Michael Dodd of the University of Nebraska showed 46 left- or right-leaning Nebraskans a series of images alternately disgusting (spiders on faces, open wounds) and appealing (smiling children, cute rabbits). Dodd's team found that conservatives reacted most strongly to negative images, and liberals most strongly to positive photographs.
Then he showed them pictures of well-known politicians. The same patterns held: Conservatives displayed more distaste than liberals for politicians they disliked, while liberals felt more positive than conservatives about politicians they liked. Given these and other findings, wrote Dodd's team, "those on the political right and those on the political left may simply experience the world differently."
That sounds pessimistic, but it doesn't have to be. It can be a healthy reminder that people with whom we disagree aren't stupid or irrational; they just have different perspectives.
Citation: "The political left rolls with the good and the political right confronts the bad: connecting physiology and cognition to preferences." By Michael D. Dodd, Amanda Balzer, Carly M. Jacobs, Michael W. Gruszczynski, Kevin B. Smith and John R. Hibbing. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, Vol. 367 No. 1589, March 5, 2012.
That just ties in well with some of my recent thoughts about what the truth is. I always liked to think - or may be that is what I learned in my education - that the truth is the truth is the truth, and should always be openly available. Everyone is taught to tell the truth, everyone hates liers, not telling the truth can be illegal. Well, but here it looks like the truth is different for different people. What truth to tell? I recently had a dispute with my ex-wife about some rules for the kids. It turned out, it was not only about these rules. Some general disagreements suddenly came up again - almost 7 years after divorce - and I first thought, wow, now I know again why I got divorced. After calming down a little I thought, how it is possible that different people can see the same reality so differently. Every divorcee probably knows what I am talking about. You live together with someone for years, you are in love and believe that you see the world with the same eyes, that you have the same goals. Later on you realize, the view of the world has never been the same, it just was never discussed so profoundly that the difference would have become obvious. Well, may be the truth is also different if you love someone? May be, it is not always good to tell the truth in any given situation? Years ago, the common-law spouse of my mom had cancer. He was a great guy, and he did not have much knowledge about medical terms. He knew that cancer is bad, but probably heard that a (benign) tumor is harmless. So one day he came back from a hospital visit and told us about his results. He said, they say I have a tumor in the lung ... silence.... man, I am glad that it is not cancer. Silence again. I never told him the truth about his cancer, and he lived happily for a couple of more month. Was it a bad thing not to tell him the truth, I don't think so. When I had that dispute with my ex, I thought I had long enough not said the truth, and how I observe things, so I told the truth, my truth. Since she is a "I am right-always"-person, it escalated. Suddenly it was not about the original rules anymore, so I knew that I had to stop at that point. It probably will still have some negative effects on my relation with my kids. Was it good to tell the truth? I don't know. On one hand, I am glad that I can be direct this way without fearing any consequences, and not care about the opinion of others - which is a learning process in itself. But on the other hand, I begin to think that there are reasons (my kids, the love for someone) for not telling everything I think is the truth and thus should be told. May be keeping things to ourselves sometimes is actually the greater strength.
Different people do see the world differently, they life in different worlds! Insisting on your own view might not always be the right strategy. I do appreciate my Southern friends, liberals or republicans, who after some political discussion, still want to drink a beer with you, shake your hand and invite you to their party. I am only hoping that in my life and in my world I have always the privilege to be with people who, despite different personal and political views, take the time to explore the realities of other people and of other worlds, and are wise enough to keep always a little space open in their heart for those with opposing views. Should they always tell me the truth? Yes please, under any circumstance, I think I can deal with it... and I do react stronger to positive pictures.
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