Why we will only accept the company of those who agree with us.

http://www.brainmysteries.com/research/Brain_study_shows_that_the_opinions_of_others_matters.asp?utm_source=feedburner=feed=Feed:+BrainMysteries+(Brain+News+And+Research)=Google+Reader

"We all like getting rewards and this is reflected in brain activity in the ventral striatum," says first author Dr Daniel Campbell-Meiklejohn from the Centre of Functionally Integrative Neuroscience, Aarhus University, Denmark. "Our study shows that our brains respond in a similar way when others agree with us. One interpretation is that agreement with others can be as satisfying as other, more basic, rewards."

Once out of the fMRI scanner, the subjects were asked to rate their choices of songs again. The researchers found that the majority of people had changed their opinions dependent on the experts' views.
remet
/snip


As suggested, this is stronger in some individuals than others. Some people need to be surrounded by like minds. Hence the attachment to sports teams and specific religious sects. Then there are those who cannot bear the dissonance of a dissenting voice and go to a logical extreme by joining a cult.

to spend more time with those with whom we agree.

In the offline world, negotiating with people with whom you disagree is a requirement. They are our physical neighbors, extended family, work colleagues, and so on. So, we have to get along.

In the internet, it's entirely possible to go a whole day and not "speak" to anyone with whom you have disagreements.

I didn't seriously spend time with lots of really liberal people until I was about 40, eventhough I have been a liberal since I was at least in my late 20s.

Wow...you had a choice? I grew up in the Redneck heart of Red Town. Where you had to learn to hold your tongue because speaking out against things you thought were wrong would earn you a smackdown. Metaphorically and Literally.

I actually knew very few people who thought like me, even though they were around me. Our paths just didn't cross. Now, thanks to the internet, they do.

beating our heads on the wall because of things those unlike us say. Damn learn something new every day, lol.

I used to even carry on good-natured arguments with Repubs.

That was before the Great Radicalization.

They've gone so far to the Right - vilified any opinion left of theirs, and demonized everybody but themselves - that I will not "accept their company".

They are toxic, and I avoid toxins.

Rather than honestly examine your own beliefs.

We fight all the time not to succumb to the overwhelming hive mind groupthink of the conservatives..

They have their own radio networks and TV network that tells them what to think, liberals really don't have anything equivalent, certainly not anything accessible in strongly red areas..

And the very fact that Skinner had to promulgate a new set of rules for DU in just the last day or so argues against DU being an "echo chamber"..

People come here to discuss politics and issues with like minded people. It's entirely appropriate to limit the focus here. That doesn't mean everyone who posts on DU surrounds themselves 24/7 with people who agree with them. There are people who deliberately exclude anyone from their lives who do not agree with them whether the subject is politics, religion, etc..

It is simply impossible for me to exclude everyone who does not agree with me from my life. Indeed, I don't know anyone IRL who agrees with me on much of anything when it comes to sociopolitical subjects.

I don't recognize the stereotype you are putting forth other than on the other side of the sociocultural divide.

ETA: Now, even on DU, I'm finding myself more and more at odds with the overall weltanschauung, it's an alienating experience.

well, except I'm agnostic, but to (many) Southern Baptists, it's all the same thing.

with whom you agree and more easily block out those you don't agree with.

Over time, you become less tolerant of those you disagree with here. You want more and more "reward" and resent those who block that.