meganboler.net » Study of Blinking: conservatives more afraid than progressives

How hard you blink signals how you think: Startle reflexes’ thought to shape person’s politics, Toronto Star, September 19, 2008, Joseph Hall http://www.healthzone.ca/health/article/50209

“In an interview last week, hard right U.S. running mate Sarah Palin talked a lot about blinking.

“You can’t blink” and “we must not blink,” the Alaskan Republican told ABC News in response to questions about her readiness for office and the fight against terrorism.

Now a study in the journal Science says people with strong right-wing views blink much harder than liberals when confronted with threatening stimuli.

The University of Nebraska study suggests people who hold conservative views on such issues as foreign policy and gun control are more frightened than those with a more left-leaning bent.

“What we’re introducing to the field of political science is this notion that there is a physical basis to these beliefs,” says lead author Doug Oxley…..”