In search of the moral-psychological and neuroevolutionary basis of political partisanship
ABSTRACT In many countries, a radical political divide brings several socially relevant decisions to a standstill. Could cognitive, affective and social (CAS) neuroscience help better understand these questions? The present article reviews the moral-psychological and neuroevolutionary basis of the political partisanship divide. A non-systematic literature review and a conceptual analysis were conducted. Three main points are identified and discussed: 1) Political partisan behavior rests upon deep moral emotions. It is automatically processed and impervious to contradiction. The moral motifs characterizing political partisanship are epigenetically set across different cultures; 2) Political partisanship is linked to personality traits, whose neural foundations are associated with moral feelings and judgement; 3) Self-deception is a major characteristic of political partisanship that probably evolved as an evolutionary adaptive strategy to deal with the intragroup-extragroup dynamics of human evolution. CAS neuroscience evidence may not resolve the political divide, but can contribute to a better understanding of its biological foundations.
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Digital revista |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Academia Brasileira de Neurologia, Departamento de Neurologia Cognitiva e Envelhecimento
2017
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| Online Access: | http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1980-57642017000100015 |
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