Political leanings influenced by confirmation bias

[Neo]

I read an article in Scientific American concerning a study done into confirmation bias. That’s a term that refers to a person’s tendency to accept evidence which supports their beliefs and reject any evidence to the contrary. A study was performed during the 2004 presidential race involving a group of people who considered themselves to be strong republicans and another group which considered themselves to be strong democrats. Both groups were shown situations in which John Kerry and George Bush had clearly contradicted themselves. Not surprisingly each group responded with a negative assessment of the other group’s candidate while letting their own candidate off the hook. What was interesting was that each person’s brain activity was monitored during this process and showed surprising results. The area of the brain which controls emotions was the most active during the questioning while the area of the brain which controls reasoning was hardly active at all. The brain scans also showed activity in the area of the brain which controls pleasure. The study showed that people with strong political views tend to think about events emotionally until they arrive at a belief which is comfortable to them and which activates their pleasure center. I’ve already tossed the mag so I can’t give you the exact numbers but I thought it was interesting nonetheless.