Whiny Conservatives, Happy Liberals
By Callimachus | Related entries in General Politics, Ideas, Kitchen SinkGet ready for it. Don your battle armor. The flaming is about to begin. A careful personality study of 95 children from the Berkeley area, tracking them from nursery school to adulthood over 20 years, concludes that “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” typically grew up to be a conservative, while the “confident, resilient, self-reliant kids mostly grew up to be liberals.”
According to the article:
The whiny kids tended to grow up conservative, and turned into rigid young adults who hewed closely to traditional gender roles and were uncomfortable with ambiguity.
The confident kids turned out liberal and were still hanging loose, turning into bright, non-conforming adults with wide interests. The girls were still outgoing, but the young men tended to turn a little introspective.
The study’s author “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.”
Two points come to mind on a cursory reading of this: Berkeley is hardly typical of the country as a whole, and perhaps the reaction that’s being uncovered here is between fitting in to the dominant local culture and gravitating to an alternative. The second is that one’s early 20s is not necessarily a stopping point in personal growth — though it seems to be for a lot of people. But it’s not like you’re frozen in place for life at the moment of college graduation.
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March 20th, 2006 at 4:56 pm
I’d be more interested in seeing where these kids heads are in another 20 years. That would be the truly telling part.
March 20th, 2006 at 5:02 pm
George Will had an article recently saying that conservatives are happier.
http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/georgewill/2006/02/23/187531.html
These studies are always funny. They’re interesting, but in the end I think that a lot of people look at them as potential ammo to tell their political opponents,”You only have this political belief because you’re screwed up in the head.”
March 20th, 2006 at 5:11 pm
Well, that’s because conservatives are richer! Money actually does lead to happiness. Heh.
Exactly. So in the end, they’re pointless.
March 20th, 2006 at 5:36 pm
The matter of whether conservatives are statistically richer, in the current political scene, is hotly debated. If you do demographics on the last presidential election, the “blue” states were richer than the “red” ones. But when you get down into those states, it gets even more complex.
Here’s a starting place.
March 20th, 2006 at 10:51 pm
The second is that one’s early 20s is not necessarily a stopping point in personal growth � though it seems to be for a lot of people.
This is pretty funny - just the right amount of snark :)
March 21st, 2006 at 10:10 am
“The whiny kids tended to grow up conservative, and turned into rigid young adults who hewed closely to traditional gender roles and were uncomfortable with ambiguity.
The confident kids turned out liberal and were still hanging loose, turning into bright, non-conforming adults with wide interests. The girls were still outgoing, but the young men tended to turn a little introspective.”
I wonder if it could be translated into: The conservatives grew up recognizing that they have a place in society and know that there are responsibilities that are required of them to belong to that society…
The liberals kids still think that it is all about ‘them’ and that the universe revolves around them - and since the universe revolves around them the whole world needs to bend to meet their requirements and not the other way around….
March 21st, 2006 at 10:36 am
debsay,
“The liberals kids still think that it is all about ‘them’ and that the universe revolves around them - and since the universe revolves around them the whole world needs to bend to meet their requirements and not the other way around….”
Please explain this. How is it that liberals only care about themselves? Do you mean in an interpersonal setting, or a community one? The fact that liberals largely support most of the social programs in this country makes me wonder how you think that’s self-centered.
One of the main reasons I used to be a conservative is because I was fearful of not having enough for myself. I didn’t think it was fair that my hard-earned money should be taken by the government and handed out to lazy welfare moms. I thought people needed to be more personally responsible and pay the price for their actions, with no exceptions. I was also very critical of myself. Of course, I didn’t realize these things at the time, but looking back, I was just a whiny, rigid, uncomfortable, and unpleasant person. Once I learned to be more open-minded and non-judgmental, especially towards myself, I stopped being so hard on everyone else and learned that it was much better to help other people than judge them.
I’m not saying all conservatives are like I was, when I was one, but I do know of other people who have had, or are in the process of having, the same problems I did. There are liberals who are self-centered, but many of the ultra conservative people I know are pretty rigid, whiny, judgmental, and very afraid.
March 21st, 2006 at 10:40 am
Well, it is Berkeley after all. The other kids probably were out to get the conservatives.
March 21st, 2006 at 2:21 pm
“Please explain this. How is it that liberals only care about themselves? Do you mean in an interpersonal setting, or a community one? The fact that liberals largely support most of the social programs in this country makes me wonder how you think that’s self-centered. ”
Anybody that takes the view that you can make any decisions that you want to make and never be forced to suffer the consequences is a ‘whiney little brat’… They’ve never been taught responsibility, they’ve never been taught that in order to live in an orderly society you actually have to be a productive member of that society….
How can you honestly say that anybody that ‘wants to decide not to study in school, not to take classes to better themselves, not to make prudent decisions ‘both personal and financial’ but then ‘DEMANDS’ that everybody around them pay the price of those decisions for them is a self centered ass hat!!!!! Just like the other 2 year olds, they believe that they are center of the universe and that others exist to care for them…. and God help you if dare to utter the word ‘No’ to them.
March 21st, 2006 at 2:32 pm
“One of the main reasons I used to be a conservative is because I was fearful of not having enough for myself. ”
That may have been you…. but it isn’t me. I’m a conservative because I strongly believe in a WORK ETHIC… I believe that if you want to belong to Society then you need to be a PRODUCTIVE member of that society… not a parasite on society. I don’t want a lifetime of welfare to be avaialable… it needs to be limited to give the push needed to help people take responsibility for themselves. If they know that it is going to end, then they will seriously consider improving themselves while they are out of work… The only time I approve of lifetime assistance is for the truly disabled… those that cannot for physical or mental reasons handle the stress of working a job - even then require them to do some sporatic volunteering in society - there is something that EVERYBODY can do!!
Everybody can fall on hard times and need help….. but there has to be a limit or it isn’t ‘help’ anymore it is subsidizing irrational and ignorant behavior. That is neither helpful to society or to the person being subsidized…. all it ends up doing is enslaving them to poverty. It is much kinder to expect them to take on the responsibility (by not subsidizing stupid behavior) give them some pointers and advice and allow them to experience the consequences of their actions to learn from. You don’t raise anything but ‘brats’ if you never tell them no or allow them to suffer consequences of stupid decisions.
March 21st, 2006 at 4:21 pm
debsay,
You seem to have greatly over-generalized and contorted what liberals believe. While I do agree that there is a strain of liberalism that too often makes excuses for the poor choices and negative actions of certain groups receiving government support, it is plainly incorrect to say liberals don’t believe in taking responsibility.
The main difference between conservatives and liberals (on a macro-level) is that conservatives believe that society works best when each person and community takes responsibility for themselves while liberals believe society works best when the greater society (i.e. the government) takes responsibility for caring for the people, particularly the most disadvantaged. Both sides believe in responsibility and both sides teach their children about the consequences of not taking responsibility.
You’re argument against liberals is as wrong as if I argued that, because you are skeptical of government assistance, you want people to go homeless and starve on the streets. I’m sure you don’t want that, but there are people who would say you do.
Both sides have a bad habit of turning the other into caricature. Such generalizations are about as useful in understanding what divides us as is the silly study about which this post was written.
March 21st, 2006 at 4:53 pm
debsay,
All I’m saying is that what you said in your response to me sounds like the exact same stuff I used to say to prove my points. I just dug a little deeper and realized WHY I felt so strongly about that stuff, and then I actually worked in a field that deals with the indigent for a few years. I realized that things are not quite as black and white as you describe them to be. I definitely believe in personal responsibility, but there are many other factors to consider. I would suggest that you open your mind a little, and get to know some people who you would otherwise consider to be leeches. Maybe you’ll learn something like I did. Maybe you’ll become more angry and frustrated. Who knows?
March 21st, 2006 at 11:14 pm
Lets stop beating around the bush, the really question is whether God is a liberal or conservative. God will be the only true indicator of ideological “coolness”.
December 12th, 2006 at 9:49 am
I love being a Brit, you can guarantee we have reasonable discussion until politics comes into play and then suddenly all suggestions of discussion as a means to aid personal growth and enrich humanity go straight out of the window. And as for God don’t ask we can’t even have a discussion about immigration and that is a little closer to home. politics it’s all a tad meaningless as so few people seem to vote these days, let’s make it compulsory!