The Political Brain - Chapter 3: "The Evolution of the Passionate Brain"

In this chapter, Author Drew Westen takes us on a journey through time to illustrate notable examples where the passionate brain has had some stronghold. Most notably, he talks about the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s and President Johnson’s address before Congress in 1965, “demanding the passage of legislation that would put an end to the disenfranchisement of African Americans.” Notably, Johnson’s address would signify a major turning point in American history, and in his congressional address, he compared it to significant events in the past. However, the most important thing to understand is that Johnson’s address was, in many respects, not rational. Rather it was “beyond reason” and more passionate. He truly believed that everyone, regardless of their skin color, should be given the right to vote.

Westen brings us back into the realm of neuroscience, talking about development of the central nervous system over millions of years of evolution.

As mentioned and described in detail in my previous blog posts, we have “newer” and “primitive” brain structures. Westen describes the Nobel laureate Eric Kandel, whose work in neuroscience has led to some very interesting results. If a snail (Aplysia) is shocked after touching a live wire (but thinks it is harmless), soon the snail’s neurons will be able to predict and recoil based on the touch stimulus. In the same way, voters looking at presidential candidates will act the same way.

Although there are many more interesting examples in this chapter, these examples illustrate the fact that the mind is and can be passionate. Possibly even more passionate than logical.

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The Political Brain - Chapter 2: "Rational Minds, Irrational Campaigns"

The second chapter about this book talks about an idea that is at first very counter-intuitive but seems to make more sense as the chapter progresses: the notion of logic and a dispassionate state of mind. Or in this case, the lack thereof. Try thinking about the chapter title, “Rational Minds, Irrational Campaigns.”

Public opinion is very important to consider. Walter Lippmann first used the term in 1922 to describe conflicting beliefs- “About what is happening in the economy, the world, and laws/policy-making- held by a population that generally lacks the firsthand experience and expertise to know what is truly happening.” Because of public opinion, voters are more subjective to issues towards which they may feel impartial. They may feel like they have a moral obligation to vote for a particular candidate instead of making their own personal choice themselves. Therefore, as explained in my first post on this book, it is more advantageous to run with passion and empathy along with logic.

Author Drew Westen describes the case of a voting coal miner. He logically compares Bush’s stance on certain issues compared to John Kerry’s stance. He ranks their stance on issues like terrorism, social security, jobs, the economy, etc. on a scale from 1 to 5 (if +3 for one candidate, -3 for the other candidate). After doing some multiplication and simple addition, he arrives at a score of 41 for Kerry and -39 for Bush. With the 80 point difference, the choice should be clear. However, Westen states that only those with a serious brain damage vote like this. And he’s right. For the neuroscientists, damage to your frontal lobes affects your emotional decision-making.

In a debate with Gore and Bush, Gore makes a logical argument involving Medicare and facts and figures. Logically and technically, Bush would have been defeated. However, with some hand-waving and criticizing Gore for using numbers like a “human calculator,” Bush won that point of the debate emotionally.

This is why emotion wins over logic with respect to public opinion. It’s about how people make their voters feel rather than imparting pure logic with a lack of emotion. Leaders who act confidently and have excellent public speaking skills are probably more ideal for holding office. Hopefully this book will go into more detail on what other factors make a person more likable and favorable with respect to public opinion.

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"The Political Brain" - Chapter 1: Winning States of Mind

I have decided to tackle a new book that delves into the world of politics- specifically US Politics - and the role of emotion. Why is it that statistically most Americans agree with Democrats and vote for Republicans? 

Author Drew Westen attempts to answer this question. The main idea behind this book is that "the states that determine elections are really the voters' states of mind." The central thesis behind this book is that "the vision of mind that has captured the imagination of philosophers, cognitive scientists, economists, and political scientists...bears no relation to how the mind and brain actually work.”

This first chapter illustrates an example between two political videos of Bill Clinton and John Kerry. In short, many people (a.k.a. potential U.S. voters) saw the Kerry video as very effective but just “not relatable enough.” Bill Clinton later won the election. Why? Well Kerry’s video was about how great of a leader he was, but he seemed to distance himself from his potential voters. How could they vote for someone who was so unlike them and who possibly wouldn’t be able to represent them well? Of course, “them” is an extremely broad term. Kerry additionally had little to no facial expression in his campaign video and instead looked “serious and dour.” Clinton, on the other hand, one of the most intellectual people to ever take office in the West Wing, did not mention his alma mater and instead appealed to his voters by being more emotional in his video. This is what eventually won him the presidential election.

In the rest of this book, I hope to read more examples about this notion of “emotion” playing a large role in politics (both state and national). In all, this book would appeal to people who love politics, watch “House of Cards”, love neuroscience, or are psychologists. 

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