This is Your Brain on Poli/cs:

Transcription

1 This is Your Brain on Poli/cs: The New Social Science of Poli/cal Judgment Paul Elwood March 25, 2017

2 This is Your Brain on Poli/cs: The New Social Science of Poli/cal Judgment Paradigm ShiEs Outline Dual Cogni/on Theory Evolu/onary Psychology Culture, Religion and Morality A Values- based Approach to Climate Ac/on

3 Two Paradigms for Understanding Poli/cal Behavior Dual Cogni/on Theory Evolu/onary Psychology Poli/cal Decision- Making Strategy, Tac/cs & Messaging

4 Paradigm ShiEs Thomas Kuhn, The Structure of Scien/fic Revolu/ons (1962) Normal Science = Incremental revisions and extensions around core theories supported by a broad consensus among scien/sts Paradigm ShiEs = Periods when the nature of scien/fic inquiry within a par/cular field is abruptly transformed Compe/ng paradigms are frequently incommensurable; i.e., they are compe/ng and irreconcilable accounts of reality Copernicus b Brahe b Keppler b Galileo b Newton b. 1642

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6 1859 John Stuart Mill - On Liberty Karl Marx - A Contribu/on to the Cri/que of Poli/cal Economy Charles Darwin - On the Origin of Species 158 years later, the Darwinian revolu/on is s/ll unfolding,

7 Dual Cogni/on Theory Daniel Kahneman and Aaron Tversky published an influen/al paper in 1979: Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision Under Risk. By 2000, dual cogni/on theory is mainstream social science Daniel Kahneman 2002 Nobel Prize in Economics 2011 book: Thinking Fast and Slow System 1 Instantaneous, Unconscious, Emo/onal, Thumbs Up/Down System 2 - Delibera/ve, Conscious, Sounds Reasonable

8 Jonathan Haidt The Emo/onal Dog and its Ra/onal Tail (2000) The Righteous Mind (2012) Applies Dual Cogni/on Theory to moral psychology with broader implica/ons for all of social psychology Draws on Evolu/onary Psychology to enrich the analysis

9 Why Do We Care? It Changes Everything! Even if they re honest, people may be wrong about their reasons and inten/ons Science or any other reasoned argumenta/on comes to play aeer most decisions are made

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11 Ques/ons?

12 Doesn t evolu/onary theory require selfish compe//on among individuals? More precisely, organisms are vehicles through which genes perpetuate themselves Usually, what s good for the organism, is good for the genes. But not always. Just ask a mother! Because children carry 50% of a parent s genes, a parent should expend effort to help their children survive and reproduce. The same logic applies to siblings, but their children only carry 25% of your genes, as do your own grandchildren and your nieces and nephews. Your first cousins carry 12.5% of your genes. It makes evolu/onary sense to spend more effort helping your own children than you do helping your sister s children. Because small children are so helpless on their own and have their en/re reproduc/ve future in front of them, a small effort from an adult can make a big difference in perpetua/ng the child s DNA Nepo/sm clearly makes evolu/onary sense

13 Defini/ons for Discussing Morality Selfish Nepotistic Altruistic Win-Win- Win-Win Nonadaptive

14 The Paleo Diet Lifestyle What problems were our brains designed to solve? Difficult to date the emergence of Paleolithic behaviors Language, fire, hun/ng large game in place by 500,000 years ago These technologies rewarded the skills required for working and living together with a group Each technology enabled and rewarded bigger brains Humans were able to consume more and beter food Large brains are heavy to carry around and consume a lot of energy What do we know about the Paleolithic lifestyle? All humans lived as part of fully or semi- nomadic groups in quite small communi/es, probably consis/ng of 6 8 families, individuals. Each band was independent and autonomous, and any human not in your band or tribe was your enemy

15 Life is a Team Sport Being an effec/ve team player - - > fitness advantage over those less effec/ve at working as as a team Egalitarian teams more effec/ve than hierarchically organized teams in the Environment of Evolu/onary Adapta/on Team ethic - equal status, fairness in distribu/ng resources, detec/on and suppression of cheaters, suppression of upstarts Fosters specific moral and poli/cal ins/ncts sensi/vity to injus/ce, vigilance against cheaters, skill at forming coali/ons

16 Sociability is Fundamental to Human Nature Humans are unique in the extensiveness and complexity of their sociability Our brains have changed to enhance our ability to communicate verbally We are pre- wired with a capacity to learn language We are also pre- wired with a capacity to make moral judgments Consider blushing - Shame is an exquisitely human phenomenon We react emo/onally to what we think other people will think of us Why unconsciously signal this? Usually it s best to signal strength! Have you internalized the morality of our community? If not, maybe you are not safe to be around.

17 The Paleo Brain, the Neolithic Brain, So Many Brains! Humans are unique in the extensiveness and complexity of their mental circuitry These developed at radically different /mes, in different contexts Fight- Flight- Freeze pre- human Hunter- gatherer stage rela/vely long period Mental circuitry for sociability developed during a period of intense environmental pressure caused by rapid climate change Agricultural socie/es rela/vely short, but long enough to change brain Industrial society quite recent from an evolu/onary perspec/ve

18 Culture is Fundamental to Human Success Morality is a core social technology through which cultures maintain and improve their fitness Over the millenia, as the environment presented new challenges, including those parts of the environment created by humans, socie/es invented new social technologies. Popula/on pressure led to the need for collec/ve investment in food produc/on, collec/ve ac/on in warfare. Big Man socie/es represented a social technology that dealt with these challenges beter than the egalitarianism predominant in hunter- gatherer socie/es. At the /me of European contact, a Big Man social structure prevailed among Na/ve Americans of the Pacific Northwest

19 Religion as a Powerful Social Technology Socie/es with beter religions prosper at the expensive of socie/es with less effec/ve religions Big Gods by Ara Norenzayan Religion itself evolves through processes that are analogous to natural selec/on Darwin s Cathedral by David Sloan Wilson

20 Morality organizes our brains so they will fit together in a collec/ve we Our moral system results from the co- evolu/on of culture and the human genome Morality is rooted in mental structures developed via natural selec/on Culture writes its rules onto developing human brains Culture is the network that connects individual human brains

21 How can these paradigms shies help us do beter as ac/vists? Ra/onalist Focus on government officials and poli/cal leaders Address each individual and ask them to change their mind Make a reasoned argument by marshaling evidence Authority derives from science, academia Help people see that climate change can t be addressed without disrup/ve changes to all aspects of society 21st Century Focus on opinion leaders Understand groupishness Include emo/onal and narra/ve elements in argument Awtudes toward climate change are embedded in larger belief systems, in people s lives, families, and communi/es and thus can t be easily changed Harmonize message with exis/ng moral framework

22 Can these new paradigms make us beter ac/vists? Messaging Be aware of how all people decide what to do and what to believe: Emo/on drives the bus Heuris/cs / mental shortcuts predominate because /me and mental energy are scarce resources Connec/on promotes persuasion Group affilia/on is a powerful force De- emphasize the ra/onalist policy wonk messaging Iden/fy and cul/vate opinion leaders in various communi/es

23 Tac/cs Democracy maters People contribute more when they are part of a band of equals rather than a bureaucracy. Look at labor unions compared to the na/onal environmental organiza/ons. Change the context to change their minds Poli/cians and government officials are part of ins/tu/ons and have other affilia/ons that constrain their ac/ons. What do voters want? What do your peers think?

24 Strategy: Culture Change Awareness of energy > carbon pollu/on > climate connec/on Habits consistent with a low carbon lifestyle New norms about energy use It s normal to conserve fuel, use public transit, etc. It s shameful to waste energy Bring the message to all levels of society: Local: Schools, churches, sports clubs, the office, restaurants, retail stores, etc. Regional: All state and local government agencies, regional businesses, electric u/li/es, fossil fuel infrastructure Na/onal: Mul/na/onal corpora/ons, NGOs, federal govt. Interna/onal: Trade policy Think of how the cultural acceptance of smoking has changed