It is clear that liberals and conservatives differ in their political beliefs and opinions, they also differ on important psychological characteristics. Conservatives demonstrate stronger attitudinal reactions to situations of threat and conflict, while liberals tend to seek novelty and uncertainty. Furthermore, liberals are more willing to accept risk than conservatives. Similarly, conservatives have stronger physical reactions to threatening stimuli than liberals who have stronger physiological responses to cognitive conflict situations. For centuries, scholars have assumed that people voted based on family votes or because of the many civics lessons they had to attend during school. But this view has finally begun to change and develop as the disciplines of psychology and science have grown. Studies are expanding on political orientation and beliefs by considering genes as a primary influence on political engagement rather than just environment. The results obtained show that genetic variation plays an important role in explaining variation in political behavior (Edsall, 2013). For example, a twin study demonstrated that a substantial portion of the variability in political ideology reflects genetic influences, which then interact with the social environment. Although political attitudes are commonly assumed to have exclusively environmental causes, recent studies have begun to identify biological influences on an individual's political orientation. Kanai, Feidlen, Firth, and Rees (2011) captured political attitudes on a single-item measure in which participants used a five-point scale to rank themselves from very liberal to very conservative. While this may seem like a simple measure, it is a… means of paper… Ygdala and the ACC with political attitudes (Kanai et al, 2011). For example, an individual with a large anterior cingulate cortex has a greater ability to tolerate uncertainty and conflict and would therefore most likely accept more liberal views. However, each brain region usually participates in multiple psychological processes. Therefore, the findings only offer possible explanations for the cognitive styles of liberals and conservatives, but future research needs to be conducted before conclusions can be drawn. Overall, previous studies have shown that political liberalism and conservatism are related to brain structure. Liberalism is associated with gray matter volume of the anterior cingulate cortex, while conservatism is associated with increased size of the right amygdala. Furthermore, the findings offer possible explanations for the cognitive styles of liberals and conservatives.