The Brain and the Ballot Box

The Politics of Social Neuroscience
1. Auflage 2026
ISBN: 978-3-11-161619-3
Verlag: De Gruyter

Buch, Englisch, 100 Seiten, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 230 mm, Gewicht: 500 g

The book is a whistle-stop tour of social neuroscience – the science of brain behaviour and its use in society – and its impacts on our lives: the good, the bad, and the cynical. PR firms and political consultants use brain science to understand our behaviours – and influence our choices. fMRI-scans can predict who we vote for with 85 percent accuracy; can reveal; can even show which political messages are most likely to change our vote. Companies routinely use social neuroscience to test the effect of advertisements – and so do political parties. And it’s no wonder: political advertisements based on brain scans are three times as effective as commercials for products. Using real world examples from the ongoing neuroscience revolution, the book shows how brain scans are used – and frequently abused – to change our behaviours as citizens, consumers, and voters. The book maps the social and political brain, how it works, and how it relates to current affairs in an increasingly polarized society.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Qvortrup, Matt

Über Autor(innen)

Professor Matt Qvortrup teaches Political Science at University of Notre Dame and is an adjunct professor of European Democracy at LUISS in Rome. After gaining a doctorate in politics at University of Oxford, his research has centred on the tension between political actors being driven by emotion and driven by rational argument. Described by the Financial Times as "a world authority" on democracy, he has pioneered the use of neuroscience in political research. Matt was editor of 2016–2023.