As the researchers defined them, right-wing authoritarians are people who ascribe to conservative ideologies and so-called “traditional values” who advocate for “punitive measures for social control,” while left-wing authoritarians are interested in “violently overthrow[ing] and [penalizing] the current structures of authority and power in society.”
Not that I believe the political compass is a valid representation, but whatever definition these folks are using is even weirder. Then again, they agree with Engels that revolutions are authoritarian by nature, so maybe i’m the wrong one.
From the paper: “LWA anti-hierarchical aggression was negatively related to the insular thickness”
I find it hard to believe that leftists would be associated with less empathy–but empathy is a very flexible word in psychology.
Importantly, the right anterior insula is strongly related with affective empathy
Disclaimer: not a shrink and I generally believe most “social” sciences are unworthy of the title, but I really do like to read
They cite studies that do fMRIs to test cognitive vs affective empathy; more recent trends in psychology/neurology tend toward defining more than two kinds of empathy; most often using cognitive, affective/emotional, and compassionate.
Cognitive empathy: detecting and analyzing the emotional state of another
Affective/Emotional empathy: experiencing the emotional state of another or tying it to one’s own experiences
Compassionate empathy: a desire or drive to alleviate another’s emotional distress
Compassion is a big-brain thing–as in it requires a bunch of the brain bits working together, instead of a couple areas firing up.
Not that I believe the political compass is a valid representation, but whatever definition these folks are using is even weirder. Then again, they agree with Engels that revolutions are authoritarian by nature, so maybe i’m the wrong one.
I find it hard to believe that leftists would be associated with less empathy–but empathy is a very flexible word in psychology.
Ah, here we go, quote from the study:
Disclaimer: not a shrink and I generally believe most “social” sciences are unworthy of the title, but I really do like to read
They cite studies that do fMRIs to test cognitive vs affective empathy; more recent trends in psychology/neurology tend toward defining more than two kinds of empathy; most often using cognitive, affective/emotional, and compassionate.
Compassion is a big-brain thing–as in it requires a bunch of the brain bits working together, instead of a couple areas firing up.
Oh shit this helps me make sense of what seemed like a personal contradiction, where I’m light on type 2 but heavy on types 1 and 3