Neuroscience
Some interesting news / articles lately about the political brain. Here are some tidbits, in the order in which I heard them:
For More Info
- This Is Your Brain On Politics
As the US Presidential Election builds to its climax, I just discovered that last month's (freely available) cover feature for the Observer magazine of the Association for Psychological Science was all about the psychology and neuroscience of politics....
- You're Similar To Me, So Have My Vote
Research into romantic attraction has shown that we're often drawn to people who are similar to ourselves. Now Gian Caprara and colleagues have shown the same principle applies to our voting habits. Over 1,500 Italian voters rated their own personality...
- Political Candidates - How Do You Choose Yours?
How do we judge political candidates? By how closely their political views match our own, or by characteristics such as their integrity and conscientiousness? Jeffery Mondak and Robert Huckfeldt at Florida State University and the University of California...
- This Is Your Brain On Additional Critiques
Still undecided, swing readers? Photos of Hillary Clinton elicited increased activity in the anterior cingulate cortex, a part of the brain that processes conflicting impulses, in swing voters who reported having an unfavorable opinion of her. Icons...
- Study Media And Politics Online This Winter Session!
GVPT479E Seminar in American Politics: Media and Politics: This course will introduce students to the various ways in which the media has and continues to play a role in American politics. Historical trends—from the partisan press of the 19th century,...
Neuroscience
Politics & the Brain
Some interesting news / articles lately about the political brain. Here are some tidbits, in the order in which I heard them:
- This week's All in the Mind covered the political brain: "As Australians stand in front of the cardboard voting booth next week what's going on in our minds? In choosing the future direction of the nation -- do we weigh up policies and promises with a rational mind, or are we emoting with our pencils? And new research has sent the left and right of the scientific community on a political bender with the idea that we're neurologically wired to support our team. All in the Mind probes your political brain." All in the Mind also provides a nice set of citations to articles by scientists featured in the show, including Drew Weston's recent book: The Political Brain: the Role of Emotion in Deciding the Fate of the Nation.
- This week's Science Friday also covered the political brain: "What happens in your brain when you think about politics? We'll talk with a researcher using brain imaging techniques to map out voters' innermost feelings about the current crop of candidates. The researchers used fMRI imaging to examine brain activity in 20 'likely voters' as they looked at pictures of the candidates and watched clips from speeches. But can maps of activity in the amygdala, anterior cingulate cortex, or insula really translate into action in the polling booth?"
- The Science Friday article was influenced by a New York Times op-ed piece last week entitled This Is Your Brain on Politics in which Marco Iacoboni, Joshua Freedman, Jonas Kaplan, and others report on their fMRI work on political decision making by swing voters.
For More Info
- The Political Brain, All in the Mind, November 17, 2007.
- Politics & the Brain, Science Friday, November 16, 2007.
- Iacoboni, Marco, Joshua Freedman, Jonas Kaplan, et al. This Is Your Brain on Politics :[Op-Ed]. New York Times, November 11, 2007. p. 14.
- Politics & the Brain, a response: Letter to the Editor, New York Times, November 14, 2007.
- Kaplan, J., Freedman, J., & Iacoboni, M. (2007). "Us versus Them: Political Attitudes and Party Affiliation Influence Neural Response to Faces of Presidential Candidates." Neuropsychologia, 45(1), 55-64. (available @ your library)
- Weston, Drew (2007) The Political Brain: the Role of Emotion in Deciding the Fate of the Nation. New York: PublicAffairs.
Blogged with Flock
- This Is Your Brain On Politics
As the US Presidential Election builds to its climax, I just discovered that last month's (freely available) cover feature for the Observer magazine of the Association for Psychological Science was all about the psychology and neuroscience of politics....
- You're Similar To Me, So Have My Vote
Research into romantic attraction has shown that we're often drawn to people who are similar to ourselves. Now Gian Caprara and colleagues have shown the same principle applies to our voting habits. Over 1,500 Italian voters rated their own personality...
- Political Candidates - How Do You Choose Yours?
How do we judge political candidates? By how closely their political views match our own, or by characteristics such as their integrity and conscientiousness? Jeffery Mondak and Robert Huckfeldt at Florida State University and the University of California...
- This Is Your Brain On Additional Critiques
Still undecided, swing readers? Photos of Hillary Clinton elicited increased activity in the anterior cingulate cortex, a part of the brain that processes conflicting impulses, in swing voters who reported having an unfavorable opinion of her. Icons...
- Study Media And Politics Online This Winter Session!
GVPT479E Seminar in American Politics: Media and Politics: This course will introduce students to the various ways in which the media has and continues to play a role in American politics. Historical trends—from the partisan press of the 19th century,...