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.
I'm not sure about the analogy you're making with the snail. This seems like a very superficial comparison. The reasons people vote as they do hardly seem so mechanistic (and the snail's actions hardly seem so intentional). I'm not sure, also, about the way that this author slips between concepts of "brain" and "mind" so easily. This makes me skeptical.
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