The Political Brain is a groundbreaking investigation into the role of emotion in determining the political life of the nation. For two decades Dre...
read full description
reviews
Dec 08, 2008
John
rated it: 
The book started off in superb fashion-tossing out psychological gems like candy to the reader, but the grotesque bias that clouds an otherwise intelligent person makes this a difficult read and an awful philosophy.
Westen starts off by mentioning a study in which participants showed how people rationalize blatant contradictions by their favorite political candidates. When the participants found a way to keep their candidates in good standing, the "happy circuits" in their More...
Westen starts off by mentioning a study in which participants showed how people rationalize blatant contradictions by their favorite political candidates. When the participants found a way to keep their candidates in good standing, the "happy circuits" in their More...
0 comments
like
(4 people liked it)
Jan 24, 2012
Caitlin
rated it: 
This book articulated something I (and I suspect many people) knew intuitively but could not explain and certainly did not understand scientifically. Westen, a psychologist and researcher in cognitive neuroscience, first demonstrates that voters do not approach politics with a dispassionate mind, choosing rationally between detailed policy plans, but rather they understand politics with a highly emotional mind. From here, Westen describes how the Democrats have failed to successfully communic
More...
Jan 08, 2012
Keith
rated it: 
Reading this book in the autumn of 2011, I could not stop kicking myself for not having read the book earlier. For years I have felt that the Democrats had the higher moral ground, but the Republicans simply tell a better story. I always wondered why it is that the conservative positions (which pander to greed and hate) were so visceral and easy to understand, while the progressives argue the superior position, but fail to get the message across to the public.
This book dissects exact More...
This book dissects exact More...
Sep 10, 2011
Jan
rated it:
For decades it has frustrated me that, while most of the country shares Democratic beliefs over Republican ones, Democrats keep losing elections. Why?
Because the very values Democrats hold dear...taking the higher road, trying to stay "above the fray", concentrating on issues over personalities...fail to speak to the emotional brain that makes most voters' electoral decisions. Whether it's the language they use while failing to understand its connotations, over-handling by More...
Because the very values Democrats hold dear...taking the higher road, trying to stay "above the fray", concentrating on issues over personalities...fail to speak to the emotional brain that makes most voters' electoral decisions. Whether it's the language they use while failing to understand its connotations, over-handling by More...
Dec 27, 2009
I read to page 199, or about halfway through the book. By this time, it was getting pretty repetitious--different gestures but the same basic speech.
Mislead, perhaps, by the subtitle, I expected more from The Political Brain: The Role of Emotion in Deciding the Fate of the Nation. For the most part, the book simply documents the fact that, in matters of public policy, people "think" with their emotions rather than their intellect. I was hoping that the author, a psychologis More...
Mislead, perhaps, by the subtitle, I expected more from The Political Brain: The Role of Emotion in Deciding the Fate of the Nation. For the most part, the book simply documents the fact that, in matters of public policy, people "think" with their emotions rather than their intellect. I was hoping that the author, a psychologis More...
Oct 21, 2009
Steven
rated it:
The dust jacket has one line that is at the center of this book: "The idea of the mind as a cool calculator that makes decisions by weighing the evidence bears no relation to how the brain actually works." Drew Westen uses this thought as a takeoff point in his book, "The Political Brain." He asserts that (page xv) "The political brain is an emotional brain."
One point that he hammers throughout the book is that Republicans do a better job of connecting More...
One point that he hammers throughout the book is that Republicans do a better job of connecting More...
May 22, 2009
Gordon
rated it:
In the 2004 Presidential election, George Bush beat John Kerry by “Swift Boating” him. Karl Rove, Bush’s campaign strategist, recruited a group of military veterans of the Republican far-right persuasion, who formed a group called “Swift Boat Veterans for Truth” and attacked Kerry for allegedly lying about his military record commanding a patrol boat in Vietnam and for collecting a Purple Heart Medal for a trivial wound. The star witness in the Swift Boat TV ads was a man who claimed he had ac
More...
0 comments
like
(4 people liked it)
Nov 18, 2011
Mike
rated it: 
Westen uses neuro-psychology to examine why voters are driven by emotional appeals. The book is very similar to Lakoff's "The Political Mind", although the research is better and the writing is worse. The biggest problem, however, is that the book takes a pretty arrogant tone at times. Westen writes from a position of "those people over there are irrational, which is why they make bad decisions." He tries to draw the audience into the conspiracy of the informed (by which
More...
Mar 01, 2009
Bruce
rated it:
I echo Robert Kuttner's and Bill Clinton's comments : This is the most illuminating book about American politics I've ever read. The author is a clinical and theoretical psychologist who also has an incredible intuitive understanding of politics and the political mind. He argues that Democratic political strategists, like most economists, political scientists, and others, have been captive to a view of the mind that drastically underestimates the role of emotion, as opposed to rational calcu
More...
0 comments
like
(2 people liked it)
Nov 30, 2011
Cameron
rated it:
This book can be divided into two parts. The neuroscience part and the scathing assessment of conservative vis-a-vis liberal political tactics. From a scientific perspective, the author develops a well supported argument that the electorate votes their emotions, not their rational minds. He cites numerous studies and compelling examples to make this case. It will change the way you think about your politics.
If you can't handle liberal-biased books, then you might find the majority o More...
If you can't handle liberal-biased books, then you might find the majority o More...
May 19, 2010
Ray
rated it:
The unfortunate thing about Westen's book is that he probably is correct in describing how our brains respond to emotional political adds rather than on the basic facts behind them. Weston provides examples of well planned political speeches from the past, and effective political ads from previous elections (mostly all Republican ads), and explains why they grabbed the listeners on an emotional level. A life-long Democrat, Weston also bemoans the lack of effective responses or campaigns of the
More...
Mar 11, 2009
Rodhilton
rated it:
Drew Westen's book, "The Political Brain," is illuminating and engaging. The author is an expert in the human mind, and has devoted his book to relating his understanding of the brain to the world of politics.
Westen talks about what people really look at when they evaluate politicians and candidates. He backs up his assertions with many studies and experiments, clearly laying out exactly how the human mind works when it attempts to "decide" who to vote for.
More...
Westen talks about what people really look at when they evaluate politicians and candidates. He backs up his assertions with many studies and experiments, clearly laying out exactly how the human mind works when it attempts to "decide" who to vote for.
More...
Jun 15, 2010
Rob
rated it:
I seem to be reading a lot of nonfiction recently whose focus is a lot narrower than the ad copy suggests. The Political Brain is not the most egregious example of this, but Westen sets out to write a book about the impact of the psyche on politics and ends up writing about its impact on American elections. (The fact that these two things are seen as synonymous suggests that hegemony is alive and well.)
Westen provides a lot of interesting information about both how people perceive More...
Westen provides a lot of interesting information about both how people perceive More...
Mar 13, 2010
Heather
rated it:
Ever wonder why otherwise intelligent people even consider supporting Sarah Palin? Why the "left" doesn't really exist anymore? Why Obama is considered "liberal?" Why the Right is RIGHT when they accuse progressives of flip-flopping and having no values?
Progressives haven't been paying attention to what it means to be human. That is, we have been stuck in the Enlightenment's view of the mind. The mind, the brain is not a dispassionate vehicle seeking facts and rea More...
Progressives haven't been paying attention to what it means to be human. That is, we have been stuck in the Enlightenment's view of the mind. The mind, the brain is not a dispassionate vehicle seeking facts and rea More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Jul 17, 2010
Will
rated it:
One of the best books I've read at critiquing the failures of the Democratic Party to succeed in the United States. It also is good at explaining some of the ways in which the formation of the brain influences how people internalise political messages.
Where I think the book falls down is:
(i) some logical gaps - mostly made up, but some elements (e.g. structure of the brain) doesn't fit in as well to the rest of the book as it would lead you to believe)
(ii) caters more to More...
Where I think the book falls down is:
(i) some logical gaps - mostly made up, but some elements (e.g. structure of the brain) doesn't fit in as well to the rest of the book as it would lead you to believe)
(ii) caters more to More...
Nov 13, 2008
Nick
rated it:
Drew Westen is a psychologist and a passionate Democrat. The Political Brain takes apart every major political contest since Jimmy Carter lost to Ronald Reagan and explains why, if only they had listened to Drew, and punched back hard at Republican smear tactics, Democrats would have won. Westen's analysis is pretty shrewd, and his second-guessing of lackluster campaigns like Kerry's is spot on, but I would have found his ideas more persuasive if he had been less partisan. In his book, all Re
More...
Jul 12, 2008
Pat
rated it:
This book is absolutely fantastic. It combines the stuff that I work on in my research (how emotion affects decision making) with an analysis of failed Democratic political campaigns of the past. Aside from Clinton's successful campaigns, this guy Drew Westen really seems to nail what went wrong with all the presidential campaigns against Republicans since LBJ. Namely, that Republican campaigners know what voters respond to, and Democratic strategists frequently don't, and that is: how to mold p
More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
May 29, 2009
mark
rated it:
This book, for all its insights, is mistitled. A more appropriate title might be: How Republicans dominate the undecided middle in America. Which is ironic, because the author understands "framing," or-- how to manipulate what a person sees. Westen's book is all about the unseen, another irony. The book is too long, another irony. The author, a Ph.D. in clinical psychology falls short in still another element of persuasion--he fails to expound on just WHY Republicans are so ruthless a
More...
Jun 30, 2010
Ericka
rated it:
I'm still in the middle of this, and though I like it, I'm a bit concerned about some of the language of the book. However, these issues aside (and lets see if they are answered by the end of the book), I would recommend this to everyone running a democratic campaign, as I think there are some excellent lessons to learn from this book.
Current questions:
1. what's with the uber masculinist language? is this the brain scientist speaking or the southern man?
2. has he just ta More...
Current questions:
1. what's with the uber masculinist language? is this the brain scientist speaking or the southern man?
2. has he just ta More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
May 23, 2009
Mark
rated it:
I thought this book was great. It identifies how Republicans have manipulated the American public successfully enough to create the Reagan- George W era, and how Democrats have been brain dead, hoping that reason will prevail over an electorate that is voting on the basis of emotion. If Democrats get their mind around this, it will be tough to be a Republican and be taken seriously, which ultimately should help rebalance and reform the Republicans into something more than ideologues.
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Nov 14, 2009
Paul
rated it:
Drew Westen, an Emory University pshycologists, uses brain mapping and other neurological measures to demonstrate conclusively that politics is all about emotion. He then shows just as conclusively how Democratic candidates and strategists have missed this point for decades--at great cost to their own fortunes and the nation's. Eminently readable, this book was required reading among Democratic candidates and strategists in 2008. The result speaks for itself.
0 comments
like
(2 people liked it)
Feb 25, 2011
Ryan
rated it:
To understand politics is to understand how thy subconscious interprets politics. Drew Westen writes on how emotions in politics collide, and who ultimately wins as a result. The Political Brain has become the Bible of all political consultants who seek to understand how move an electorate. I could read Westen's book hundreds of times and learn something new every time.
Apr 23, 2008
Justin
rated it:
Although the author is long-winded and less clever than he thinks he is, he advances a timely and compelling argument that intelligent politicians, and democrats in particular, need to change up their political game. In short, they need to avoid coming across in interviews and debates as a cerebral policy wonk (Dukakis, Gore, and Kerry) and emotionally connect with the average American (Reagan, W. Bush, and hopefully Obama). This isn't an earth-shattering revelation, but the author takes the a
More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Feb 20, 2009
Thomas
rated it:
This is a blueprint for how Democrats should improve how they communicate. It's a great book and totally worth reading. I mean, it has changed my life. But in a way, its lesson is pretty simple. Democrats: go find a spine. Stand up when you're accused of being baby killers and socialists. People like that.
Mar 17, 2010
Wayne
rated it:
The author is a professor of psychology and an avowed Democratic support. He explains the role emotion plays in making voting decisions which, in his opinion, is much more significant than logic. He criticizes the Democratic Party for ignoring the emotional side of the brain. Interesting and thought provoking.
Aug 15, 2011
Daniel
rated it:
I read parts of this book as part of a discussion group. The discussion group presented parts of the book as mini-posts. I didn't get to finish the book, but I loved the main point--that politicians should fashion stories that draw on primevil needs and emotions.
Jul 22, 2011
Susan
rated it:
A frustrating book to read because it chronicles past failures of Democratic candidates and offers scenerios that could have been followed for victory. Written before the election of President Obama, it would have been interesting to read this author's take on his campaign.
Democratic candidates: please read this book!!
Democratic candidates: please read this book!!
Aug 03, 2011
Todd
rated it:
Didn't like this quite as much as Lakoff's Political Mind, but it's a more accessible read. Westen focuses on emotion showing how it is the primary influence in nearly every decision we make.
Apr 01, 2011
HKd
rated it:
A interesting look into how political choices are influenced. Takes a lot of pages to make a few good points but that's not uncommon. I really likedthe rpositioning of The Little Trian That Could.
