The Brain and Ballot Box: Politics of Social Neuroscience

The book is a whistle-stop tour of social neuroscience – the science of brain behaviour and its use in society – and its impacts on our lives: the good, the bad, and the cynical. PR firms and political consultants use brain science to understand our behaviours – and influence our choices. fMRI-scans can predict who we vote for with 85 percent accuracy; can reveal; can even show which political messages are most likely to change our vote. Companies routinely use social neuroscience to test the effect of advertisements – and so do political parties. And it’s no wonder: political advertisements based on brain scans are three times as effective as commercials for products. Using real world examples from the ongoing neuroscience revolution, the book shows how brain scans are used – and frequently abused – to change our behaviours as citizens, consumers, and voters. The book maps the social and political brain, how it works, and how it relates to current affairs in an increasingly polarized society.