Conservative voters are MORE compassionate: Brain scans reveal those with right-leaning politics have larger 'emotion centres' in the brain READ MORE: Lockdowns prematurely aged teenagers' brains by up to four years By Emily Stearn, Health Reporter For Mailonline Published: 11:41 BST, 19 September 2024 | Updated: 11:45 BST, 19 September 2024 e-mail View comments Our political allegiances really could be hard-wired into our brains, neuroscientists believe. For research in the Netherlands has suggested the brains of Conservatives are a different shape to that of Left-wingers. Scans of more than 900 Gen-Z adults showed right-leaning voters have larger amygdalas, the area of the brain connected to emotion.
Experts today labelled the findings 'surprising'. But warned it was not precise enough to be able to predict someone's stance simply from a scan. Scans of more than 900 Gen-Z adults showed right-leaning voters have larger amygdalas, the area of the brain connected to emotion It also builds on landmark research, originally commissioned by actor Colin Firth in 2010 as part of his role as guest editor of BBC 4's Today programme, that uncovered a 'strong correlation' between increased grey matter in the amygdala and political views.
Professor Diamantis Petropoulos Petalas, study lead author and an expert in psychology at the University of Amsterdam, said: 'It was really a surprise that we replicated the amygdala finding. 'Quite honestly, we did not expect to replicate any of these .