Posted on 10/12/2016 12:55:54 PM PDT by grayboots
This article was posted by one of my Facebook friends (soon to be unfriended) and it infuriated me. I want to respond but I am not very eloquent with words. Any help would be appreciated.
A neuroscientist explains what may be wrong with Trump supporters’ brains by Bobby Azarian, Raw Story
There’s no doubt that Donald Trump has said many things that would have been political suicide for any other Republican candidate. And almost every time he made one of these shocking statements, political analysts on both the left and the right predicted that he’d lose supporters because of it. But as we have clearly seen over the past year, they were dead wrong every time. Trump appears to be almost totally bulletproof.
The only thing that might be more perplexing than the psychology of Donald Trump is the psychology of his supporters. In their eyes, The Donald can do no wrong. Even Trump himself seems to be astonished by this phenomenon. “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters, OK? It’s, like, incredible.”
Senator John McCain, who has been a regular target for Trump during his campaign, has a simple explanation for his unwavering support. “What he did was he fired up the crazies.”
While the former Republican presidential nominee may be on to something, he doesn’t exactly provide a very satisfying scientific explanation. So how exactly are Trump loyalists psychologically or neurologically different from everyone else? What is going on in their brains that makes them so blindly devoted?
The Dunning-Kruger Effect: Some believe that many of those who support Donald Trump do so because of ignorance — basically they are under-informed or misinformed about the issues at hand. When Trump tells them that crime is skyrocketing in the United States, or that the economy is the worst it’s ever been, they simply take his word for it.
The seemingly obvious solution would be to try to reach those people through political ads, expert opinions, and logical arguments that educate with facts. Except none of those things seem to be swaying any Trump supporters from his side, despite great efforts to deliver this information to them directly.
The Dunning-Kruger effect explains that the problem isn’t just that they are misinformed; it’s that they are completely unaware that they are misinformed. This creates a double burden.
Studies have shown that people who lack expertise in some area of knowledge often have a cognitive bias that prevents them from realizing that they lack expertise. As psychologist David Dunning puts it in an op-ed for Politico, “The knowledge and intelligence that are required to be good at a task are often the same qualities needed to recognize that one is not good at that task — and if one lacks such knowledge and intelligence, one remains ignorant that one is not good at the task. This includes political judgment.” Essentially, they’re not smart enough to realize they’re dumb.
And if one is under the illusion that they have sufficient or even superior knowledge, then they have no reason to defer to anyone else’s judgment. This helps explain why even nonpartisan experts — like military generals and Independent former Mayor of New York/billionaire CEO Michael Bloomberg — as well as some respected Republican politicians, don’t seem to be able to say anything that can change the minds of loyal Trump followers.
Out of immense frustration, some of us may feel the urge to shake a Trump supporter and say, “Hey! Don’t you realize that he’s an idiot?!” No. They don’t. That may be hard to fathom, but that’s the nature of the Dunning-Kruger effect — one’s ignorance is completely invisible to them.
Hypersensitivity to Threat Science has unequivocally shown that the conservative brain has an exaggerated fear response when faced with stimuli that may be perceived as threatening. A classic study in the journal Science found that conservatives have a stronger physiological reaction to startling noises and graphic images compared to liberals. A brain-imaging study published in Current Biology revealed that those who lean right politically tend to have a larger amygdala — a structure that is electrically active during states of fear and anxiety. And a 2014 fMRI study found that it is possible to predict whether someone is a liberal or conservative simply by looking at their brain activity while they view threatening or disgusting images, such as mutilated bodies. Specifically, the brains of self-identified conservatives generated more activity overall in response to the disturbing images.
So how does this help explain the unbridled loyalty of Trump supporters? These brain responses are automatic, and not influenced by logic or reason. As long as Trump continues his fear mongering by constantly portraying Muslims and Mexican immigrants as imminent dangers, many conservative brains will involuntarily light up like light bulbs being controlled by a switch. Fear keeps his followers energized and focused on safety. And when you think you’ve found your protector, you become less concerned with remarks that would normally be seen as highly offensive.
Terror Management Theory A well-supported theory from social psychology, called Terror Management Theory, explains why Trump’s fear mongering is doubly effective.
The theory is based on the fact that humans have a unique awareness of their own mortality. The inevitably of one’s death creates existential terror and anxiety that is always residing below the surface. In order to manage this terror, humans adopt cultural worldviews — like religions, political ideologies, and national identities — that act as a buffer by instilling life with meaning and value.
Terror Management Theory predicts that when people are reminded of their own mortality, which happens with fear mongering, they will more strongly defend those who share their worldviews and national or ethnic identity, and act out more aggressively towards those who do not. Hundreds of studies have confirmed this hypothesis, and some have specifically shown that triggering thoughts of death tends to shift people towards the right.
Not only do death reminders increase nationalism, they influence actual voting habits in favor of more conservative presidential candidates. And more disturbingly, in a study with American students, scientists found that making mortality salient increased support for extreme military interventions by American forces that could kill thousands of civilians overseas. Interestingly, the effect was present only in conservatives, which can likely be attributed to their heightened fear response.
By constantly emphasizing existential threat, Trump creates a psychological condition that makes the brain respond positively rather than negatively to bigoted statements and divisive rhetoric. Liberals and Independents who have been puzzled over why Trump hasn’t lost supporters after such highly offensive comments need look no further than Terror Management Theory.
High Attentional Engagement According to a recent study that monitored brain activity while participants watched 40 minutes of political ads and debate clips from the presidential candidates, Donald Trump is unique in his ability to keep the brain engaged. While Hillary Clinton could only hold attention for so long, Trump kept both attention and emotional arousal high throughout the viewing session. This pattern of activity was seen even when Trump made remarks that individuals didn’t necessarily agree with. His showmanship and simple messages clearly resonate at a visceral level.
Essentially, the loyalty of Trump supporters may in part be explained by America’s addiction with entertainment and reality TV. To some, it doesn’t matter what Trump actually says because he’s so amusing to watch. With Donald, you are always left wondering what outrageous thing he is going to say or do next. He keeps us on the edge of our seat, and for that reason, some Trump supporters will forgive anything he says. They are happy as long as they are kept entertained.
Of course these explanations do not apply to all Trump supporters. In fact, some are likely intelligent people who know better, but are supporting Trump to be rebellious or to introduce chaos into the system. They may have such distaste for the establishment and Hillary Clinton that their vote for Trump is a symbolic middle finger directed at Washington.
So what can we do to potentially change the minds of Trump loyalists before voting day in November? As a cognitive neuroscientist, it grieves me to say that there may be nothing we can do. The overwhelming majority of these people may be beyond reach, at least in the short term. The best we can do is to motivate everyone else to get out to the booths and check the box that doesn’t belong to a narcissistic nationalist who has the potential to damage the nation beyond repair.
Bobby Azarian is a neuroscientist affiliated with George Mason University and a science writer. His research has been published in journals such as Cognition & Emotion and Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, and he has written for The New York Times, Scientific American, Psychology Today, Slate, The Daily Beast, and The Huffington Post. He also runs the website Science Is Sexy. Follow him @BobbyAzarian. http://www.rawstory.com/2016/08/a-neuroscientist-explains-what-may-be-wrong-with-trump-supporters-brains/
This article ridicules Trump supporters for think Trump can do no wrong? Seriously?! Talk about pots and kettles!!! Same can be said ... and even more so ... about Hillary’s supporters.
My advice? Stay off of Facebook.
Roses, you got there first. Bless you.
A neuroscientist?
I wonder what Amy Farah Fowler thinks about this screed.
We’ll have to ask Dr. Sheldon Cooper.
So “disgusting” you couldn’t resist posting it in full here?
This happens every election season.
People are just bags of emotions walking around.
Even “neuroscientists”.
Good answer. I have insulted some of my daughters liberal friends on FB. She is conservative but doesn’t want to insult her friends, doesn’t want me to do it either.
I told her they could stuff it, I am saying what I think. Unfriendly me and be done with it!
It’s not worth it because it won’t make any difference.
Worry more about your peace of mind. Just unfriend. Silence is a very good response most of the time.
Just say that the Clinton atrocities far outweigh anything Donald Trump has said, so perhaps the author of this piece is really describing Clinton supporters. She has been involved in scandals for more than 30 years dating back to the Governor’s mansion in Arkansas. If the press were honest, evenhanded, and not partisan to only one party then they would expose all of her crimes. But that is not the reality. They are for the Democrat candidate in every election.
“he has written for The New York Times, Scientific American, Psychology Today, Slate, The Daily Beast, and The Huffington Post”
NYT, Huffpo, Slate, Daily Beast, all left wing nutjob sites.
Unfriend and leave it at that.
The writer of the article is projecting the insanity of Hillary voters onto Trump voters. Standard Alinsky tactic.
...The Dunning-Kruger effect explains that the problem isn’t just that they are misinformed; it’s that they are completely unaware that they are misinformed. This creates a double burden...
Is that like the double burden of Democrats wanting us to be “unaware and compliant” as an uncovered email says?
Wow. The lefties are really scared about Trump becoming President of the United States. I wonder why ?
An appropriate response would be “LOLOLOL”.
Why bother? What are you...lazy? Looking for someone else to do your homework for you? Or, are you just trying to send people chasing wild geese and crawling down rabbit holes?
These sniveling bedwetters need to have their noses rubbed in it. Otherwise they'll never know that they're brainwashed.
WOW I couldn’t even finish reading it.
The most ardent liberals I know, believe themselves to be so much smarter, more intellectual than others. When they can succeed in “teaching” other liberals to adopt their beliefs, they delight in their accomplishments. Clearly they think that the rest of us are too stupid to even understand things at the level of their brilliance.
Sounds like this author is going down a similar path, but going to extra trouble to justify it to himself.
When they see or hear a politician they like, somebody who says things they agree with, they enjoy the sensation and don't analyze it.
If you try to lecture people about their political choices they'll resent it and dig in all the deeper (especially if you say you're trying to "educate" them or "reason with" them).
People's brains are all too much alike on this score. What's differs are the candidates and issues.
Bobby Azarian is the guy who wrote the "Religious Kids are Jerks" article a few years back. As well as "Trump Has a Mental Disorder" earlier in the year.
Can you really trust an adult man who calls himself "Bobby"? Or one who calls his blog, "Science is Sexy"?
Azarian is one of those people who thinks he has a master science that provides the answers to everything -- and those answers correspond closely to what he already thinks and feels.
If you want to refute him, do a search for his articles and bring up the comments section (if there is one). Usually people have already made objections to things in articles.
“I told her they could stuff it, I am saying what I think. Unfriendly me and be done with it!”
That’s the spirit. ;)
Can't Replicate Psychology Studies
Just give him this link and tell him to get back to you when he has real scientific data to back up his position.
I unfriended family (cousin) for posting garbage about Trump.
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