In the "Learn Something New Every Day" chapter, something to share:

People normally respond to other people's gaze (eye direction), right? If you look to your right, my eyes will track where you're looking to see what you're looking at. So far so good. You're responding to somatic and visual cues.

But it turns out that we all do not respond equally strongly or quickly to such cues. Some studies have shown that people differ in their responses to threats, to disgust, to anger. In general, people with conservative views tend to respond more strongly to the negative cues.

By contrast, when researchers at the University of Nebraska looked at the difference in response to visual cues, they found that people with more libertarian or liberal views tended to respond most readily to others' gaze cues, as well as to other, positive, stimuli.

I wonder if one could extrapolate from such findings a general statement that liberal/libertarian people are more people oriented and less rule bound. Or more empathetic and responsive to others' input. Or more influenced by others' viewpoints.

As for cause and effect, I believe, like most things, they are looped, the basic values affecting the somatic responses, the somatic responses (maybe hardwired?) affecting one's beliefs and values.