Hmmm… Everything in my place is somewhere in neat, colorful piles.

Researchers insist they can tell someone’s political affiliation by looking at the condition of their offices and bedrooms. Messy? You’re a lefty. A neatnik? Welcome to the Right.

According to a controversial new study, set to be published in The Journal of Political Psychology, the bedrooms and offices of liberals, who are generally thought of as open, tend to be colorful and awash in books about travel, ethnicity, feminism and music, along with music CDs covering folk, classic and modern rock, as well as art supplies, movie tickets and travel memorabilia.

Conservatives, on the other hand, tend to surround themselves with calendars, postage stamps, laundry baskets, irons and sewing materials in their personal spaces, according to the study. Their bedrooms and offices are well-lighted and decorated with sports paraphernalia and flags—especially American ones.
[…]
These room cues are “behavioral residue,” says Gosling, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. The idea is that distinct cognitive inclinations of liberals towards ambiguity and intellectualism, and conservatives toward order, “drive the way one leads one’s life and displays one’s life in their living and work spaces,” says Gosling’s co-author Dana Carney, an assistant professor of management at Columbia University’s Business School in New York City.

Thanks to my Brother Uncle Don




  1. Paddy-O says:

    This was posted already by someone within the last few days.

    You should at least credit them for giving you the link. Which isn’t in YOUR post…

  2. Uncle Dave says:

    None of the other editors posted this. Got the link from my brother.

  3. The Monster's Lawyer says:

    Who did the artwork, Mr. Obvious?

  4. Greg Allen says:

    Is that chart a more European way of talking about “neo-liberal”s?

    I only know this from Thom Hartmann (so I invite someone to clarify) but I get the impression what we call neo-conservative, the Europeans call neo-liberals.

  5. Paddy-O says:

    Uncle Dave, “None of the other editors posted this. Got the link from my brother.”

    I didn’t say you took the idea from an editor.

    Nice try though…

  6. J says:

    # 6 Paddy-O

    Why do you have to be a dick so much? Did you have a bad child hood and you think somehow being a douchnozzle in your adult life will make up for it?

  7. tomdennis says:

    A catalog of nonsense. Who is so obsessed to place us into a structure because of the way we do our laundry. Most men do not do laundry without women. The next thing they will say is that if I wear a blue suit, white shirt with a red tie I am a republican.

  8. ibdense says:

    Obviously, free thinking, being creative and being open minded are more important than neatness and the need to be in control of things.

    “If you think my desk is messy, you should see in here,” Dense said, pointing to his brain.

  9. Ah_Yea says:

    These “researchers” can say all they want, but at least in my personal experience the “messiness” of a person’s surrounding may relate to the ability to keep track of stuff, but doesn’t stretch to someone’s political leanings.

    As we know, I tend to lean to conservative, but if you saw my office you would think I’m left of Obama.

  10. Ben says:

    I have no flags everywhere. I admit I have postage stamps, but I also have lots of books. I never have sports garbage in my house, nor even a TV in which to watch them. I do own a laundry basket, but I keep it in the closet and the lady down stairs at the dry cleaners does a better job with ironing than I.

    And how can anyone sleep in a well lit bedroom. Bed rooms are for sleeping. An office should be well lit I guess, but you should see the wire mess behind my desk.

    The study is stupid anyway.

  11. JimD says:

    #8 tomdennis, well Tom, it is OBVIOUSLY A CRYPTO-CONSERVATIVE FASCIST, who wants to pigeon-hole everyone in terms of NEATNESS, the prelude to making ANTI-MESSY LAWS TO IMPRISON HIS OPPONENTS !!! So, go clean up your room, pronto !!!

  12. The Monster's Lawyer says:

    My mother used to say, “Clean your room up or you’ll become a pinko-commie fag liberal”. That and the hair on my palms has proven my mom right.

  13. MikeN says:

    Is that from the Onion?

  14. QB says:

    Apparently Conservatism is linked to strict toilet training.

  15. Jim says:

    Sounds like phrenology to me.

  16. brendal says:

    None of the other editors…but one of the posters did…me!

  17. Mr. Fusion says:

    Cow-Paddy,

    Do the world a favor and do that magic trick of yours again. You remember, your stupefying disappearing act?

    As in don’t go away mad, just go away.

    *

    I agree, this is much ado about nothing. The tendency is for conservatives to lean towards a more controlling bent while liberals care about more important things than the color of their socks and tie. These may be tendencies but are far from rules.

  18. ArianeB says:

    Well this is pretty much crap.

    I can pretty much tell you the psychological difference between liberal and conservative thought. It has to do with “egocentrism” (Not the same as egotism BTW)

    Traits common with conservatives: group loyalty, appeal to authority, appeal to tradition, body purity, belief in an anthropomorphic God, can all be traced to egocentrism.

    Now the “purity” trait may result in being more interested in cleanliness, but it is not a defining quality, and there are plenty of fastidious liberals out there too.

  19. deowll says:

    I’m so for to the left I’m off the planet if that is true.

    So why am I almost certain to vote for McCain?

    I don’t trust big brother.

    I don’t know were Obama is going to get the trillions he plans to spend without blowing the economy out of the water.

    He has connections or has been helped by people, not just one person or group, that advacate muder for political reasons.

    Acorn.

    He seems to be on the take worse than McCain.

    Stuff like that.

    Of course they are even on “wants to let the people that blew the mint” get away with it.

  20. Angel H. Wong says:

    “Conservatives, on the other hand, tend to surround themselves with calendars, postage stamps, laundry baskets, irons and sewing materials in their personal spaces, according to the study.”

    In other words: They’re gay.


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