There’s little doubt that some macro political factors were decisive in driving Barack Obama’s presidential victory over John McCain. Notably, just as the divisive Iraq war seemed to have turned the corner and started to work to McCain’s advantage instead of Obama’s, the economic crisis gave Obama a whole new issue to blame on the Bush administration and, by inference, on McCain. And there’s little doubt that Obama’s run as a black candidate brought huge numbers of voters to the polls who might not otherwise have participated (no, I don’t mean the deceased or fictitious ones!). Could McCain have overcome this double whammy? It would have been difficult. But, when political marketing experts write the history of this campaign, I think many will lay the blame on John McCain’s failure to light up the amygdalas of the voting public. (more…)
Articles about 'Political'
Wed 5 Nov 2008
Digg itFri 19 Sep 2008
Are Political Views Hard-wired?
Posted by Roger Dooley under Neuromarketing , Neuroscience ResearchNo Comments
We know that political marketing - the art of persuading voters to support your candidate - is perhaps the most challenging and least productive form of marketing. A couple of years ago in The Neuroscience of Political Marketing, I described how research shows that political ads seem to go through an “emotional filter” that, in essence, causes voters to discount messages that are inconsistent with their current beliefs. Thus, an accusation that one’s favored candidate took money from special interest groups is likely to be dismissed as a partisan smear rather than evaluated rationally. If that wasn’t enough to frustrate political marketers, there’s now sketchy evidence that our political views may be determined by more fundamental brain wiring attributes. (more…)
Fri 11 Jul 2008
Neuropolicy Center at Emory
Posted by Roger Dooley under Neuroethics , Neuroscience Research[2] Comments
Emory University has announced the establishment of a new Center for Neuropolicy. The focus of the entity will be on the intersection of brain science, individual decision making, and politics.
A new Center for Neuropolicy at Emory University will focus on how the biology of the brain influences decision-making in politics, policy and business. As a partnership among researchers in the Emory School of Medicine, Emory College and the Goizueta Business School, the center will create an ideal environment to accelerate discovery in this emerging field…
The Center is the vision of Gregory S. Berns, MD, PhD, professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Emory University School of Medicine. Berns specializes in the use of brain imaging technologies to understand human motivation and decision-making, with a special interest in neuroeconomics and social neuroscience. He will lead the Center as the Emory Distinguished Chair of Neuroeconomics.
According to Berns, “Collective decision-making is political, but politics are biological.” While neuromarketing issues aren’t the focus of the Center for Neuropolicy, I have to believe that published research generated by the unit will yield valuable insights into both political marketing and neuromarketing in general. Full press release is here.
Wed 25 Jun 2008
A few weeks ago, Barack Obama’s campaign announced a new website, Fight the Smears, ostensibly to provide quick facts when negative rumors or allegations about Obama crop up. Many believe that a factor in John Kerry’s loss to George W. Bush was that he failed to counter negative “swift boat” allegations about his combat record quickly enough. I’ll leave the question of whether Fight the Smears is neutral and factual as opposed to partisan spin to the political pundits. Rather, I’d like to focus on the neuromarketing aspects of this effort: could Fight the Smears end up promoting the very allegations it is trying to quash? (more…)
Thu 20 Mar 2008
Minds Think Alike - Perhaps Too Much!
Posted by Roger Dooley under Neuromarketing , Neuroscience ResearchNo Comments
Did you ever wonder why some people have such insight into the behavior and feelings of others? Certainly, some of the great advertising execs, copywriters, and other pros seem to have it, particularly for certain groups or markets. But are these insights always accurate? It could be these individuals are projecting their own values and feelings onto other people to produce this apparent window into their emotions. Researchers have found that if you know a little about someone, and find that person similar to yourself in some way, your brain behaves very differently if you are asked about the emotional responses of that person: (more…)
Fri 14 Mar 2008
Last week I did an interview with Robin Young of Here & Now, a radio show distributed by Public Radio International and aired on about 50 U.S. stations. The topic was the use of neuromarketing to evaluate political ads, and also featured Dr. Stephen Sands of Sands Research discussing the firm’s EEG analysis of TV commercials for Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and John McCain. The neuromarketing segment of the show is now available for download at the links below. (more…)
Fri 14 Mar 2008
Are the non-medical applications of fMRI and other brain imaging technology overrated, or are we seeing the birth of a major new field of study? Ofri Ilani and Yotam Feldman of Haaretz have written a lengthy survey piece that starts by describing some of the current and planned brain imaging centers in Israel and segues into a lengthy and detailed discussion of the pros and cons of neuroimaging technology. There is even a section on neuromarketing: (more…)
Wed 5 Mar 2008
With Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton locked in a tight race for the Democratic presidential nomination, will one or the other turn to sensory branding, Korean-style? Last December, Reuters reported that Lee Myung-bak, a candidate for the South Korean presidency, was spraying a scent called “Great Korea” at campaign events, and planned to also spray the scent in or near polling places: (more…)
Wed 27 Feb 2008
Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama is saddled with an unfortunate middle name, “Hussein.” Not only is it the name of one of the most brutal and belligerent dictators in the last century, it also has connotations that might suggest images of Islamic fanatics to a small subset of voters. When conservative radio talk show host Bill Cunningham used Obama’s middle name repeatedly in a warmup speech for Republican candidate John McCain, he was immediately criticized. McCain ended up apologizing for Cunningham’s remarks. All that was lacking was a statement like, “I will not make an issue of my opponent’s middle name!” Perhaps McCain shouldn’t rush to judgment on this - at least one study has shown that names DO seem to make a difference in behavior and outcomes. (more…)
Wed 6 Feb 2008
Just in time for analyzing Super Tuesday primary results, political neuromarketing is back in the news. CNN ran a story, Reading Voters’ Minds!, on how Lucid Systems is attempting to measure real voter attitudes with various techniques borrowed from neuroscience and medicine. (You can tell CNN was excited by the story because of the exclamation point in the title.) Unfortunately, the information presented in the CNN story looks like another case of overhyped neuromarketing data: a tiny sample size and subjective conclusions.
With a title that satirizes CNN’s breathless headline writing, Slate’s Daniel Engber points out some of the study’s limitations in Obama Builds Lead Inside Voters’ Brains! Neuropundits weigh in on Super Tuesday:
(more…)
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