Wednesday 7 May 2008

Left Or Right?

I have always managed to sort the left leaning males from the right leaning males by hairstyles. In my mind right wing men have short, gelled and smart hairstyles while lefty men usually have long or hair that goes in whatever direction the wind is blowing.
Of course this is just my own rule of thumb but in 2003 Psychologists at New York University conducted a review of 88 prior studies involving 22,000 participants and came up with traits that reveal our personality and political orientation.
If your front room is messy, cluttered, colourful and contains maps or flags, then you are on the left side of the political fence.
If its neat, clean, organized, brightly lit and contains paintings or pictures of buildings you are on the opposite side.
Lefts have more books, are impulsive, optimistic, more likely to listen to classical music or jazz, enjoy abstract art, like romantic comedies, write in a diary and play musical instruments. They are also more open, inquisitive, excitement-seeking, creative, and travel more.
The right are more likely to be religious, like country music, prefer radio chat shows, are orderly, decisive and more conscientiousness in their duty, and rule-following. The most common derogatory term used to describe them is stubborn or jobs-worth. They think the world is a dangerous place and have a greater fear of death.
The left are more likely to see grey areas and are able to see both sides of an argument which often see's them branded as indecisive.
If you are still unsure about your orientation and find you have a foot in either camp, the reports authors have devised a quick test to work out your orientation.

Fill in the blanks of these incomplete words: coff__, sk_ll, and _oney.

If you are more likely to vote for the long haired indecisive type with a messy living room, you see coffee, skill, and honey.
If you are more inclined to put your cross beside the short haired candidate with the Dolly Parton CD, you see coffin, skull, and money.

20 comments:

Paula said...

I was unsure, so I took the test. It's Mr. Messy for me! (Though of course I will nag him...)

Falling on a bruise said...

Nagging is fine, i like to call it constructive criticism repeated often.

The Fez Monkey said...

Feh.

I don't need a test to find out where I stand.

Any guesses?

Ook ook

Patricia said...

Leaves me feeling very stereotypical. Mr.Yenta has very long hair. Mine is kind of short, though. We are organizationally challenged. We have too many books. There are musicians in the family - and one in the house who's no relation. We're also always broke. I think that while that doesn't always go with the territory, it often does.

Falling on a bruise said...

I am guessing, like me fez, you had to move stuff out the way to get to the keyboard.

I do love a good psychological test zen and they can be quite eye-opening. This one really does sum me up nicely apart from the jazz.

Anonymous said...

My test results: coffin, skull & honey. What does that say about me? :)

Falling on a bruise said...

Possibly means you are going to vote Conservative but feel really, really bad about it? How did the rest of it compare?

Aaron said...

I got coffee, skill and money, although honey popped into my mind the instant after I thought of money and I didn't even think about the coffin and skull. Hmmm...I guess that puts me in the middle or, more accurately, outside of the left-right spectrum.

Aaron said...

"I don't need a test to find out where I stand.

Any guesses?

Ook ook"

I'm guessing somewhere between ook and ook.

I know, I know, omniscient; I get that all the time.

Cody Bones said...

Here's the funny thing about stereotypes, the more we know, the less they seem to exist. Take me for example (my favorite subject). I've never liked the whole right/left Republican/Democrat, Labour/Tory thing. Political parties are nothing but COALITIONS of different interests. I am an economic conservative, not surprising considering my education and upbringing. I also happen to believe in liberty, free speech, a pro-growth agenda. I hate the death penalty, I also am on the actual tipping point between pro-choice and pro-life. Very tough arguments. I was for, and continue to be for the war in Afghanistan, even before Bush took power, the Taliban made me ill. I was against the war in Iraq, but as Lucy posted over a year ago, we need to clean up our own mess.. I am against a raise in the capital gains tax, assuming it will mean LESS money for the treasury, not more. I am for ALL forms of religious freedom, as long as children are not being harmed. I think the war on drugs is stupid. I think Ethanol is even more stupid. I believe that technology, not conservation is the only cure for climate change. (on the other hand, living in Chicago, I could uses a longer fall and spring). I believe that corporations are not evil, just a group of people, no more no less. I have a GREAT deal of respect for the men and women in the military, and the act of calling them babykillers viscerally upsets me. I believe that the world, although not perfect, has never had a better time in which to live in it. I believe Drug companies make products that have saved the lives of myself, and my family. I believe that most people are smart enough to see beyond the politics of pandering, and can make an honest decision, regardless of what the Liberal/Conservative Media tells them. In my front room, it's neat, and there is a map on the wall. I don't journal, I blog. I'm a reformed punk rocker, who also attended over 30 Grateful Dead concerts. I'm a literal, type A stockbroker, who makes his family volunteer once a month at a P.A.D.S shelter. I believe in the limitations of government to positively affect a problem or issue. I like romantic comedies, as well as a high body count action movies. I don't believe video games rot your brain, or make you violent. I'm a realist, a pessimist, as well as an optimist. I believe that sometimes the best course of action, is no action. I listen to sports talk radio, as well as NPR on my way to and from work. I enjoy the NY Times, as well as the Wall St. Journal. Life is a spectrum, and ANYONE who doesn't believe that both sides of the argument have worthwhile things to offer in our daily arguments, is just plain stupid. OH, and BTW, I saw Coffee (I'm a HUGE coffee drinker, I wouldn't see anything else) Skill (because I am a fan of all types of skill or competency) and Money (no shock, it's what I do) I also have next to no hair, but it was long back in the day (not too long) Can we all agree that answers are found everywhere in the big wide world, not just in our own little world.

Sorry Lucy for the length, I feel like Nog

Anne said...

off topic... have you been reading about the huge percentage of u.s. soldiers committing suicide, lucy?
tragic stuff. and all for... what, exactly?

oh, and back on topic~i am thankfully settled down with a man who is a proud lefty. i cannot imagine being in a relationship with a right winger, although i do have many gal pals who are. poor things, especially these days.

GOBAMA!

Steve Lockwood said...

Interesting post Cody (560 words, I counted them. So a 1000 word post from Nog would be twice the size!)

You are quite right in saying that stereotypes don't really exist.

What's perverse about the human race is that we insist on putting people into rigid compartments and categorizing them according to some strata or other, whether it be race, gender, politics or whatever. We seem to do this whether it's helpful (which it sometimes is) or not (which it often isn't).

PS, after reading your post I found it helpful to put you in the "uncategorizable" category.

Steve Lockwood said...

PPS, I was coffin, skill and honey.

Cheezy said...

"Sorry Lucy for the length, I feel like Nog"

Yeah, but it's different. Cos I'm guessing that most of us bothered to read your comment. And by the time we'd finished, we realised that you'd actually said something.

"Can we all agree that answers are found everywhere in the big wide world, not just in our own little world."

This part was particularly - and characteristically - wise.

Falling on a bruise said...

Great comment Cody and i agree with the jist of what you say although the study was a 'left/right is more likely' rather than a 'left/right is' thing. That said i stand by my hair observation.
If you discount the extremes, the left and right do converge on many subjects and the only real difference is quite minor although as i said on Q's blog, America has the added issue of Guns & God to seperate the two which we don't really have here.
I have felt the scorn of the left a few times for not toeing the leftwing view, especially on what to do in Iraq and refusing to blame Israel for everything.
I imagine you could trim that studys list down to just 3 or 4 main issues that separate us but the rest is interchangable.

Annie, i have read about the suicide rate and also the high amount of soldiers suffering psychologically from the ongoing wars and while i feel for them, i can't help think how much worse the Iraqi's have it having to live in it everday.

Anonymous said...

Lucy,

I saw coffee (L), skill (L), and money (R).

But you know I'm a little right of Ghengis Kahn. Do I invalidate the test...

Lefts have more books (no way o have more books than me. I could fill a library), are impulsive (I don't understand...), optimistic (Impossible to be more optimistic than me), more likely to listen to classical music or jazz (I like classic), enjoy abstract art (naw), like romantic comedies (yep), write in a diary (what - no way unless you count a blog) and play musical instruments (do ipods count?). They are also more open (does this mean they don't impose the laws of physics, math, etc.?) inquisitive (hmmm, doesn't sound like the process engineers I deal with), excitement-seeking (sounds more like an age thing to me), creative (how do you measure this? is being the first one to use outsourcing to cut costs creative?), and travel more (i drive 130 mile round trip each day and spend 6 to 8 weeks away from home each year).

The right are more likely to be religious (i fit here), like country music (not as much as rock), prefer radio chat shows (prefer them to what? i do like them), are orderly (yep - in a way), decisive (oh yeah) and more conscientiousness in their duty (i guess, seems hard to measure to me), and rule-following (i'd rather make the rules!!!)

Q

Anne said...

lucy, the iraqi's have it far worse, agreed. with no clear end in sight, except death.

Cody Bones said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Cody Bones said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Falling on a bruise said...

Personally, there are a few things that seem to divide myself from my moderate right wing friends but the main disagreements are around religion, war or diplomacy and Israel/Palestine. Everything else seems to have an amount of criss crossing depending on the individual.