Voting is not a rational process

A decision is a choice that defines a course of action and a future direction, on a certain issue that affects the personal or professional life of a person. Such is the case of political elections .

For example, we think that our decision to grant you a vote a candidate is the result of a detailed, reasoned process, in which we weigh a series of factors (proposals, personality, affinity, etc.) to arrive at a choice .

However, to a large extent these decisions are irrational and are being manipulated by a series of factors that appeal to reward certain areas of our brain to silence others and take control of our command center, according to the article "The neuroscience of the vote: Why the irrational dominates an election?", published in pijamasurf.com

Given the example, these factors can be the same advertising campaigns, the media, surveys, various analyzes carried out in the media, and even the appearance of each candidate, all understood as the political and emotional marketing .

Making a decision is a highly complex phenomenon, in which many areas of the brain , as the cerebral frontal cortex (the seat of reason and analytical thinking), but many of them are opposed to each other.

Decisions can be made in various situations: when the picture is clear, decisions are made under conditions of certainty, but also with total ignorance of the situation, which are decisions under conditions of uncertainty, according to psicologiayempresa.com

The voters with one political affinity marked hardly change their minds, they know what they believe. However, according to several studies applied to this type of people, in the United States, scientists were able to recognize the areas of brain related to the affinity for a candidate, which determined the fidelity to his vote , or, contradiction and last minute change.

The nature of our brain it only makes us listen to what we want, the rest seems like noise. The brain areas that were activated when there is some negative aspect about the favorite candidate, are those related to the control of emotions, such as frontal cortex .

The brain is able to interpret these contradictions or defects of a candidate in a positive way, without analyzing it carefully, and ignites the reward circuits, so that discharges are experienced. dopamine , that offer calm emotion in spite of the contradictions. Therefore, it remains firm with the decision its vote . In the end, the emotion to win the reason.

Apparently, if you want to change the preference of a person, it is necessary that their affinity and political conviction is not remarkably highlighted, that is in the uncertainty of decision making, as well as employing arguments that impact more on the emotional aspect, than in the rational.

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Video Medicine: How Voters Decide: Crash Course Government and Politics #38 (March 2024).