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

by Drew Westen (Author)
Key Phrases: emotional constituencies, dispassionate vision, feelings toward the parties, Democratic Party, Bill Clinton, United States (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"(o)ne of the most insightful books on politics and the art of persuasion in recent years." -- Guardian, November 25, 2007

"A brilliant new book...Let's make sure that all Capitol Hill cavemen read [it], and take it to heart." -- Huffington Post, June 12, 2007

"A recent book by Drew Westen, now being avidly read in Westminster, argues persuasively that voters, even the most analytical of them, think about politics with the touchy-feely part of their brains, rather than the rational." -- Minette Marrin, The Sunday Times (UK), July 22, 2007

"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." -- The Baltimore Sun, July 15, 2007

"Drew Westen is a must read...we will win the Presidency if our candidate reads and acts on this book." -- Howard Dean

"In the last several months, [Westen] has gone from a politically inclined nobody to a hot ticket." -- Los Angeles Times, July 9, 2007

"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." -- Washington Post Book World, July 15, 2007

"No other book has so comprehensively linked psychological science with election-day choices" -- Library Journal, July 1, 2007

"Westen's recommended language for Democrats "exhilarating to imagine," his analyses are "something that Democrats desperately need to hear." -- New York Review of Books, May 31, 2007

"compelling stuff." -- Columnist Rachel Johnson, London Times Online , July 15, 2007

Product Description
This groundbreaking investigation by a renowned psychologist and neuroscientist proves it: We vote with our hearts, not our minds.

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...

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 480 pages
• Publisher: PublicAffairs (June 25, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1586484257
• ISBN-13: 978-1586484255
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #146,985 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

96 of 108 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars What Democrats Must Do To Take Back America, June 28, 2007

By	Annabel Ascher (Santa Rosa CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Though there is nothing entirely new here, in this large well researched book Westin manages to draw together several ideas that have been part of our intellectual discourse for some time in an engaging and informative way.
Westin uses 4 themes throughout the book. First, he explains how our human brain evolved over millions of years to make decisions first with our emotions and only secondarily with our logical faculties. This is because we evolved out of other life forms that had a simpler brain structure. The first uses of the brain were for sensation and perception, uses that would tend to keep the primitive forms that were the first conscious creatures alive.
Second, he uses this model of the brain to explain why emotional intelligence controls absolutely every decision that people make, and that this is no where more true than in electoral politics. The dominance of the emotional brain predates and supersedes the thin human veil of reason, and this has proved to be a successful adaptation over thousands of years.
Third, he shows that with the exceptions of FDR and Bill Clinton the democrats have been consistently emotionally tone deaf in their national campaigns, and that they will not be able to win until this is addressed.
Finally, he explores the importance of a consistent emotionally appealing story or narrative to present to the voting public about the values of the party and the candidate. Only after voters understand and resonate with these two things do they care about the issues. The right wing understood this when they supplanted the winning narrative of the new deal with their own narrative of small government and individual hard work. Westin writes this story well, and then shows how the democratic leadership could damage the power of this story and create one of their own that would be just as emotionally compelling or more so.
Throughout the book Westin offers detailed accounts of both successful and unsuccessful campaign strategies. He also describes some major flubs made by democratic candidates and describes what they could have said and done to win the hearts of the people. Westin tells us that a good story will speak directly to the emotional brains of the left wing and moderates alike, but if it does not anger the 30% on the hard right it has not been entirely successful. This is because a good story must knock down the antagonist as it builds up the protagonist. At the same time the democrats appeal only to reason they are also much too timid in defending the very real values that the party stands for.
If Westin is right the democrats need to nominate a truly charismatic candidate and then speak directly to the American heart. It's not enough that the republicans have made a colossal mess. To win, the democrats must offer an emotionally compelling alternative and not be afraid to shout it from the rooftops. Every democrat should read this book.

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A great book! Learn the core of politics here..., July 31, 2007

By	Jason E. Kline (Fort Mill, SC) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I am a conservative Republican. I believe that, in the end, it is better that the Republican Party win elections than the Democratic Party. Yet, this book, in all of its hatred of Bush and the GOP, is excellent.

I am a psychology teacher and debate coach (and debate author...see Public Forum Debate (The National Forensic League Library of Public Speaking and Debate)) that has spent a good amount of my professional career trying to develop strong communication and persuasion in my students. I have not had the chance to use some of the specific recommendations that Dr. Westen recommends, but a lot of them are things I already do, albeit in less than organized or specific way...

I think anyone interested in politics and/or psychology...or ANYONE who wants to be more persuasive in their writing and their speaking should read this book.

My only negative comment, and the reason I gave it one less star, is that I felt it was too partisan. At times, the prose seemed so angry that it lost some credibility. I recognize that Dr. Westen purposely directed his book to the Democratic party, but it would have been more enjoyable (in some sections) if it had been a little more calm...and not all Republicans.

31 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting application of brain science and psychology to politics, August 5, 2007

By	Steven A. Peterson (Hershey, PA (Born in Kewanee, IL)) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

The dust jacket has one line that is at the center of this book: "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." Drew Westen uses this thought as a takeoff point in his book, "The Political Brain." He asserts that (page xv) "The political brain is an emotional brain."

One point that he hammers throughout the book is that Republicans do a better job of connecting with voters at an emotional, gut level than do Democrats. Ds tend to make rational points; Rs wed their points to emotional appeals, ending up doing much better. He provides examples from the Gore-Bush and Bush-Kerry campaigns. One interesting feature of the book is the author's development of how Gore and Kerry could have crafted statements to wed emotion to policy talking points in a way to, in Westen's view, would trump the Republican efforts. As an example of where Democrats have succeeded, he notes Bill Clinton's wedding of talking points to emotional appeals.

The discussion of neurosciences and how they tie into the argument is a bit underdeveloped. Westen does discuss some studies and notes some of his own research. Nonetheless, he could have elaborated more completely and made a more compelling case. He also addresses the evolution of what he terms "the passionate brain," in which (page 51) ". . .Feeling and thinking evolved together, and nature `designed' them to work together."

He discusses specific policy arenas and how Democrats have ceded the potent ground wedding emotion and thinking, from abortion to gun control to race to taxes. He takes Democratic consultants and campaign advisors to task. There is a bit of "conflict of interest," in some senses, since he also consults for Democrats. He is most explicit about one goal of this volume during his policy arena by policy arena analysis on page 380: "The central point of this chapter is that Democrats need to talk about values, morality, and faith again, but not by talking like Republicans. They need to offer a counternarrative that has as its core beneficence, tolerance, and humility, not hate, contempt, and dogma." That quotation surely provides a taste of Westen's passion and his political perspective.

One real annoyance with the book that I purchased. Each chapter is studded with numbered footnotes--but nowhere in the volume are the corresponding citations. One must go to a web site to get them. This keeps the volume shorter, but it makes it more difficult to check out citations. One might not necessarily be near the Internet while reading the book and wanting to check something out.

His call to realize that there is a passionate component to politics and political discourse, his linkage of evolution and brain structure and function to political thinking and behavior is well taken. There are some less than optimal elements to the book, as noted, but, overall, this is a provocative volume that will get readers to thinking.