The Political Brain: The Role of Emotion in Deciding the Fate of the Nation

Overview

Drew Westen, a Professor of Psychology at Emory University, is the lead investigator on a team of neuroscientists who have been studying how the brain processes political information. For two decades he has been advancing a theory of the mind that differs substantially from the more "dispassionate" visions held by most cognitive psychologists, political scientists, and economists. In this book he shows, through a bravura tour of American political leaders and how they have appealed to the electorate, that Americans don't vote with their heads but with their hearts, or guts, or neuroses. The Political Brain is a serious and groundbreaking investigation into the role of emotion in deciding the life of the nation. It looks at data across several Presidential elections from the 1950s through 2000, examines the evidence for the role of emotion in driving voting behavior, and provides a "clinical" view of a number of campaign ads, debate lines and personal profiles of the candidates who have sought to win our hearts. What's the matter with Kansas? Kansans are overemotional. And here's why...

Editorial Reviews

Editorial Reviews for this product are not available at this time.

Author Information

Bio of Drew Westen

Drew Westen received his B.A. at Harvard, an M.A. in Social and Political Thought at the University of Sussex (England), and his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at the University of Michigan, where he subsequently taught for six years. For several years he was Chief Psychologist at Cambridge Hospital and Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School. He is a commentator on NPR's "All Things Considered" and lives in Atlanta.

Customer Reviews

There are no customer reviews available at this time. To add your review, Register or Sign In to your account using our free eBook Library Software.

Additional Info

Imprint

PublicAffairs

Filesize

7.43 MB

Number of Pages

384

eBook ISBN

1586485997