Brain structure differs in liberals, conservatives: study

oops

reply to post by undo


This all goes waayyy beyond "ads" - neuromarketing is for the Internet, and focuses on social networking.

A few more highlights from my background research:

1. All decision-making is primarily "emotional," for everyone, regardless of party affiliation.

* Emotional engagement is the primary driver of behavior and choice

* Political messages are processed primarily in an emotional, not rational, way.

2. The most important factor in decision-making is "group identity" - an individual's identification with and loyalty to a group tends to define their emotional response, override other brain functions, and determine behavior and choice.

Party Over Policy: The Dominating Impact of Group Influence on Political Beliefs

Four studies demonstrated both the power of group influence in persuasion and people’s blindness to it. Even under conditions of effortful processing, attitudes toward a social policy depended almost exclusively upon the stated position of one’s political party. This effect overwhelmed the impact of both the policy’s objective content and participants’ ideological beliefs (Studies 1–3), and it was driven by a shift in the assumed factual qualities of the policy and in its perceived moral connotations (Study 4). Nevertheless, participants denied having been influenced by their political group, although they believed that other individuals, especially their ideological adversaries, would be so influenced. The underappreciated role of social identity in persuasion is discussed.

groupthink:

… social systems affect individual actions and vice versa. MITRE's "Modeling Phase Change Behavior" project is … studying the role of identity groups in social group formation and dynamics. …

… Groups typically use social control mechanisms to encourage members to conform to the group identity. Members who fail to conform to the group norms suffer consequences, and the prospect of those consequences is an important aspect of the way groups influence individual behavior. …

Groupthink, a term coined by social psychologist Irving Janis (1972), occurs when a group makes faulty decisions because group pressures lead to a deterioration of “mental efficiency, reality testing, and moral judgment” (p. 9). Groups affected by groupthink ignore alternatives and tend to take irrational actions that dehumanize other groups. A group is especially vulnerable to groupthink when its members are similar in background, when the group is insulated from outside opinions, and when there are no clear rules for decision making.

…Janis has documented eight symptoms of groupthink:

* Illusion of invulnerability –Creates excessive optimism that encourages taking extreme risks.
* Collective rationalization – Members discount warnings and do not reconsider their assumptions.
* Belief in inherent morality – Members believe in the rightness of their cause and therefore ignore the ethical or moral consequences of their decisions.
* Stereotyped views of out-groups – Negative views of “enemy” make effective responses to conflict seem unnecessary.
* Direct pressure on dissenters – Members are under pressure not to express arguments against any of the group’s views.
* Self-censorship – Doubts and deviations from the perceived group consensus are not expressed.
* Illusion of unanimity – The majority view and judgments are assumed to be unanimous.
* Self-appointed ‘mindguards’ – Members protect the group and the leader from information that is problematic or contradictory to the group’s cohesiveness, view, and/or decisions.

...On the surface, it might seem that the focus has to be on the swing vote. But no - the strategy is MUCH more devious. More on that later...

Political marketers know that they have to target swing voters (undecideds, independents, etc.) with their ads and other efforts because trying to change the mind of committed party members is next to impossible. In The Neuroscience of Political Marketing, I described research by Drew Westen at Emory that showed political messages were processed primarily in an emotional, not rational, way. A study by social psychologist Geoffrey Cohen at Yale shows that cognitive dissonance plays a big role in the way people evaluate political issues, and that they will adjust their beliefs (and maybe facts) as needed to resolve that dissonance.

…One’s political affiliation can trump everything, including logic and common sense.

I think this makes more sense.

reply to post by undo


As stated in my previous post: Common wisdom says political marketers have to target swing voters (undecideds, independents, etc.) because trying to change the mind of committed party members is next to impossible, for two main reasons:

1. All decision-making is primarily "emotional," for everyone, regardless of party affiliation; and

2. The most important factor in decision-making is "group identity" - an individual's identification with, and loyalty to a group, is primarily emotional and tends to determine their behavior and choices.


HOWEVER, this so-called "wisdom" is based on the mistaken assumption that the primary goal is to "change peoples' minds" - and that the two "choices" are fundamentally different when they're not:

1. The same global corporate interests are behind both major political parties, working to control and use national governments to maintain a global corporate government under international law, via free trade agreements, IMF, the World Bank and etc;

2. BOTH parties can and DO sell the same global policies to their members for international finance, trade and corporate law;

3. National hot button issues only maintain the fiction of "choice" but do not impact the international corporate agenda - at most, related outcomes influence how and where national tax monies are funnelled to corporate coffers;

4. It doesn't matter which major party gains power, as long as one of them does; and therefor,

5. It doesn't matter which party or group an individual chooses, as long as that individual identifies strongly with at least one group or sub-group - which can and will be assimilated, appropriated or manipulated to serve the international corporate agenda and global corporate government.


So it's misleading to say, "Political marketers have to target swing voters because trying to change the mind of committed party members is next to impossible."

The goal is NOT and never was to change anyone's mind; the real goal is to ensure that everyone identifies strongly with at least one group or sub-group, and is thereby subject to groupthink manipulation.





In this light, knowing the differences between so-called liberal and conservative brains is incredibly useful information for manipulating social media, "relationship marketing," "branding" and building "Brand Loyalty."

More to follow…

Originally posted by soficrow

Brain structure differs in liberals, conservatives: study

www.rawstory.com

Liberals have more gray matter in a part of the brain associated with understanding complexity, while the conservative brain is bigger in the section related to processing fear, said the study on Thursday in Current Biology.

"We found that greater liberalism was associated with increased gray matter volume in the anterior cingulate cortex, whereas greater conservatism was associated with increased volume of the right amygdala," the study said.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Not to point out the obvious but there was only 90 test subjects and it took place in the UK. Not relevant to American discourse and a very dishonest, disgusting ploy. Also one should be suspect of the liberal Academia.

Remember it was leftist's of the early 1900's that used biology to try and condemn other races to sub-human standards.

reply to post by korathin

Not to point out the obvious ...a very dishonest, disgusting ploy. Also one should be suspect of the liberal Academia. ...Remember it was leftist's of the early 1900's that used biology to try and condemn other races to sub-human standards.

Not to point out the obvious BUT this study relates to neuromarketing - applied neuroscience. ...The marketing and advertising industry has appropriated the tools of medical neuroscience for the purpose of controlling peoples' minds, behavior and choices. That's the goal, stated clearly, explicitly and right out front.

Marketing strategies are moving from traditional advertising in traditional media to "social media marketing" using Applied Neuroscience for a kind of Orwellian mind control - and yes, political parties rate right alongside Fortune 500 companies as VIP clients.

This particular study provides the industry with physical evidence indicating how to manipulate 2 identifiable groups: liberal and conservative thinkers, NOT parties. There is NO judgment implied, only hard physical data to be applied for purposes of manipulation and population control.

This is a HUGE issue - without "Cognitive Liberty," Free Speech is meaningless. We ALL need to get past our knee-jerk denials, and fast.

Please - do read my earlier posts expand on the explanation of neuromarketing principles provided in the OP: ie., Part 2; and
Part 3. Here is a brief profile of the neuromarketing industry (1 industry article and 5 international neuromarketing companies' websites).

Advertising, Social Media, and Neuroscience – Marketing by the Numbers: …social media marketing has strong effects on consumers’ subconscious minds and can even effectively boost purchase intent. …With the widespread use of smartphones, the new iPad, and more gadgets undoubtedly coming soon to make it easier to access the Internet than ever, social media marketing is like the Wild West with few rules…

FKF Applied Research is a high-tech, next generation business intelligence firm selling functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) brain scan-based research to Fortune 500 clients. …FKF is fundamentally changing the way corporations market to consumers.

Neurotise offers neuromarketing research services for corporate clients

emsense: Our products apply neuroscience and other bio-sensory measures according to standard market research practices.

NeuroFocus clients include Fortune 100 companies across multiple categories, including automotive, consumer packaged goods, food and beverage, financial services, Internet, retail, and many more sectors. Entertainment category clients include major companies in the broadcast, cable television, and motion picture industries. The Nielsen Company is a strategic investor in NeuroFocus.

Sands Research Inc. is recognized as one of the leading providers and innovators in the growing field of neuromarketing services. The Company has offices, labs and partners around the world and offers a unique service to its clients and the advertising community.

All over the Internet you have liberals and atheists making threads "proving" that they are more intelligent, more capable, more educated, know more. This alone should point to how insecure and lost in life the leftist is.

reply to post by lucid eyes


This thread is NOT about conservative v/s liberal thinking - and note the lower case.

Two questions asked and answered:

Q. WHO generated this data, for whom?
A. The Marketing Industry, NOT medical researchers - for corporate clients and political parties.

Q. HOW will this data be used?
A. To perfect marketing techniques for social networking - what some have called "Orwellian mind control."

Hope that helps.