education is a dangerous thing: it fosters independent thought...

[acroyear]

From a different study mostly looking at the predictive abilities of the political spectrum:  The Frontal Cortex : The Political Brain:

But Tetlock did find one mild correlation when he analyzed all the data. He found that foxes - his nickname for the cognitive style that was most open-minded and receptive to new facts - were more likely to be political centrists. Moderation is good for thought.

Comments

[dglenn.livejournal.com]

Off to go read that link now, but first thought was: "centrist by worldwide standards, or centrist by US standards (i.e. still right but just not quite as far right as what we call right)?" Hope that's answered in the page I'm about to read next.

[acroyear70.livejournal.com]

he's a scientist so i'm assuming centrist in an objective perspective.

however, your phrase of centrist being "right but not far right" differs from what I saw and see as the common centrist view which is left but not far left.

the far right has pulled the "center" to the right (between going hard-core reactionary AND effectively dismissing the hard-left socialist), but not the "centrist" with them, I think. Centrists have not changed their views or approach just because the far right won a few victories over the last 50 years.

or at least, that's how I see it...by your standard, I'm not a centrist moderate but rather a flaming liberal.

really, I'm a libertarian, but some jackasses hijacked THAT word, too.

[dglenn.livejournal.com]

Is there an objective perspective on this in a scientific sense?

"however, your phrase of centrist being 'right but not far right' differs from what I saw and see as the common centrist view which is left but not far left."

I expressed myself very poorly there. What I meant was, "[...] or centrist by US standards (i.e. the standard by which even the US 'left' still appears right but just not quite as far right as what we call right)?"

If you're saying that folks who self-identify as centrists tend to be left of center on a normalized-for-US-politics scale, then yeah, I see that (and am frustrated by it because the conservatives use it to dismiss those who should really be considered moderates, as left-wing-nuts), but I was trying to describe it from a different frame of reference. I just left out a few rather important words...