Battles with Integrity

Did you read the last three words of the title?

thespeaker notes in his journal that scientists at Emory University studied the minds of staunch political party members when offered information that threatened their candidates. What happened, it seems, is that the brain shut down the centers of the brain associated with Reason, and instead activated the emotions and conflict resolution centers. The subjects 'on both sides of the political aisle reached totally biased conclusions by ignoring information that could not rationally be discounted.'

Then, the brain centers for reward were tripped. "Essentially," Drew Westen, Emory University's director of clinical psychology notes, "it appears as if partisans twirl the cognitive kaleidoscope until they get the conclusions they want, and then they get massively reinforced for it, with the elimination of negative emotional states and activation of positive ones."

Subjects shown contradictory statements by candidates denied their own candidates contradictions, but detected contradictions in the opposing candidate.

So basically, if you feel passionately about politics, then you don't think clearly about politcs?

That's kind of sobering.

Westen's findings will be presented at the Society for Personality and Social Psychology meeting in tomorrow in Palm Springs.