Politics, Fanboys, and the Brain

[Tuckerfan]

Apparently some of us aren’t wired up to think about the stuff rationally.

During the run-up to the 2004 presidential election, while undergoing an fMRI bran scan, 30 men–half self-described as “strong” Republicans and half as “strong” Democrats–were tasked with assessing statements by both George W. Bush and John Kerry in which the candidates clearly contradicted themselves. Not surprisingly, in their assessments Republican subjects were as critical of Kerry as Democratic subjects were of Bush, yet both let their own candidate off the hook.

The neuroimaging results, however, revealed that the part of the brain most associated with reasoning–the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex–was quiescent. Most active were the orbital frontal cortex, which is involved in the processing of emotions; the anterior cingulate, which is associated with conflict resolution; the posterior cingulate, which is concerned with making judgments about moral accountability; and–once subjects had arrived at a conclusion that made them emotionally comfortable–the ventral striatum, which is related to reward and pleasure.

This, I think, can also explain the “gushing fanboy” phenomena where otherwise rational people refuse to admit that their idol (be the idol an actor/singer/writer/director, etc.) might just have been subpar in their latest effort.

[Pullet]

Is anyone else upset that they only tested men? And only 30? And how did they decide what constituted “highly critical” and “off the hook?”

Oh no, now I have a mental image of Bush and Kerry being off the hook together. So… Much… Alcohol…

[chrisk]

So basically, they’ve proved, (with brain scanning no less,) that people are capable of ‘switching off’ their critical thought processes because of an emotional reaction.

Is anyone else thinking… DUH? In other news, the sky is blue during the day if there aren’t any clouds.

[ParentalAdvisory]

@Pullet

Is anyone else upset that they only tested men? And only 30?

I think because there are only 15 hardcore republicans, and 15 hardcore democrats in existence.