Political Attitudes Are Predicted By Physiological Traits

Those individuals with measurably lower physical sensitivities to sudden noises and threatening visual images were more likely to support foreign aid, liberal immigration policies, pacifism and gun control, whereas individuals displaying measurably higher physiological reactions to those same stimuli were more likely to favor defense spending, capital punishment, patriotism and the Iraq War.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080918170616.htm

This reminds me of a study that suggested liberals liked Mustard more and republicans liked Ketchup more.

In otherwords, a worthless study that wasted a lot of time and money.

I think its a worthy study.

It makes sense, if you are stimiluted by certain things you will react more to them. I'm not afraid of Muslims so I dont fiee the need to militarily pacify non-friendly Muslim nations. If the thought of Muslims stimulated me more (either fear or contempt) then I may be more supportive of actions to lessen that threat.

Title should read "Another bad study published in the Social Sciences!" ...

Do you think it is possible that these "Physiological Traits" could easily be explained by factors that have more to do with their life experiences? It is (highly) likely that the people who were more conservative were raised or lived in a more rural or suburban setting while the more liberal people were raised in a much more urban setting which would explain why noises and "Threatening" images might have a bigger impact with the conservative people.