Credits: Social Media
Scientists can predict who you will vote for by scanning your brain, psychotherapist says
Have you ever found yourself yelling at the TV in frustration while a political candidate sounds off on a hot-button topic? Feels of anger and frustration can be triggered by news coverage thats misaligned with our political preferences. These triggers cause our brains to flash in peculiar and measurable ways…
Candidates tone and tactics can affect our emotions, and emotions rule the roost when it comes to voting preference. Whether youre feeling a general sense of election anxiety leading up to polling day or actively trying to avoid conflict with family members, it can be helpful to understand whats going on in your brain when you watch election-related content on TV.
Emotions rule peoples political decisions, not reasoning
Sloane Previdi is a licensed psychotherapist from Pennsylvania. On the question of how much election coverage its sensible to watch on the news, her advice is to listen to your body.
The key is to monitor personal emotional and mental responses to the coverage, she says. If you start to feel consistently stressed, anxious, or fatigued, that might be an indicator that its time to step back and reduce exposure.
Some people feel empowered and engaged when theyre on top of the news cycle. Others find election coverage overwhelming and anxiety-inducing. If this sounds familiar, know that theres plentiful evidence youre not alone.
Sloane draws attention to a 2006 study published in the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience that found emotions rule peoples political decisions rather than reasoning.
For this reason, from a campaigning standpoint, it makes sense for political parties to behave in a way that generates coverage that evokes strong emotions.
If this makes you think of a particular political candidate or candidates, your brain is behaving in a normal and measurable way&
Scientists can predict who you will vote for by scanning your brain
Sloane highlights another study. This ones from 2022. It looked at functional connectivity a measure of how different parts of the brain interact with each other and political ideology.
It found that brain activity revealed by scans was as accurate at predicting political ideology as the strongest predictor political scientists usually use: the ideology of a persons parents.
Participants were asked to perform basic tasks. One was an empathy task, in which they looked at photos of emotional people with neutral, happy, sad, and fearful faces. Another examined memory. A third gave participants the option to win or lose money based on how quickly they could push a button.
Scientists monitored their brain activity while they completed the tasks, and used it to predict their political ideology, with surprising accuracy. They could even predict a participants voting intention by scanning their brains while they did nothing at all.
“Even without any stimulus at all, functional connectivity in the brain can help us predict a person’s political orientation,” one of the researchers said.
Partisan coverage also plays a role in eliciting strong emotional reactions
Sloane points out that the manner in which news is presented also makes us react a certain way.
Whether its sensationalistic and conflict-oriented or calm and factual, she says, can significantly affect how the information is received and processed emotionally and cognitively.
Partisan news outlets have a vested interest in their audiences voting a particular way. This incentivizes them to produce coverage that generates fear of the opposing party while encouraging excitement and hope for their chosen candidate.
Feeling mistrustful or skeptical can lead to stress and anxiety. Meanwhile, if youre watching something that aligns with your views and is positive about your candidate, Sloane says, youre more likely to feel excited and hopeful.
Remember, theres no shame in taking a step back. Avoid the news for a couple of days. Talk to a friend about something completely unrelated to the election. Take the heat off. Itll still be there when you get back.
Sloane Previdi is a therapist with a background and license in social work from New York University. She practices structured systems theory and considers herself an integrative and holistic practitioner.
