POLITICSthat conservatives were less willing than liberals to admit to marital infi-
delity or unhappiness with life, which would have skewed the General
Social Survey results.
Another problem is that scientific research can be inconsistent.
Some studies on the neuroscience of political thought have an “evil
twin,” so to speak, that looked at the same question and found the
opposite result. Overall, though, the data support a tendency toward a
progressive political ideology among people with a more dopaminergic
personality and a conservative one for those people with lower levels of
dopamine and higher H&Ns.
The big picture might look something like this: On average, liberals
are more likely to be forward thinking, cerebral, inconstant, creative,
intelligent, and dissatisfied. Conservatives, by contrast, are more likely
to be comfortable with emotions, reliable, stable, conventional, less
intellectual, and happy.
THE RELIABLY IRRATIONAL VOTERAlthough very conservative and very liberal people tend to vote the
party line, others have more moderate ideologies. They are the inde-
pendent voters who are open to political persuasion. Influencing the
opinions of this group is essential for a successful campaign, and neuro-
science may shed light on the best ways to do it.
The art of persuasion intersects with neuroscience at the point
where decisions are made and action is taken—that is, the intersec-
tion of desire dopamine and control dopamine circuits where we weigh
options and make decisions about what we think will best serve our
future. Whether it’s grabbing a bottle of detergent from the grocery
shelf or pulling the lever for a political candidate, it looks like this
should be in the realm of control dopamine, asking the simple ques-
tion, What’s best for my long-term future? But convincing control dopamine,
overcoming all the counterarguments that inevitably arise, is hard to do
with a bumper sticker or a 30-second television commercial. And from
a purely practical point of view, it’s probably not worth doing, anyway.