The more easily disgusted you are, the more likely you are to be a conservative

There’s a reason why Republican messaging relies heavily on portraying LGBTQ people in disgusting terms. Appealing to the lowest common denominator in the basest terms can be a political winner for those inclined to accept the message.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Some things seem to be universal. You look at something repulsive, like a picture of a car wreck, and everyone would be repulsed. Disgust wouldn’t know political ideology.

Except apparently, it does.

Related: Marjorie Taylor Greene says Democrats “want to turn your kids gay”

Studies have shown that how you react to repulsive things–whether it’s the idea of maggot-ridden meat or the smell of vomit–actually correlates to what you’re political views are. The more you are disgusted by something, the more likely you are to be conservative in your politics.

If that’s a surprise to you, it was for the scientists who decided to test the idea as well.

When neuroscientist Read Montague set up a study in the mid-2000s, he was pretty skeptical. The idea was to test the hypothesis that political orientation may be partly inherited, somehow hardwired into our physiology.

Montague showed volunteers a variety of images, including mutilated animals, filthy toilets, and faces riddled with sores, while scanning the volunteers’ minds. When he saw the results, the told The Atlantic, “my jaw dropped.”

Both liberals and conservatives reacted to the images. But different parts of their neural networks were activated. Based on where the activity was, Montague could predict…

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