Download or read book Genes Brains and Politics written by Elliott White and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 1993-06-21 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: White moves from a simple proposition maintaining that all individuals seek suitable surroundings to propose a provocative approach to social and political action. Rooting his position in modern life sciences and particularly in sociobiology and neurobiology, he establishes an IMPish model that is interactional, mentalist, and populational. Interactional in that both heredity and environment are credited for due influence on individuals' traits; mentalist in that individuals' actions can be purposeful rather than simply determined; and populational in his insistence that the unique persona must not be slighted in the rush to fashion statistics. Applying his behavioral principles most notably relevant to self-selection and using examples derived from modern political action, White examines the importance of these fundamental orientations in the social and political orders. The work has implications for policy assessment and re-formulation. It constitutes a challenge to much of the widely accepted contemporary political theory and public policy approaches.

Download or read book The Republican Brain written by Chris Mooney and published by Wiley. This book was released on 2012-04-10 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bestselling author Chris Mooney uses cutting-edge research to explain the psychology behind why today’s Republicans reject reality—it's just part of who they are. From climate change to evolution, the rejection of mainstream science among Republicans is growing, as is the denial of expert consensus on the economy, American history, foreign policy and much more. Why won't Republicans accept things that most experts agree on? Why are they constantly fighting against the facts? Science writer Chris Mooney explores brain scans, polls, and psychology experiments to explain why conservatives today believe more wrong things; appear more likely than Democrats to oppose new ideas and less likely to change their beliefs in the face of new facts; and sometimes respond to compelling evidence by doubling down on their current beliefs. Goes beyond the standard claims about ignorance or corporate malfeasance to discover the real, scientific reasons why Republicans reject the widely accepted findings of mainstream science, economics, and history—as well as many undeniable policy facts (e.g., there were no “death panels” in the health care bill). Explains that the political parties reflect personality traits and psychological needs—with Republicans more wedded to certainty, Democrats to novelty—and this is the root of our divide over reality. Written by the author of The Republican War on Science, which was the first and still the most influential book to look at conservative rejection of scientific evidence. But the rejection of science is just the beginning… Certain to spark discussion and debate, The Republican Brain also promises to add to the lengthy list of persuasive scientific findings that Republicans reject and deny.

Download or read book Red Genes Blue Genes written by Guillermo Jiménez and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Modern science postulates that our political predispositions can be traced to our genes. To some extent, there is such a thing as "red-state" or "blue-state" DNA. Our brains likewise bear the evolutionary imprint of hundreds of thousands of years of political wiring-for biased partisanship. The result is a political landscape characterized by irrationality and hostility. Americans today, like citizens of many other countries, find themselves trapped in hostile "red" vs. "blue" political warfare. While liberals and conservatives fight each other for power and influence, the world's problems go unsolved. Using recent scientific evidence from neuroscience, behavioral genetics, and evolutionary and cognitive psychology, Red Genes, Blue Genes is the first book to take a comprehensive look at the phenomenon of political irrationality. This book seeks to unravel a number of political mysteries: Why does it seem that liberals and conservatives are different kinds of people? Why are political arguments so hostile and impervious to reason? Why are partisans and political figures so certain they are right all the time? Why are citizens everywhere unsatisfied with "democratic" systems of government? Why are political campaigns so shallow, vicious and manipulative? This book provides answers to the above questions, showing how understanding political irrationality may enable us to devise new systems of government that are truly democratic. Book jacket.

Download or read book Predisposed written by John R. Hibbing and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-09-23 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Buried in many people and operating largely outside the realm of conscious thought are forces inclining us toward liberal or conservative political convictions. Our biology predisposes us to see and understand the world in different ways, not always reason and the careful consideration of facts. These predispositions are in turn responsible for a significant portion of the political and ideological conflict that marks human history. With verve and wit, renowned social scientists John Hibbing, Kevin Smith, and John Alford—pioneers in the field of biopolitics—present overwhelming evidence that people differ politically not just because they grew up in different cultures or were presented with different information. Despite the oft-heard longing for consensus, unity, and peace, the universal rift between conservatives and liberals endures because people have diverse psychological, physiological, and genetic traits. These biological differences influence much of what makes people who they are, including their orientations to politics. Political disputes typically spring from the assumption that those who do not agree with us are shallow, misguided, uninformed, and ignorant. Predisposed suggests instead that political opponents simply experience, process, and respond to the world differently. It follows, then, that the key to getting along politically is not the ability of one side to persuade the other side to see the error of its ways but rather the ability of each side to see that the other is different, not just politically, but physically. Predisposed will change the way you think about politics and partisan conflict. As a bonus, the book includes a "Left/Right 20 Questions" game to test whether your predispositions lean liberal or conservative.

Download or read book Predisposed written by John R. Hibbing and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-09-23 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Buried in many people and operating largely outside the realm of conscious thought are forces inclining us toward liberal or conservative political convictions. Our biology predisposes us to see and understand the world in different ways, not always reason and the careful consideration of facts. These predispositions are in turn responsible for a significant portion of the political and ideological conflict that marks human history. With verve and wit, renowned social scientists John Hibbing, Kevin Smith, and John Alford—pioneers in the field of biopolitics—present overwhelming evidence that people differ politically not just because they grew up in different cultures or were presented with different information. Despite the oft-heard longing for consensus, unity, and peace, the universal rift between conservatives and liberals endures because people have diverse psychological, physiological, and genetic traits. These biological differences influence much of what makes people who they are, including their orientations to politics. Political disputes typically spring from the assumption that those who do not agree with us are shallow, misguided, uninformed, and ignorant. Predisposed suggests instead that political opponents simply experience, process, and respond to the world differently. It follows, then, that the key to getting along politically is not the ability of one side to persuade the other side to see the error of its ways but rather the ability of each side to see that the other is different, not just politically, but physically. Predisposed will change the way you think about politics and partisan conflict. As a bonus, the book includes a "Left/Right 20 Questions" game to test whether your predispositions lean liberal or conservative.

Download or read book Blueprint with a new afterword written by Robert Plomin and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2019-07-16 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A top behavioral geneticist makes the case that DNA inherited from our parents at the moment of conception can predict our psychological strengths and weaknesses. In Blueprint, behavioral geneticist Robert Plomin describes how the DNA revolution has made DNA personal by giving us the power to predict our psychological strengths and weaknesses from birth. A century of genetic research shows that DNA differences inherited from our parents are the consistent lifelong sources of our psychological individuality—the blueprint that makes us who we are. Plomin reports that genetics explains more about the psychological differences among people than all other factors combined. Nature, not nurture, is what makes us who we are. Plomin explores the implications of these findings, drawing some provocative conclusions—among them that parenting styles don't really affect children's outcomes once genetics is taken into effect. This book offers readers a unique insider's view of the exciting synergies that came from combining genetics and psychology. The paperback edition has a new afterword by the author.

Download or read book Biology and Politics written by Albert Somit and published by Emerald Group Publishing. This book was released on 2011-03-25 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examines the research in the study of biology and politics. This book explores the linkage between evolution, genetics and politics with initial chapters on abandoned baby legislation, a model of action and norms, and the biopolitics of primates. It also features chapters on how to use neuroimaging techniques to study political behaviour.

Download or read book Red Brain Blue Brain written by James Stabenau and published by . This book was released on 2013-04-01 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Politics and religion are two topics that are not easy to discuss at cocktail parties or at the water cooler. They are just too controversial for polite company. Each of us explains our opinions based on life-long values. However, those opinions may not be simple choices but rather, the values fostered by our genes, which program our brains in the perception of life. Why is it that we do not hear each other? Why is it so difficult to explain to each other our values? Why can't we clarify each other's views in simple conversation? In Red Brain, Blue Brain, Dr. James Stabenau claims that differences in our political and religious preferences are skewed to a conservative or liberal view through the functional dominance in either brain hemisphere's perception of the world. Based on two decades of neuro-cognitive research, Dr. Stabenau has determined that we perceive the world differently through a unique set of left and right brain actions. Simply put, the left hemisphere actions embrace beliefs while actions of the right offer questions and these differing brain perceptions determine the unique values that our mind holds and reflects upon.

Download or read book Man Is by Nature a Political Animal written by Peter K. Hatemi and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2011-09-01 with total page 335 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Man Is by Nature a Political Animal, Peter K. Hatemi and Rose McDermott bring together a diverse group of contributors to examine the ways in which evolutionary theory and biological research are increasingly informing analyses of political behavior. Focusing on the theoretical, methodological, and empirical frameworks of a variety of biological approaches to political attitudes and preferences, the authors consider a wide range of topics, including the comparative basis of political behavior, the utility of formal modeling informed by evolutionary theory, the genetic bases of attitudes and behaviors, psychophysiological methods and research, and the wealth of insight generated by recent research on the human brain. Through this approach, the book reveals the biological bases of many previously unexplained variances within the extant models of political behavior. The diversity of methods discussed and variety of issues examined here will make this book of great interest to students and scholars seeking a comprehensive overview of this emerging approach to the study of politics and behavior.

Download or read book Genes Brains and Human Potential written by Ken Richardson and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2017-03-21 with total page 445 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For countless generations people have been told that their potential as humans is limited and fundamentally unequal. The social order, they have been assured, is arranged by powers beyond their control. More recently the appeal has been to biology, specifically the genes, brain sciences, the concept of intelligence, and powerful new technologies. Reinforced through the authority of science and a growing belief in bio-determinism, the ordering of the many for the benefit of a few has become more entrenched. Yet scientists are now waking up to the influence of ideology on research and its interpretation. In Genes, Brains, and Human Potential, Ken Richardson illustrates how the ideology of human intelligence has infiltrated genetics, brain sciences, and psychology, flourishing in the vagueness of basic concepts, a shallow nature-versus-nurture debate, and the overhyped claims of reductionists. He shows how ideology, more than pure science, has come to dominate our institutions, especially education, encouraging fatalism about the development of human intelligence among individuals and societies. Genes, Brains, and Human Potential goes much further: building on work being done in molecular biology, epigenetics, dynamical systems, evolution theory, and complexity theory, it maps a fresh understanding of intelligence and the development of human potential. Concluding with an upbeat message for human possibilities, this synthesis of diverse perspectives will engender new conversations among students, researchers, and other interested readers.

Download or read book Politics and the Life Sciences written by Robert H. Blank and published by Emerald Group Publishing. This book was released on 2014-10-21 with total page 294 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines the development of biopolitics as an academic perspective within political science. It reviews the work of the leading proponents of this perspective and presents a comprehensive view of biopolitics as a framework to structure political inquiry.

Download or read book Political Animals written by Rick Shenkman and published by . This book was released on 2016-01-05 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why, when it comes to politics, do we often seem so gullible and uninformed? InPolitical Animals, the bestselling historian and journalist Rick Shenkman reveals the hidden biases at work in all of us when we enter the voting booth. Drawing on cutting-edge research in neuroscience, evolutionary psychology, and behavioral psychology, he explains that evolution has left us with a brain wired for the Stone Age. While these ancient instincts often work to our advantage in our personal lives, in politics they usually don't. Modern cues set off ancient instinctive responses that prompt us to behave in ways contrary to the good governance of our nation. Shenkman illuminates not only the curious habits of the American voter today but also the ways in which voter biases have shaped American political historyfrom the shark attacks that got Woodrow Wilson elected to the people who still defend Richard Nixon against the Watergate charges. In so doing, Shenkman probes the depths of the human mind to reveal what we must do to fix our floundering democracy.

Download or read book The Genetics of Political Behavior written by Michael Ryan and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this unique amalgam of neuroscience, genetics, and evolutionary psychology, Ryan argues that leftists and rightists are biologically distinct versions of the human species that came into being at different moments in human evolution. The book argues that the varying requirements of survival at different points in history explain why leftists and rightists have anatomically different brains as well as radically distinct behavioral traits. Rightist traits such as callousness and fearfulness emerged early in evolution when violence was pervasive in human life and survival depended on the fearful anticipation of danger. Leftist traits such as pro-sociality and empathy emerged later as environmental adversity made it necessary for humans to live in larger social groups that required new adaptive behavior. The book also explores new evolutionary theories that emphasize the role of the environment in shaping not only human political behavior but also humans' genetic architecture. With implications for the future of politics, the book explores how the niche worlds we build for ourselves through political action can have consequences for the evolution of the species. Proposing a new way of understanding human politics, this is fascinating reading for students and academics in psychology, the social sciences, and humanities, as well as general readers interested in political behavior.

Download or read book Genes Brain Function and Behavior written by Douglas Wahlsten and published by Academic Press. This book was released on 2019-03-01 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Genes, Brain Function, and Behavior offers a concise description of the nervous system that processes sensory input and initiates motor movements. It reviews how behaviors are defined and measured, and how experts decide when a behavior is perturbed and in need of treatment. Behavioral disorders that are clearly related to a defect in a specific gene are reviewed, and the challenges of understanding complex traits such as intelligence, autism and schizophrenia that involve numerous genes and environmental factors are explored. New methods of altering genes offer hope for treating or even preventing difficulties that arise in our genes. This book explains what genes are, what they do in the nervous system, and how this impacts both brain function and behavior. Presents essential background, facts, and terminology about genes, brain function, and behavior Builds clear explanations on this solid foundation while minimizing technical jargon Explores in depth several single-gene and chromosomal neurological disorders Derives lessons from these clear examples and highlights key lessons in boxes Examines the intricacies of complex traits that involve multiple genetic and environmental factors by applying lessons from simpler disorders Explains diagnosis and definition Includes a companion website with Powerpoint slides and images for each chapter for instructors and links to resources

Download or read book The Progressive Gene written by Michael C Anderson and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2017-11-24 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Progressive Gene fuses the idea of a universal, genetically determined personal and social morality with the expression of that morality in the individual's political philosophy. Although this connection extends to and encompasses society as a whole, the book focuses on the far left of the political spectrum, where the Progressives reside.

Download or read book Human Language written by Peter Hagoort and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2019-10-29 with total page 753 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A unique overview of the human language faculty at all levels of organization. Language is not only one of the most complex cognitive functions that we command, it is also the aspect of the mind that makes us uniquely human. Research suggests that the human brain exhibits a language readiness not found in the brains of other species. This volume brings together contributions from a range of fields to examine humans' language capacity from multiple perspectives, analyzing it at genetic, neurobiological, psychological, and linguistic levels. In recent decades, advances in computational modeling, neuroimaging, and genetic sequencing have made possible new approaches to the study of language, and the contributors draw on these developments. The book examines cognitive architectures, investigating the functional organization of the major language skills; learning and development trajectories, summarizing the current understanding of the steps and neurocognitive mechanisms in language processing; evolutionary and other preconditions for communication by means of natural language; computational tools for modeling language; cognitive neuroscientific methods that allow observations of the human brain in action, including fMRI, EEG/MEG, and others; the neural infrastructure of language capacity; the genome's role in building and maintaining the language-ready brain; and insights from studying such language-relevant behaviors in nonhuman animals as birdsong and primate vocalization. Section editors Christian F. Beckmann, Carel ten Cate, Simon E. Fisher, Peter Hagoort, Evan Kidd, Stephen C. Levinson, James M. McQueen, Antje S. Meyer, David Poeppel, Caroline F. Rowland, Constance Scharff, Ivan Toni, Willem Zuidema

Download or read book Our Political Nature written by Avi Tuschman and published by Prometheus Books. This book was released on 2013-09-03 with total page 546 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first book to tell the natural history of political orientations. Our Political Nature is the first book to reveal the hidden roots of our most deeply held moral values. It shows how political orientations across space and time arise from three clusters of measurable personality traits. These clusters entail opposing attitudes toward tribalism, inequality, and differing perceptions of human nature. Together, these traits are by far the most powerful cause of left-right voting, even leading people to regularly vote against their economic interests. As this book explains, our political personalities also influence our likely choice of a mate, and shape society's larger reproductive patterns. Most importantly of all, it tells the evolutionary stories of these crucial personality traits, which stem from epic biological conflicts. Based on dozens of exciting new insights from primatology, genetics, neuroscience, and anthropology, this groundbreaking work brings core concepts to life through current news stories and personalities. For instance, readers will meet Glenn Beck and Hugo Chavez and come to understand the underlying evolutionary forces they represent. By blending serious research with relevant contemporary examples, Our Political Nature casts important light onto the ideological clashes that so dangerously divide and imperil our world today.