Dr. Helen Picks A Bone With The APA - And Does It Well.

One of my favorite sites, and maybe because I'm a mental health professional, is the site of the socalled "Instawife" or Dr. Helen who blogs at, oddly enough (Heh, as her hubby would say,) Dr. Helen. Recently, she published an article regarding the roots of conservatism as posited by the American Psychological Association and the article was not, oh, shall we say "unbiased?"

Dr. Helen took the article to task because of perceived bias. She wrote:

I have mentioned a research study by the APA entitled, Political Conservatism as Socially Motivated Cognition, that appeared biased against conservatives. The study pointed out that there had been little research done on the traits of liberals--but they must have overlooked ...[an]... article in Clio Psych's Journal from 2003."

Ten meta-analytic calculations performed on the material - which included various types of literature and approaches from different countries and groups - yielded consistent, common threads, Glaser said.

"The avoidance of uncertainty, for example, as well as the striving for certainty, are particularly tied to one key dimension of conservative thought - the resistance to change or hanging onto the status quo, they said.

"The terror management feature of conservatism can be seen in post-Sept. 11 America, where many people appear to shun and even punish outsiders and those who threaten the status of cherished world views, they wrote. [emphasis added]"

And, Dr. Helen would be right, that is biased. But what seemingly really ticked off the good Dr. was the statement inclusion of a statement that, according to Dr. Helen:

The study pointed out that there had been little research done on the traits of liberals--but they must have overlooked this article in Clio Psych's Journal from 2003".

Research on the psychology of radical activists helps us to understand this mismatch between Chomsky's ideas and his personal style. In the 1970s, Stanley Rothman and Robert Lichter administered Thematic Apperception Tests to a large sample of "new left" radicals (Roots of Radicalism, 1982). They found that activists were characterized by weakened self-esteem, injured narcissism and paranoid tendencies. They were preoccupied with power and attracted to radical ideologies that offered clear and unambiguous answers to their questions. All of these traits can be found in the work of Chomsky and other anti-imperialist intellectuals. [emphasis added]"

So, weakened self esteem? Injured narcissism? Paranoid tendencies? Preoccupied with power? Attracted to radical ideologies? Seems to me to be a good description of the vast majority of those found on DU, DK, and in the Democratic party today. I'd be even willing to bet that if the same research were to be duplicated today, the results would be pretty near identical.

I think I'd rather be willing to hang on to terror(ism) management and punish the outsiders (who cause the terrorism in the first place) than be considered to have an injured narcissism. But that is just me. Heh!

And a Tip of the GM Chapeaux to Dr. Helen and to James Taranto