part of it is the fact that, for most of human history, there really wasn’t enough to go around. Helping out your immediate circle was good, it helped you, and it helped those who were to carry on your legacy. Helping outsiders meant taking from yourself and your legacy, making yourself weaker. > > Life was a negative sum game, you only gained at the expense of others, and if others gained, it was at your expense. > > We don’t live in that world anymore. We have more than enough to go around to meet everyone’s needs. We live in a positive sum game world, where the more that others have, the more that you have. > > I would argue that the big difference between the conservative and the liberal mindset is in recognizing this change. > > The problem is, even in a world with plenty, that _should_ work as positive sum, if enough people play it as a negative sum, then it becomes one. This is where I see conservative hypocrisy at an astonishingly high level. Conservatives often will attack things like welfare, food stamps, etc. by saying something to the effect of “we should look after our own before looking after others.” Yet when the time comes to look after their own, they refuse to do so, instead preferring to take from themselves and give to those who are better off then them. It started with Reagen’s trickle down economics. More recently were the Trump tax “cuts” which in practice left the middle class paying more and the wealthy paying less. Conservatives will oppose things to improve the environment, education, the social safety net, etc. that they would personally benefit from, and then claim that the government is “looking out for all them other people but ignoring me.” I find it hard to have any sympathy for them or even take them seriously at their word that this is there true objection to such programs. My conclusion is that these people really are just racist jerks, and if the Blacks, Mexicans, Muslims, gays, whoever, gets it worse than them, they will be happy, even if means that their boss gets richer while they get poorer. ---
**Author:** ![Retzbu\_Tox](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/retzbu_tox/32/11829_2.png) [@Retzbu\_Tox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Retzbu_Tox)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2020, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-psychological-traits-that-shape-your-political-beliefs-ted-talk/922566/42 "2020-10-11T17:31:37Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > Right, if the evidence doesn’t fit their preconceived notions, then they refuse to believe the evidence. I’ve been having a problem with some family members that take this even further. They **acknowledge** choosing evidence to fit their preconceived notions, and think that they are correct to do so. Furthermore, they insist I am doing the same thing, and I cannot get them to grasp the concept of looking at what the evidence says in order to modify your worldview to more appropriately match reality. Its a conscious abandonment of their critical thinking skills. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-psychological-traits-that-shape-your-political-beliefs-ted-talk/922566.md?page=2)