As reported in the January 9 Washington Post, "The Ideological Animal," an article by Jay Dixit in the January/February issue of Psychology Today, looks at a number of academic studies on differences between liberals and conservatives. One study, a 20-year long look at personalities of then-3-year-old nursery school children and how the adults they evolved into characterized themselves politically today, provided the following insights:
Of the ones now describing themselves as liberals, their nursery school teachers had variously described them as "self-reliant, energetic, impulsive and resilient." The ones now describing themselves as conservative had been described by their nursery school teachers as "easily victimized, easily offended, indecisive, fearful, rigid, inhibited and vulnerable."
One need only tune into a wingnut radio rant, blog, or Fox News program to receive further validation of these personality identifiers.
