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Science and reason is all about... science and reason. News and explanations of recent developments in the most intriguing branches of science. Philosophical and political issues of relevance are also discussed.
Recent Posts Tagged With 'political psychology'
Easily Grossed Out? You Might Be A Conservative!
Easily Grossed Out? You Might Be A Conservative! (6/5/09)Are you someone who squirms when confronted with slime, shudders at stickiness or gets grossed out by gore? Do crawly insects make you cringe or dead bodies make you blanch?If so, chances are y...
A leaflet from my friendly neighbourhood fascists
Here's more about a topic I've covered a number of times before, such as this, among others. Specifically, it's about the connection between the emotions of fear and anxiety, on the one hand, and religion and political conservatism, on the other.A le...
Propagandists and marketers agree: emotions may be more reliable when making choices
Here's yet another "study" that purports to show "gut reactions" are "better" than logical analysis in decision making. (Recent discussions of this are here, here, here.)It's about how sales and marketing people and propagandists have learned to take...
Moral neuropolitics and ideology
An interesting paper was recently brought to my attention. It's all worth reading, but I want to focus on one specific passage, because I think it spotlights a very important question, and provides a springboard for discussion of a number of signific...
Emotions and politics
We've been having a little discussion about how "gut feelings" influence decisions: here, here, here."Gut feelings" are obviously related to emotions, but not entirely. As mentioned here, they can also be based on "implicit memory".Alongside of this,...
Trust Your Gut: Too Much Thinking Leads To Bad Choices?
Well, this is obviously what sales/marketing droids want people to believe. After all, thinking and rational deliberation is usually somewhat reality based. It tends to take into account at least some facts about the real world. Whereas "going with t...
Materialism And Death Anxiety Lead To Brand Loyalty
Materialism And Death Anxiety Lead To Brand Loyalty (1/26/09)Materialistic people tend to form strong connections to particular product brands when their level of anxiety about death is high, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Resear...
Politics as beauty contest
Perhaps interest in politics has dropped off a lot now that the U. S. elections are over (for this year). But there's still some interesting political science that came up before the big event.Even though political scientists, year in and year out, a...
Hobgoblins, devils, and politics
The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary. -- H. L. MenckenPolitical Attitudes Are P...
