Blinded By Our Beliefs?
Nearing the end of this election season, we can see the great divide between Trump supporters and Hillary supporters. Both sides of the election show a great deal of unwavering support for their candidates. We can see that these supporters remain uncritical and unfazed when either candidate is involved with a scandal. What if there was science to explain why Hillary and Trump supporters are so unwilling to rationally criticize their candidate of choice?
In John Hartung’s article for the Foreign Policy Journal, he introduced research from Danish scientists that explains what happens to our brains when we hear people “preach” our beliefs. The study had two groups split up into how they identified: religious or non-religious. These people were put into MRI scanners and listened to recording of a pastor preaching. Those who identified as more religious had something happen to their brains compared to those who identified as non-religious – their medial and dorsolateral prefrontal cortices shut off. The prefrontal cortex is the part of the brain that coordinates our executive functions like: decision making, planning complex cognitive behavior, personality expression, and moderating social behavior. Now, this kind of reaction in our brains isn’t just limited to religious sermons, but is also likely relevant to our political beliefs.
Now we know why our Facebook newsfeed is filled with people from both political parties constantly defending their candidate: hearing political candidates “preach” their beliefs may be affecting their brains, preventing them from fully recognizing that their belief system and candidate could be flawed. This could also be why a lot of Trump supporters are completely unfazed by his various sexual assault scandals, and are willing to believe anything Trump says without question. The same goes for Hillary’s supporters who are willing to defend her despite her various scandals. This research gives us great insight on one possible reason behind people’s unwavering support for their favored candidate. With this in mind, we should all use our best judgment to vote on November 8th, and consider every aspect when choosing who we believe is the right candidate.
~Cindy Wu
Sources:
http://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/psychpedia/prefrontal-cortex
Image source:
http://midnightsunak.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/clinton-vs-trump-1.jpg
