The right of the political spectrum is less likely to accept scientific conclusions if they involve excessive regulation of the economy. The anti-vaccination infestation of left-wing thinking shows that they are not immune to magical thinking and therefore should not be so smug.
Further evidence of the Anti-Science Left
27 Apr 2015 Leave a comment
in economics of information, economics of media and culture, economics of regulation, environmentalism Tags: advocacy bias, Anti-Science left, anti-vaccination movement, expressive voting, motivated reasoning, rational ignorance, rational irrationality
Denying Problems When We Don’t Like the Solutions
20 Jan 2015 Leave a comment
in applied welfare economics, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, Public Choice Tags: advocacy bias, anti-capitalist mentality, Anti-Economics Left, Anti-Science left, expressive voting
There is often a curious distinction between what the scientific community and the general population believe to be true of dire scientific issues, and this skepticism tends to vary markedly across groups.
…What causes such radical group differences? We suggest, as have previous accounts, that this phenomenon is often motivated.
However, the source of this motivation is not necessarily an aversion to the problem, per se, but an aversion to the solutions associated with the problem.
This difference in underlying process holds important implications for understanding, predicting, and influencing motivated skepticism.
In 4 studies, we tested this solution aversion explanation for why people are often so divided over evidence and why this divide often occurs so saliently across political party lines.
Studies 1, 2, and 3—using correlational and experimental methodologies—demonstrated that Republicans’ increased skepticism toward environmental sciences may be partly attributable to a conflict between specific ideological values and the most popularly discussed environmental solutions.
Study 4 found that, in a different domain (crime), those holding a more liberal ideology (support for gun control) also show skepticism motivated by solution aversion.
HT: http://today.duke.edu/2014/11/solutionaversion and http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/11/10/conservatives-dont-hate-climate-science-they-hate-the-lefts-climate-solutions/
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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