lifestyles influence different ways of thinking?

In some ways better, in some ways worse.

For positive things, I think it is more about what we are subjected to, you know, what we hear on tv, read in newspapers, as well as cultural tendencies influence our personality and therefore our way of thinking.

For negative things, I believe we justify the conditions we find ourselves in. Like, if suddenly your state turned into a dictatorship, you either would have to deal with it or go crazy.

I think that is a black and white viewpoint. There are many other reactions that one could have to having a change in a country's type of government.