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4.4 ★★★★★
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★★★★★ 5
Leveling the playing field
Format: Hardcover
It is a not so tightly held secret that the Republicans know how to manipulate emotions for political advantage; with this book Drew Westen levels the playing field by not only providing insight into how emotions are evoked and taken advantage of politically, but also provides evidence-driven suggestions for the Democratic party to follow. The question, of course, is will the Democrats change their electoral strategies taking Dr. Westen's suggestions to heart, or will they follow the failed tactics of the Gore and Kerry campaigns, which relied on consultants following a rational-choice model of politics that prefers watered down political positions and milquetoast candidates in hopes of taking the "center".
While some may argue that this book is unethical by advocating the targeting of voters' emotions, instead of their "rational thought process", and thus is supportive of public manipulation, a very strong counter-argument might be made that putting this information in the public domain will help voters inoculate themselves against current Republican strategies which rely on scaring the public and arousing their anger against others using a range of techniques that border on the illegal. Specifically, the "RATS" subliminal advertisement used by the Bush 2000 campaign to attack Gore is, on close scrutiny, a very astute and professional advertisement that takes advantage of knowledge in the academic sphere that humans process information outside of conscious awareness. Specifically, a 1986 article in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology by Fazio et al. provided evidence that not only did the term "RATS" have a negative effect on peoples' evaluation of items presented afterwards, but that further, the term "Reagan" had a weak positive effect. Likewise, both Westen and colleagues and Stewart and Schubert(in Harvard International Journal of Press/Politics, 2006), in separate studies, suggest that the term "RATS" is an effective subliminal.
Furthermore, the use of fear/anxiety by the current administration is well established, with studies showing a correlation between changes in the Homeland Security color-coded threat indicator and political tactics. While one might argue over the timing of the Iraq invasion, and whether it was carried out for short-term political expediency, or to address a perceived threat in the region, one cannot argue with the rally effect that bolstered President Bush's ratings to over 90% immediately after 9-11 and over 70% after the Iraq invasion. Knowing that humans respond in predictable ways when different emotions are evoked allows not just politicians, consultants, academics and wonks to understand human behavior, but also will give the average citizen greater awareness of how the emotions evoked affect their decisions and responses. In other words, a more intelligent population may come from a more emotionally astute population.
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Reviewed in the United States on September 5, 2007
★★★★★ 4
A compelling counternarrative
Format: Hardcover
"The Political Brain" by Drew Westen is an important contribution to the political science literature in general and an inspiration for Democratic Party supporters in particular. Mr. Westen's knowledge of psychology and the cognitive sciences provides insight into how the individual develops a political consciousness. Showing how the Republican Party has gained advantage by developing an emotionally fear-laden narrative designed to exploit the electorate's psychic sensibilities, Mr. Westen argues that Democrats can and must develop a compelling counternarrative that appeals to the American public's better angels in order to inspire their supporters and win consistently at the polls.
The first section discusses the mind, brain and emotion in politics. Mr. Westen draws upon the latest scientific research to explain how emotion is integral to the brain's cognitive function. Mr. Westen recites passages delivered by Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Bill Clinton to illustrate how political messages are most effective when they tie issues to emotionally resonant themes and images. Importantly, Mr. Westen also deconstructs the neoliberal ideology of Ronald Reagan to help us better understand the importance of evolutionary psychology and crafting popular messages with curb appeal.
The second section provides a blueprint for executing emotionally compelling campaigns. Mr. Westen explores the multiple layers of voter intelligence to reveal how Republicans have successfully used subliminal messaging to activate the public's feelings of anxiety in order to get people to vote against their own material self-interests. The author stresses that when Democratics shy away from conflict, voters instinctively detect weakness; therefore he recommends that Democrats cede nothing and go after issues that many voters tend to perceive as Republican. To that end, Mr. Westen offers a series of principled narratives on contentious issues such as abortion, affirmative action, gay rights and gun control that he believes could easily help the Democrats gain majority support by activating the American voter's sense of fairness, freedom and equality of opportunity. While perhaps not fully convincing on all subjects, Mr. Westen amply demonstrates that a coherent and inspirational counternarrative is possible.
Unfortunately, this otherwise excellent book succumbs to a transparent attempt at self-promotion by forcing readers to go to the author's website to read the footnotes. Boo! Yet despite this minor deficiency, I highly recommend this timely and fascinating book to everyone.
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Reviewed in the United States on February 10, 2008
★★★★★ 5
Essential reading for Democratic campaign managers
Format: Kindle
For decades it has frustrated me that, while most of the country shares Democratic beliefs over Republican ones, Democrats keep losing elections. Why?
Because the very values Democrats hold dear...taking the higher road, trying to stay "above the fray", concentrating on issues over personalities...fail to speak to the emotional brain that makes most voters' electoral decisions. Whether it's the language they use while failing to understand its connotations, over-handling by committees that blunt the message, or simple refusal to debate some topics at all (abortion, gun control, race) thereby defaulting on them to the Republicans, Democrats systematically undermine their own campaigns.
Westen's book is must reading for every Democrat who wants to hold public office! Thus, the five stars.
On the other hand, Westen makes his point clearly and firmly in the first third of the book, and then beats us over the head with it, taking us point by point through campaigns, tweaking the information endlessly, and frankly, about halfway through I started skimming and eventually put it down. "I get it already!" I thought, and moved on.
Also, this is horribly produced ebook. It's obviously scanned from a printed copy and poorly proofread, it at all. When Westen talks about the perception of the word "gull" and how it affects elections, you have to read a bit to understand that it's the word "gun" he's talking about! Words bizarrely split, words run together, bizarre punctuation and misspelling due to OCR errors are rife on every single page.
Furthermore, the type looks like bad photocopying with the machine set on "light." Ugly, ugly, ugly. Yet the publisher (Hatchette) charges nearly as much for the ebook as for the print book, which I'm sure looks a lot better. It couldn't look any worse.
If I could, I'd rate it "five stars" for the content, downgrade it to "three stars" for being redundant, and finally give it "one star" for being so terribly produced.
That first third of the book, though, is so important for Democrats to understand (the Republicans already have a masterful grasp of it) that I went with the "five star" rating.
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Reviewed in the United States on September 10, 2011
★★★★★ 5
A Great Awakening
Format: Kindle
Political Brain offers a profound and enlightening roadmap to reboot and reconfigure the Democratic Party and campaign strateies. The new and innovative discipline offered up should be mandatory reading for anyone running for any office.
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Reviewed in the United States on January 27, 2025
★★★★★ 5
A Bitter Pill, but Much Needed Knowledge
Format: Kindle
Its thesis is that we, as humans, are predisposed to emotional, gut-level decision-making. Although most liberals will not want to accept this, author, Drew Westen, makes his case so well even the most inveterate ostriches must pull their heads out of the sand. We believe first, then we seek to support our beliefs. How we come to believe is a complex interaction of genetics and environment, which Westen makes no effort to reveal. What he focuses on is the counter-productive illusion that facts and issues matter more than the emotions underlying the principles we value most in life. And Westen disabuses the reader of this illusion quite completely, giving examples of what should have been said and what should have been done in Democrat campaigns in response to Republican attack. As a psychologist, Westin teaches us how the human brain works and why it is important for liberal politics to know how it works before selecting a candidate and mounting a campaign.
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Reviewed in the United States on June 23, 2013