The funniest article of the past few days has definitely got to be this one, entitled "How to spot a baby conservative." This is great:
Remember the whiny, insecure kid in nursery school, the one who always thought everyone was out to get him, and was always running to the teacher with complaints? Chances are he grew up to be a conservative.[...]
...The confident, resilient, self-reliant kids mostly grew up to be liberals.
The Professor who ran the study, Jack Block, reasons that:
...insecure kids look for the reassurance provided by tradition and authority, and find it in conservative politics. The more confident kids are eager to explore alternatives to the way things are, and find liberal politics more congenial.In a society that values self-confidence and out-goingness, it's a mostly flattering picture for liberals. It also runs contrary to the American stereotype of wimpy liberals and strong conservatives.
This study is not an aberration. According to the article, back in 2003:
...researchers reviewed 44 years worth of studies into the psychology of conservatism, and concluded that people who are dogmatic, fearful, intolerant of ambiguity and uncertainty, and who crave order and structure are more likely to gravitate to conservatism.
Hey George Will, you manly (conservative) man, are you reading this? Ha.