Liberal Mindset – A Myth?

With the onset of globalization, there has emerged an increasing need for a liberal mindset – an open mind to accept, if not tolerate, new customs and culture. Before we boast of our lofty free spirit, we need to pause and answer to ourselves – are we really being open-minded? Or is liberal mindset just a fictitious term? Why is that, people with similar culture and beliefs tend to be clustered in the same geographical region? Do we refuse to welcome new ideas? Or is it an act of nature? Digging a little deeper, we find that the answer lies in anthropology. Recent studies in the west have revealed connections of geography with psychology.

Surveys based on the Five Factor Model (Extraversion [E], Agreeableness [A], Conscientiousness [C], Neurocriticism [N] and Openness [O]) indicate similar personal traits in the same geographic sphere. For example, individuals in the Mid- and South- Atlantic regions rated themselves highly on the descriptors “nervous” and “worrying” and individuals in the New England, Mid-Atlantic, and Pacific regions were highest on the descriptors “broadminded”, “curious”, and “sophisticated”. On talking about regional variation in character strengths, Nansook Park and Christopher Peterson say

“The place where we grew up or currently reside is more than physical space. It defines who we are, how we think about ourselves and others, and the way we live.”

Therefore, may we conclude saying that similar behaviorism need not imply closed-mindedness? Where does this stark similarity have it roots? History comes to our rescue. Most anthropologists believe that historical migration might be the reason why like-minded people are put up at the same geographic domain. Migration, whether in search of natural resources or economic prosperity or in attempt to evade religious persecutions or social ostracism, indicates like-minded individuals’ willingness to relocate and hence, this issue might have a genetic basis.

Besides selective migration, social influence is also among the top talks in connection to places and people. Studies on emotional contagion suggest that individuals in relationships with depressed people tend to have increased negative inclinations, while research on group polarization indicate individuals’ attitudes become more extreme when surrounded by others who hold similar attitude.

A little less-conceivable notion is how physical environment can affect behaviour, as in how people in hot climatic regions experience higher rates of aggressive outbursts. It’s clearly obvious that selective migration, social influence and environmental factors are mutually reinforcing agents in causing geographic differences in personality to persist.

Although science makes the best of its efforts to convince us of its theory, there’s always the actual reason as to why something happens. Yes, there’s one last factor: The Human Factor. Every Homo

Sapien has this natural thirst to gratify the ever-insatiable ego. Ego stands ahead of all rational thoughts and liberal mindsets, although one could argue otherwise. Being surrounded by like-minded people delivers a fallacious feeling of being right, most needed for the ‘I-am-always-right’ sort of minds. Despite the fact that people are beginning to recognize and acknowledge the importance of being open-minded, it still is human to prefer to be with like-minded people, given a choice.