Hey weekenders, put down your cold one and check out some perplexing pearls of political insight from two recent studies; or on second thought, keep that beer nearby.
The first study was pretty straightforward. Researchers found a link between a man’s upper-body strength and their political views: the greater the bicep, the more right wing the political stance, with weaker men are more likely to support the welfare state.
ย The study, published in the journal Psychological Science, collected data from people in the US, Argentina and Denmark, and controlled for socioeconomic status and other factors.ย
Lead researcher Michael Peterson sees a link between politics and ‘natural selection’ within human evolutionary history.
“In all three countries, physically strong males consistently pursued the self-interested position on redistribution,” Peterson states, “However physically weak males were more reluctant to assert their self-interest โ just as if disputes over national policies were a matter of direct physical confrontation between individuals.”
Peterson continued, “Many previous studies have shown that people’s political views cannot be predicted by standard economic models. This is among the first studies to show that political views may be rational in another sense…”
No links were found among women between upper-body strength and opinions on redistribution, but that’s not surprising: bicep size is not a great measure of a woman’s fitness.
So, Republican operatives, you know what this means… right? Get your voters pumping iron and they’ll be more likely to see things your way.
The next study was all about women: specifically, what makes women feel more or less confident when called to political action.
Published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, the study had individual men and women deliver speeches in front of panels of strangers. On the back wall, behind the audience, hung a picture of either Bill or Hillary Clinton.
Overall, men spoke longer and were judged as better speakers than women — except for the group of women who spoke while seeing Hillary’s face.ย These women spoke longer and were judged as significantly more confident when conveying their message. Women primed with Hillary’s image also rated themselves more favorably after speaking.
“Female political role models can inspire women and help them cope with stressful situations… such as public speaking” the authors concluded.
‘Confidence’ is not among the words I would choose when describing my own emotional reaction to Mrs. Clinton’s image; but, that said, who doesn’t like a cool experiment?
Karen Cyphers, PhD, is a public policy consultant, researcher, and mother to three daughters.
