A slight correction is needed. There’s no such thing as a perfect geometrical shape in real life, and even if there was you couldn’t see it or interact with it. There are only varying degrees of imperfection.
Hey man, don’t be, like, such a square, man.
I don’t know if I’m the exception or not. I’m, as far as I can tell, only “moderately conservative” (I support LGBT issues and I hate ALL current Republican candidates, and I hate “big Church” and Robertsonians), but I tend to parse questions literally, and if it’s “imperfect geometry” I’ll mark it as such. So what does that make me? Wishy-washy? 
What does it say about me politically that I am not sure that oblongs and ovals deserve to be called perfect shapes?
They’re all perfectly shaped. They just all have different shapes.
I seem to have read something recently about some differences between liberals and conservatives in that conservatives place stronger emphasis on in-group and out-group classifications. This may be a manifestation of that idea.
I wonder how many current/former math/geometry teachers were in the set of respondents…
It’s all about smell…light a scented candle & turn a conservative into a liberal?
Disgust and the Politics of Sex: Exposure to a Disgusting Odorant Increases Politically Conservative Views on Sex and Decreases Support for Gay Marriage
Thomas G. Adams,
Patrick A. Stewart ,
John C. Blanchar
PLOS
Published: May 5, 2014
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0095572
Abstract
Disgust has been implicated as a potential causal agent underlying socio-political attitudes and behaviors. Several recent studies have suggested that pathogen disgust may be a causal mechanism underlying social conservatism. However, the specificity of this effect is still in question. The present study tested the effects of disgust on a range of policy preferences to clarify whether disgust is generally implicated in political conservatism across public policy attitudes or is uniquely related to specific content domains. Self-reported socio-political attitudes were compared between participants in two experimental conditions: 1) an odorless control condition, and 2) a disgusting odor condition. In keeping with previous research, the present study showed that exposure to a disgusting odor increased endorsement of socially conservative attitudes related to sexuality. In particular, there was a strong and consistent link between induced disgust and less support for gay marriage.
Awww, pedantry is adorkable!
I feel like I want to hate this study as a really subtle way to identify some very overt characteristics.
I’m Liberal as the dickens but a strict Geometricist, so consider me an outlier of “that’s not a triangle” but fine about giving people healthcare and maybe not buying so many guns for everyone.
Then you will like my new study, which predicts people’s political views based on how they feel about the shape study.
What does it predict about my political views?
Will you hurry up with that, already? I need you to publish so that I can start my study, which predicts people’s political views based on how they feel about your study!
[quote=“KarlS, post:5, topic:70756, full:true”]
What does it say about me politically that I am not sure that oblongs and ovals deserve to be called perfect shapes
[/quote] I dunno about politically, but it does suggest that maybe you’re not familiar with the mathematical elegance and simplicity of the ellipse. (-:
"Oval’ describes roughly elliptical shapes much the way “round” describes roughly circular shapes. The ellipse, a mathematically-precise conic section, is the geometrically-perfect shape that oval shapes resemble.
And of course circles are ellipses with an eccentricity of zero.
“Normal” used to be a strictly geometric term, meaning at 90 degrees to. So calling a conformist “Square” is kind of circular logic.
It makes it statistics. Not everyone is on the tentpole of the bellcurve.
The report has a whiff of p-hacking:
"This effect was specific to policies that targeted deviant groups (Study 3) and who were not too highly deviant (Study 4):
Your most likely political views:
85% Octarchy
81% Thalassocracy ‎
71% You, for one, welcome our new insect overlords
63% Pedantocracy
