Are conservatives happier than liberals?

Source: MSNBC

Individuals with conservative ideologies are happier than liberal-leaners, and new research pinpoints the reason: Conservatives rationalize social and economic inequalities.

Regardless of marital status, income or church attendance, right-wing individuals reported greater life satisfaction and well-being than left-wingers, the new study found. Conservatives also scored highest on measures of rationalization, which gauge a person's tendency to justify, or explain away, inequalities.

The rationalization measure included statements such as: "It is not really that big a problem if some people have more of a chance in life than others," and "This country would be better off if we worried less about how equal people are."

To justify economic inequalities, a person could support the idea of meritocracy, in which people supposedly move up their economic status in society based on hard work and good performance. In that way, one's social class attainment, whether upper, middle or lower, would be perceived as totally fair and justified.

If your beliefs don't justify gaps in status, you could be left frustrated and disheartened, according to the researchers, Jaime Napier and John Jost of New York University. They conducted a U.S.-centric survey and a more internationally focused one to arrive at the findings.




Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24502967/

Too slow...

conservatives are happier

Breaking news, that.

of having their "Dear Leader" in the White House they're bound to be happier. As for me, I'm pissed. And bitter.

than those who aren't.

From the article:

Conservatives also scored highest on measures of rationalization, which gauge a person's tendency to justify, or explain away, inequalities.

"Our research suggests that inequality takes a greater psychological toll on liberals than on conservatives," the researchers write in the June issue of the journal Psychological Science, "apparently because liberals lack ideological rationalizations that would help them frame inequality in a positive (or at least neutral) light."

Don't worry about conserving fuel, we can always invade another country to get more. Don't worry about the environment, we're all going to be raptured long before it's ever a problem. And so on and so on...

Conservatives are going to be philosophically miserable for many years--but they will find their economic and social situation much improved when they lose the reins of power....

It's a happiness derived from willfully ignoring the problems of the world. American conservatism, at its core, can best be described at corporate pseudo-Christian pollyannaism. "I'm OK, it's not my problem if you're not OK, and God will save us anyway if I'm wrong."

I prefer reality.

you are a liberal that wants your views shared by everyone.

If you feel you are an open minded liberal and you accept that and go about your life, things like gay marriage, Terri Schiavo, ... dont bother you.

On the other hand if you feel that your liberal viewpoint is the right one and you are looking to persuade everyone else, you feel sick in your stomach all the time and you will probably kill yourself feeling the frustration.

It bothers me to hear about someone losing their home and/or life savings because they lost their job and health insurance and suddenly had a medical problem. It bothers me to see 70 year olds bagging groceries because they don't have a pension and didn't save enough money to retire. It bothers me to think of millions of good-paying American jobs going to third-world countries, while the CEO's rake in ten's and hundreds of millions of dollars in bonuses, PLUS retirement packages.

Conservatives don't give a shit unless something happens to them. As long as it doesn't they are perfectly happy.

The rich conservatives have lots of money and feel like they totally deserve it and the poor don't.

The poor conservatives have the Jesus drug to make it all go away.

Translation: cold hearted, non caring, self centered, selfish and stupid

Haven't you ever heard of blissful ignorance?

I don't think McCain can beat Obama or Hillary, and it looks like it's going to be Obama.

McCain is older than Reagan was in 1980. He's not the sharpest wit in a debate, and as much as I respect his service to our country, I just don't think he's going to do as well as conservatives seem to think.

And I hope they'll be much unhappier after November.

minded people tend to be conservative.

No matter what kind of messed up rut you've gotten yourself into you've got to convince yourself that everything is fine or you'll go absolutely nutso-kooky-wacko and start shooting. I know, I am merely a torso with one finger hanging from the ceiling by an aparatus made of duct tape and you know what? Life ain't bad! GO MCCAIN!

during the democratic phase

During the feudal phase.

They have manage their unhappiness by going to church, participating in gov't propaganda and basically reminding themselves that everything is all right while scapegoating everyone else when they get upset.

All I have to do is eat something and I'm happy.

Rationalizing only works until you hit the hard wall of reality.

the researchers seemed to be making the case that something is wrong with liberals because they "....lack ideological rationalizations that would help them frame inequality in a positive (or at least neutral) light."....like we're defective in some way because we can't dismiss and ignore the reality around us. Fascinating.

Wow. I can't fit that idea in my brain, actually.

At the same time, though, I've seen studies that say people who are altruistic are happier. Givers are happier. Not sure how that fits in with this, either.

tried to tell me that he was in favor of a "meritocracy," where everybody "earns their way" and nobody gets "special treatment." This, from a guy whose father makes about $200K a year. :spray:

But at the same time, he was also miserable, since he was attending ultra-librul UC Berkeley. Fortunately, he discarded most of the right-wing bullshit a long time ago, and while he probably still wouldn't fit in here, he is an Obama supporter.

Or asked another way: Is ignorance bliss?

"When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things." - The Christian Bible, 1 Cor 13:11.

The more you know, the more you realize you don't know. And the more you learn about the world, the more you realize how gray and fuzzy reality is.

For some people, that is just too much to handle. So they fall back on "simple truths." For others who abide in a simplistic black/white worldview, they just don't know any better.

Truly ignorance is bliss.

and don't even feel the slightest pang of remorse over it.

Conservative support for fascism prior to and during WWII, and conservative support for the wars in Vietnam and Iraq are just a few of the historical examples of how conservatives lack empathy and conscience.

Happiness is a liberal concept. Therefore only liberals can be happy and/or aim at happiness. Repletion is the conservative/primate equivalent.

If money can't buy you happiness than you aren't shopping at the right places!

:)

Not at all. Many conservatives are not doing well - and yet, vote against their better interests.

I don't think wealth is a good marker of political ideology.

Conservatives also scored highest on measures of rationalization, which gauge a person's tendency to justify, or explain away, inequalities.

The rationalization measure included statements such as: "It is not really that big a problem if some people have more of a chance in life than others," and "This country would be better off if we worried less about how equal people are."

There it is in a nutshell :eyes:-I got mine, screw the rest of you.

happy like a dry drunk

If you're rich and live comfortably, yeah then it's easy to ignore the problems of the world.

I've always felt it would a lot easier to be a conservative for the exact reasons stated in the article.

It would be nice to not care about inequality and to believe that everyone gets their due, based on their own effort, etc. If I actually believed that crap, then the world would be a just and fair place.

But I'm a left-liberal, and the world is very unjust, and I feel compelled to do something about it. But I am always disappointed when the struggle turns out to be so long, so difficult, and sometimes futile.

It makes me wish I had a choice and I could actually abandon my world view for a conservative one.

But I can't, so here I am, stuck with a set of beliefs that actually make me unhappy.

Sigh.

- B

they might be smiling but man are they some of the meanist pricks I have ever ecountered.

Liberals are honest with themselves. Yep, that sums it up.

...

as long as Bush et al are in power, it's the conservatives who have what they want!

different from themselves.

This is information gathered from a lifetime of having lived among them, as a child in a fundamentalist home.

The author apparently is deluded. Maybe she's mired too deeply in that way of "thinking," herself to have a clue. The article complete sucks.

Spend some time around these guys, take off your blinders, author Jeanna Bryner.

They are immature herd animals. Pathetic. Very, very limited.

As a final note, maybe stages of discomfort, questioning, anxiety are absolutely necessary as part of vital growth out of childish dependency and gullibility, and necessary stages on the way to awareness. You don't get there without passing through soul-searching, and real change you have to accept on your own, as something no one can do for you.

I've only seen a handful of people who started out right-wingers pull out of that herd mentality and become conscientious, joyous human beings.

How about if your experience prevents you from assuming that a meritocracy would reward people based on worth...

How ridiculous. I want MSNBC to make this same argument to people like Erma Faye Stewart of Hearne, Texas; a single mother who holds down a job despite being a single mom... in 2002 her house was raided and cocaine was planted in order to arrest her for possession. She pleaded guilty because she couldn't spend the night in jail with her young children at home... now she has court fees, fines, and probation to deal with... and she can't vote even though the ACLU had 27 similar cases thrown out...

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/plea/four/stewart.html

MSNBC and the journal of Psychological science should be forced to tell her that she isn't happy because she isn't a conservative.

Screw them.

means being anal and judgmental then yes I guess they are, one happy conservative when we (dems) win in November will probably be Rush Limpballs who's ratings will more than likely go up as he rants about the dems in the Whitehouse. I will add this though I am one liberal that will be very happy to see the "Dubya Years" come to an end.:smoke:

This may just refer to self-reported happiness. Conservatives may tend to have more of a self bias - i.e. they may think they have to claim they are happy, perhaps for religious reasons. One would have to read the original study to discover these nuances.

I certainly haven't met many happy conservatives.

I think this is a big selling point of the GOP. If you join them, you won't have to care about anything or anybody but yourself because they have a ready excuse for not caring about every one of society's problems.

From their point of view, nothing is wrong and it's ok not to care because Jesus helps those who help themselves...Poor people are just lazy and stupid, so they deserve to be poor and hungry...there is no global warming, so no worry that your over-consumption and fuel use is killing the planet...every war the US wages is just and fair, so there's no guilt feelings and frustration about what your government is doing or fear of what it might do next and to whom...Workers need no protections because businesses are all moral and fair and also need no regulation because the market will magically take care of everything anyway...Of course they're happier! I'd be happier too if I believed some of the things they do.

a lot of us liberals got the shaft, as far as the political winds of our lifetime are/were concerned.

a picture of smiling conservatives at a McCain rally and one of "stern-looking liberals" at a Hill rally to drive home their point.

And it's still active if you are interested.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x348705