Liberals More Likely Than Conservatives To Break From Habitual Responses, Study Finds

I probably don't need to say much about this, but it's interesting. "Findings support previous suggestions that political orientation may in part reflect differences in cognitive mechanisms."
I suppose the question that lurks for me is how churches can hold together people whose cognitive mechanisms differ. While it is likely that individual congregations will reflect one style or another, how do we hold together over regions and internationally?
My other question is about how these cognitive mechanisms arise and how deeply rooted are they? In other words do people change them; indeed can they? Are we born conservative or liberal or is it a function of upbringing and education? I will clearly have to look out for other research. Any readers have any leads?

PS no sooner had I written this than my RSS feeds brought me this article which, if not answering the question, asks pertinent questions about methodology and concludes: "I am wondering whether the test actually captures not political opinion as such but the speed of assimilation and adaptation to one's environment. People who are at odds with their environment may need more structured thinking patterns in order to survive. In that case, we should expect to see the results reversed in Utah (where the liberal must keep repeating over and over, "small families are a blessing, small families are a blessing, gay is okay, gay is okay"). Perhaps someone will try it, if they haven't already."
Fair comment, and a timely reminder that checking methodologies is important in interpreting such data.
ScienceDaily: Liberals More Likely Than Conservatives To Break From Habitual Responses, Study Finds: