By Sam Sewell
Here is the psychological explanation for the appeal of Obama to so many liberals and why most Conservatives see him as an empty suit full of platitudes and unrealistic idealism.
Every thought we think changes the activity of specific chemicals in your brain called neuropeptides. What you are thinking about determines what your emotions are.
To get a better feel for what I mean, try this little experiment. If you’re reading this you’ve been on this planet long enough to have had some powerfully positive experiences; a vacation full of beauty and excitement, that first glimpse of your baby, or even an ordinary evening when you just looked up and realized the stars seemed to gleam with a particular beauty. Think about things like this for a moment, and as you remember these moments, you should notice that your mood starts to shift toward good feelings.
Now I want you to think of the saddest, most tragic event in your life. No, stop! I don’t really want you to think about such things, but did you feel what happened inside you emotionally when that thought went through your mind? Is there any doubt that what we think is what we feel?
Interestingly, certain kinds of thinking produce more emotional chemicals than other types of thinking. Analytical, organizational, logistical, and mathematical thinking produce very few emotions. That is why accountants, technical professionals, and mathematicians seem to be so emotionally flat. That also partially explains why so many doctors have almost no bedside manner.
Conversely, creative, poetic, descriptive, and interpersonal thinking produces many emotions. People like actors, writers, musicians, and artists frequently have enough emotions for a family of four all by themselves.
There are gender and brain physiology dynamics to politics just like most experiences. Most of you are probably aware that the right brain and the left brain process information differently and perform different functions. The left brain is a computer. The right brain is an emotional chemical factory. As a mostly accurate broad stereotype, liberals and women are right brain dominant, men and conservatives are left brain dominant. Right brain dominant people are feelers and look for the big picture. Left brain dominant people are thinkers and look for the details.
So, what Obama says creates good feeling emotions in right brained people looking for a big idea. What Obama says does not cause pleasant emotions in left brained people. They are looking for the details and the logical structure within his comments and find little that satisfies them.
Obama couldn't get to first base in the left brained Republican Party but he is a superstar to the right Brained Democrats.
LEFT BRAIN FUNCTIONS
uses logic
detail oriented
facts rule
words and language
present and past
math and science
can comprehend
knowing
acknowledges
order/pattern perception
knows object name
reality based
forms strategies
practical
safe
RIGHT BRAIN FUNCTIONS
uses feeling
"big picture" oriented
imagination rules
symbols and images
present and future
philosophy & religion
can "get it" (i.e. meaning)
believes
appreciates
spatial perception
knows object function
fantasy based
presents possibilities
impetuous
risk taking
Left Brain vs. Right Brain test:
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