NPR: How Our Political Brain Works

How Our Political Brain Works

It would seem that our brains don't let a pesky thing like reason get in the way of a partisan political belief.

With presidential debates in full swing, The Frontal Cortex, a blog run by Jonah Lehrer (an editor-at-large for Seed Magazine), looks at a study about the way our brains deal with the contradictions of our favorite politicians.

The study led by Drew Westen of Emory University (an occasional commentator on All Things Considered), first released as a paper in January 2006, used MRI technology to image the brains of voters during the run-up to the 2004 election. Researchers showed each of the participants a statement made by either George Bush or John Kerry, followed by a contradictory statement or action they had made.

Then, they watched the way the voters' brains reacted. While a Bush supporter was typically quick to believe that Kerry would contradict himself, when confronted by a similar action by Bush, the brain would try and find a way around this contradiction. Reason was abandoned, and it was the emotional circuits in the brain that lit up. (Kerry supporters did the same for him.) Leher notes:

The voters were literally censoring their cognitive dissonance. Instead of using their reasoning faculties to logically analyze the facts, they use reason to buttress their opinions. Once they arrived at a favorable (and irrational) interpretation of the evidence - it supported their prior convictions - they experienced a subtle rush of pleasurable emotion, as their internal reward circuits were activated. Self-delusion felt good.

Great. Not only do we delude ourselves about politics, we actually enjoy doing it.

If you're interested, you can read more in Westen's new book, The Political Brain: The Role of Emotion in Deciding the Fate of the Nation.

11:39 AM ET | 06- 6-2007 | permalink

Comments (Send a comment)

See. That's why it's valuable to be an undecided voter

Sent by Jody Sol | 1:48 PM ET | 06-06-2007

Send a Comment

Comments are reviewed and edited by NPR prior to display. All comments will be read, but not all will be posted.

NPR reserves the right to read on the air and/or publish on its Web site or in any medium now known or unknown the e-mails and letters that we receive. We may edit them for clarity or brevity and identify authors by name and location. For additional information, please consult our Terms of Use.

E-mail this Page

Recipient's e-mail address:	» Up to twelve addresses, separated by commas.
Your e-mail address:
Your name:
Personal message (optional, 600 characters max):
Your NPR member station:
Are you a member of your local NPR station?	Yes No
Would you like to receive information from your local NPR member station? (see NPR's privacy policy)	Yes No
May we contact you with information about NPR programming and services? (see NPR's privacy policy)	Yes No

(Information collected by NPR will be used solely for internal NPR or NPR member station purposes and only if you selected 'yes' above. See NPR's privacy policy for more information.)

Tom Regan

Blogger

About Us

This year's election cycle has been one of the most exciting in memory. At the NPR News Blog we'll do our best to bring you interesting, informative -- and controversial -- stories from our own reporters and bloggers, as well as the rest of the best of the Internet and blogosphere. And we hope you'll let us know what you think as well.

Want to learn more? Be sure to read our Frequently Asked Questions and our discussion guidelines.