World Actuality

In a study, people were shown a variety of geometric shapes similar to the (alleged) circle above. The information gathered from the study reveals that people who are willing to say the image is in fact a circle are more open minded politically.

 They tended to also believe in the legislation for cannabis, equal marriage rights for same sex couples, and in a government-funded welfare state.

Those who said the image was not of a circle tended to be the opposite politically. They held a more conservative stance and therefore believed in small government, stricter drug laws, and so on.

The thought process behind the study was to see how many people were willing to tolerate differences and imperfections in the shapes, and therefore, within politics as well. In essence, if you can tolerate the imperfections in the shapes, you are more likely to be tolerant in other areas of your life.

The author of the study explains that it could be a matter of negativity bias. The political views we hold are due to some deep-seated psychological bias related to the way we see the world. If you tend to react toward negative stimuli more intensely, it usually means that your political views are more conservative.

The important thing to remember is that there is no right or wrong answer. Whether or not you see a circle doesn’t matter, what matters is the connection between your willingness to accept the shape as a circle and your view of the world around you. Everyone is a little different, which is what makes psychology so interesting. It’s also the reason why studies like this will continue for the sake of understanding human personality and conditioning.