Do people root for political philosophies the same way they root for a sports team?  Ilya Somin @ the Volokh Conspiracy writes:

David Bernstein asks: “Why do people develop ‘religious’ beliefs about secular issues?” In this article, I provide an answer: Because, in most such cases, there is little incentive to learn the truth. The article focuses on political beliefs, where it is rational to be ignorant because there is so little chance that any individual vote will determine the outcome of an election. As a result, those citizens who do bother to acquire political information often do so for reasons other than the pursuit of truth. For example, they enjoy having their preexisting prejudices reinforced, “rooting” for their political “team” (much like sports fans enjoy rooting for the Red Sox or Yankees), or the like.

I’ve studied (briefly) the idea that people gain utility when their beliefs are reinforced in economics, and I feel that it is a very real concept.  People really don’t like to change their minds, which is perhaps why for maximum reinforcement, some individuals will often take the entire platform of a political party as their own, rather than thinking about every individual issue for themselves.  If you take every view of the right, you’re going to be pretty happy watching Fox News, or if you take every view of the left, you’ll really enjoy reading the New York Times.  If you’re somewhere in-between, you’re going to face resistance to your views, which makes many people feel uncomfortable (thus providing less utility).

Well, it’s a theory, anyway.

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