Summary: A new study explores how brain chemistry influences political opinions through the “threat-based neural switch theory.” This theory suggests that stress from economic crises and wars enhances susceptibility to simple, often radical, political messages by altering brain processes.
The study posits that this susceptibility is due to a shift in cognitive systems under stress, prioritizing habitual responses over complex reasoning. The research aims to develop interventions to promote more nuanced political thinking and decision-making.
Key Facts:
- Neural Influence on Politics: The research investigates how neurological processes under stress make individuals more receptive to simplistic political ideologies.
- Impact of Stress: Stressful conditions like financial crises shift brain function from goal-directed processes to more habitual, simplistic information processing.
- Future Interventions: The study aims to use non-invasive brain stimulation to reduce preference for dogmatic messages and support more considered political judgments.
Source: James Cook University
Researchers are exploring a new theory on how the chemistry of the brain causes people to form political opinions. James Cook University neuroscientist Professor Zoltan Sarnyai was part of an international team exploring the threat-based neural switch theory, which they hope will calm the political landscape and help people make more considered judgments.
The study is published in Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences.
‘”History has shown us that economic crises and other sociopolitical threats often lead to a rise of polarization and radicalism, whereby people become more susceptible to intolerant political messages, including propaganda,” said Professor Sarnyai.
‘”This has been long researched; however, a critical piece of the puzzle is still missing in helping us to understand what cognitive and neural mechanisms in the brain mediate between these threats and responsiveness to political messages.
“The idea is that political information is processed much like non-political information and is influenced by the interplay between neurological processes,” said Professor Sarnyai.
He said stress, such as that produced by financial crises and wars, could produce an imbalance in these processes and enhance receptiveness to oversimplified political messages, as opposed to more complex and sophisticated information.
“Stress can alter information processing by shifting learning and memory systems from goal-directed, declarative memory processes toward habit and statistical learning.
“In stressful situations, the processing of simple statistics and regularities becomes more effective for the brain than dealing with more complex patterns,” said Professor Sarnyai.
The team will perform non-invasive brain stimulation experiments, weakening the functioning of pre-frontal cortex areas to see if this results in a heightened preference for dogmatic political messages.
“Rather than describing it as a malfunction of cognitive systems or brain networks, we will think about susceptibility to ideological messages as reflecting an imbalance between cognitive systems.
“This will allow us to develop a more holistic and nuanced understanding of how to counter dogmatic ideological thinking with the aim of helping people make considered political decisions,” said Professor Sarnyai.
About this politics and neuroscience research news
Author: Zoltan Sarnyai
Source: James Cook University
Contact: Zoltan Sarnyai – James Cook University
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News
Original Research: Open access.
“The interplay between subcortical and prefrontal brain structures in shaping ideological belief formation and updating” by Zoltan Sarnyai et al. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences
Abstract
The interplay between subcortical and prefrontal brain structures in shaping ideological belief formation and updating
History illustrates that economic crises and other sociopolitical threats often lead to a rise of polarization and radicalism, whereby people become more susceptible to intolerant political messages, including propaganda and ideological rhetoric.
Political science, sociology, economics, and psychology have explored many dimensions of this phenomenon, yet a critical piece of the puzzle is still missing: what cognitive and neural mechanisms in the brain mediate between these threats and responsiveness to political messages?
To answer this question, here, we present a theory that combines cognitive neuroscience theories, namely stress-induced memory shift and competitive cognitive processes, with political science.
Our Threat-based Neural Switch Theory posits that the processing of political information, similarly to other information processing, is shaped by the competitive interaction between goal-directed and habitual processes.
Threats, including resource overload or scarcity, can shift neural networks toward receptiveness to oversimplified political messages.
This theory sets out a research program aimed at discovering the cognitive and neural underpinning of how situational factors alter brain functions and modify political information processing.
