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

by Drew Westen Narrated by Anthony Heald

Overview

The Political Brain is a groundbreaking investigation into how the mind works, how the brain works, and what this means for why candidates win and lose elections. Scientist and psychologist Drew Westen has explored a theory of the mind that differs substantially from the more dispassionate notions held by most cognitive psychologists, political scientists, and economists-and Democratic campaign strategists. The idea of the mind as a cool calculator that makes decisions by weighing the evidence bears no relation to how the brain actually works. When political candidates assume voters dispassionately make decisions based on the issues, they lose. That's why only one Democrat has been reelected to the presidency since Franklin Roosevelt-and only one Republican has failed in that quest.

Elections are decided in the marketplace of emotions, a marketplace filled with values, images, analogies, moral sentiments, and moving oratory, in which logic plays only a supporting role. Through a whirlwind tour of fifty years of American presidential and national elections, Westen shows why campaigns succeed and fail. The evidence overwhelmingly shows that three things determine how people vote, in this order: their feelings toward the parties and their principles, their feelings toward the candidates, and, if they haven't decided by then, their feelings toward the candidates' policy positions.

Westen turns conventional political analyses on their head, and his discoveries could utterly transform electoral arithmetic. You can't change the structure of the brain, but you can change the way you appeal to it. This book will show you how.

Editorial Reviews

Huffington Post

A brilliant new book . . . Let's make sure that all Capitol Hill cavemen read [it], and take it to heart.

Guardian

(o)ne of the most insightful books on politics and the art of persuasion in recent years.

Chris Lehmann

The Political Brain is not…a dispassionate foray into neuropsychology, but rather another in the long and ongoing series of treatises on what's wrong with Democrats and how to fix them. Westen trots out the same basic advice to address a host of issues from abortion and gay marriage to gun control and the War on Terror. Democrats, he preaches, need more genuine emotion to enliven their campaign rhetoric and extend their brand appeal to the hotly coveted voters at "the middle of the political spectrum."
—The Washington Post

The Baltimore Sun

A savvy, scary, partisan, provocative, take-no-prisoners-political primer, with cautionary tales drawn from the emotionally-challenged Michael Dukakis, Al Gore and John Kerry campaigns, each of which snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. His analysis of how and why political rhetoric stimulates voters' networks of association, bundles of thoughts, feelings, images, and ideas will be instructive, if also infuriating, to political junkies, no matter what their partisan affiliation.

Washington Post Book World

In the thick of another overheated election cycle, it would seem the time is ripe for an exploration of how political enthusiasms play out on the neural paths of the brain. Drew Westen, the psychologist and author of The Political Brain, supplied an important study.

APR/MAY 08 - AudioFile

Everyone likes to think that people vote rationally after having carefully considered a variety of policies and chosen the best ones. Sadly, that is not the case, says psychologist Drew Westen. He believes he has proven that voters respond emotionally and will subconsciously ignore facts and other information that contradict their selection or preference. Westen describes the psychology then gives examples of politicians who are successful in creating an emotional bond with voters and those who fail. Anthony Heald’s well-paced narration gives the listener time to digest the book’s complex ideas. His voice is strong and clear, and his diction is superb. As election day 2008 approaches, this discussion is worth the investment of time. J.B.B. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine

Product Details

BN ID:	2940169807240
Publisher:	Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Publication date:	08/01/2007
Edition description:	Unabridged

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