Do you agree with your results?
Recent polls suggest that Republicans and Democrats have slightly different tastes that have nothing to do with politics.
Americans tend to choose their political party based on a number of factors: family, gender, religion, race and ethnicity, and even region all have a hand in shaping a person's political ideology. Famously, George Washington warned the country against a two-party system in his Farewell Address on September 17, 1796. Our first president cited fears that "partisanship would lead to a 'spirit of revenge' in which party members would not govern for the good of the people, but for power."
Over 220 years later, Washington may have been right, but things aren't as dire as they seem. As reported by CBS News, a recent study by the Pew Research Group found that while a lot does divide us, there's much more that we have in common on average.
In short, a lot goes into where we fall on the political spectrum, but an interesting new quiz from ChartsMe has taken things to the next level. It claims to be 98% effective in determining people's political affiliations by asking questions that—get this—have nothing to do with politics.
Take the quiz here.
So, how does it work? (I recommend you take the quiz before we break down what's going on!)
The quiz uses Jonathan Haidt's Disgust Scale and takes you through a series of questions and scenarios to determine how disgusted certain situations make you. According to ChartsMe, a 2014 study published with the National Library of Medicine (NLM) found that people who were more prone to disgust are more conservative. This leads them to more closely align with the Republican Party. Further research conducted in 2022 bolstered this finding by investigating the "Conservative-Disgust Paradox" in reactions to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Some research disputes this though.
In 2019, the British Psychological Society cited a study that found that levels of disgust between conservatives and liberals are generally the same but highly "context-dependent." In other words, some liberals have higher disgust sensitivity than conservatives and vice versa depending on the topic, image, or idea.
Does what disgusts you define you?
Photo by OSPAN ALI on UnsplashOverall, it's human to feel disgust. Some scientists believe it's ancestral and that the adverse reactions to conditions we'd label “disgusting" were used to protect primitive ancestors from contamination and disease. According to National Geographic, Charles Darwin proposed that disgust served an evolutionary purpose in the late 1860s. It evolved, he noted, to "prevent our ancestors from eating spoiled food that might kill them." Helpful!
So, maybe being grossed out isn't inherently a conservative or liberal emotion, but the science tells us that what grosses us out and how deeply we're grossed out by it just might indicate our political leanings.
Do you agree with your ChartsMe results? Did they get it right? Either way, I think we can all agree this stuff is pretty neat.
This article originally appeared six years ago.
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There's a reason why some people can perfectly copy accents, and others can't
Turns out, there's a neurodivergent link.
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Have you ever had that friend who goes on vacation for four days to London and comes back with a full-on Queen's English posh accent? "Oooh I left my brolly in the loo," they say, and you respond, "But you're from Colorado!" Well, there are reasons they (and many of us) do that, and usually it's on a pretty subconscious level.
It's called "accent mirroring," and it's actually quite common with people who are neurodivergent, particularly those with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). According Neurolaunch, the self-described "Free Mental Health Library," "Accent mirroring, also known as accent adaptation or phonetic convergence, is the tendency to unconsciously adopt the accent or speech patterns of those around us. This linguistic chameleon effect is not unique to individuals with ADHD, but it appears to be more pronounced and frequent in this population."
Essentially, when people have conversations, we're constantly "scanning" for information—not just the words we're absorbing, but the inflection and tone. "When we hear an accent, our brains automatically analyze and categorize the phonetic features, prosody, and intonation patterns," writes Neurolaunch. For most, this does result in copying the accent of the person with whom we're speaking. But those with ADHD might be more sensitive to auditory cues. This, "coupled with a reduced ability to filter out or inhibit the impulse to mimic…could potentially explain the increased tendency for accent mirroring."
While the article explains further research is needed, they distinctly state that, "Accent mirroring in individuals with ADHD often manifests as an unconscious mimicry of accents in social situations. This can range from subtle shifts in pronunciation to more noticeable changes in intonation and speech rhythm. For example, a person with ADHD might find themselves unconsciously adopting a Southern drawl when conversing with someone from Texas, even if they’ve never lived in the South themselves."
People are having their say online. On the subreddit r/ADHDWomen, a thread began: "Taking on accents is an ADHD thing?" The OP shares, "My whole life, I've picked up accents. I, myself, never noticed, but everyone around me would be like, 'Why are you talking like that??' It could be after I watched a show or movie with an accent or after I've traveled somewhere with a different accent than my 'normal.'
They continue, "Apparently, I pick it up fast, but it fades out slowly. Today... I'm scrolling Instagram, I watch a reel from a comedian couple (Darcy and Jeremy. IYKYK) about how Darcy (ADHD) picks up accents everywhere they go. It's called ADHD Mirroring??? And it's another way of masking."
(The OP is referring to Darcy Michaels and his husband Jeremy Baer, who are both touring comedians based in Canada.)
Hundreds of people on the Reddit thread alone seem to relate. One comments, "Omfg I've done this my whole life; I'll even pick up on the pauses/spaces when I'm talking to someone who is ESL—but English is my first language lol."
Sometimes, it can be a real issue for those around the chameleon. "I accidentally mimicked a waitress's weird laugh one time. As soon as she was out of earshot, my family started to reprimand me, but I was already like 'oh my god I don’t know why I did that, I feel so bad.'"
Many commenters on TikTok were shocked to find out this can be a sign of ADHD. One jokes, "Omg, yes, at a store the cashier was talking to me and she was French. She's like 'Oh are you French too? No, I'm not lol. I'm very east coast Canada."
And some people just embrace it and make it work for them. "I mirror their words or phrase! I’m 30. I realized I start calling everyone sweetie cause my manager does & I work at coffee shop."