Strength of Conviction?

A recent study has found that strong men are more likely to act in self-interested ways: Salon. The study, by Michael Petersen of the University of Aarhus in Denmark and Daniel Sznycer of the University of California, Santa Barbara found that, "regardless of country of origin or apparent ideology, strong men argued for their self interest: the poor for redistribution, the rich against it. No surprises there. Weaklings, however, were far less inclined to make the case that self-interest suggested they would. Among women, by contrast, strength had no correlation with opinion. Rich women wanted to stay rich; poor women to become so." (From The Economist). So does this tell us that there is truth in Social Darwinism after all? If one has the power to act in self-interest, one will but if one needs help, then a more communitarian perspective would actually be a survival strategy.

Of course, the problem with studies like this are numerous. For one, is the sample size sufficient to actually draw generalizable conclusions. Second, are the measures of strength (bicep size) and self-interest (a series of questions about redistribution and the like) valid and reliable. And third, is this proof of casuation or simply correlation? The third question poses the greatest interest, as it could be the case that conservative men are more likely to care about their bodies and thus are "stronger." But another issue is whether physical strength has any real correlation with the "fittest" argument these days -- which one would clearly argue is not the case, except maybe in a post-apocalyptic world that those same self-interested "strong" men might be leading us toward.

While Arnold Schwarzenegger is obviously a prime example of the muscular conservative, and John McCain comes to mind as well, were President Bush or Dick Cheney really intimidating anyone in the gym (outside of Iraq that is)? Studies like this are certainly interesting fodder in the ongoing debate about self interest versus the new "empathetic impulse" research in evolutionary biology, cognitive science and behavioral economics, but really do little to undermine the emergent evidence that we are, in fact, more hard wired toward community (through the mirror neurons) than the winner-take-all, the rest be damned turbo-capitalism we are currently mired in.