Conservatives arenât paranoid. The leftist academic establishment really is after them. A team of Berkley scientists recently released a new study (press release here) suggesting that conservative political views are explained by an underlying psychological condition characterized by the following:
- Fear and aggression
- Dogmatism and intolerance of ambiguity
- Uncertainty avoidance
- Need for cognitive closure
- Terror management
When asked the obvious question of whether this study might be seen as, well, just a tad partisian, the Berkley academics replied that they chose to focus on conservatives because of a substantial existing body of work that had already been done in an effort to determine the causes of their wacky worldview. Apparently, few if any such assessments have been performed to explain leftist ideology.
The National Reviewâs Jonah Goldberg observes that the likely reason psychologists like to study conservatives is that there are so few conservatives in the profession. But what does it say about the left that free-market types tend to eschew psychology in favor of the cool-headed analytical discipline of economics?
Berkley psychobabble experts who insist that conservatives are driven by irrational biases protest too much. Perhaps they'd benefit from reading F.A. Hayek's essay on Intellectuals and Socialism.
In any event, a study like this can only harm an elite academic establishment already clinging tenuously to its public credibility.
Thanks Julian.