Psychological research can often confirm existing hunches. For those of us that find Fox ‘News’, Caucasian editorials, Abbott rhetoric and resource business platitudes STUPID, as well as offensive, the May ’12 issue of the Psychologist (journal of the British Psychological Society) is coming to the rescue…

‘Think less and become more conservative’:

“The less time or mental effort a person puts into thinking about an issue, the more likely they are to espouse a politically conservative perspective. That’s according to a new study by Scott Eidelman and his team, who stress that their point is ‘not that conservatives rely on low effort thought’ but that ‘low effort thinking promotes political conservatism’…

….reduced mental effort encourages more conservative beliefs fits with prior research suggesting that attributions of personal responsibility (versus recognising the influence of situational factors), acceptance of hierarchy and preference for the status quo – hallmarks of conservative belief.”

Think more and become less conservative? Bring it on.