Biological and Psychological Differences Driving Political Ideology, Attitudes, and Actions

Featured Speaker: Professor Skyler Cranmer

Emerging research has begun exploring the neurological roots of politics with a large-sample, whole-brain analysis of functional connectivity (FC) across common fMRI tasks. Our analyses suggest that liberals and conservatives have noticeable and discriminative differences in FC that can be identified with high accuracy using contemporary artificial-intelligence methods. FC signatures from retrieval, empathy, and monetary-reward tasks are important and powerful predictors of conservatism. Activations of the amygdala, inferior frontal gyrus, and hippocampus are most strongly associated with political affiliation. This study suggests that the biological and neurological roots of political behavior run much deeper than previously thought.

Presenter Biography

Skyler Cranmer is the Carter Phillips and Sue Henry Professor of Political Science at the Ohio State University. His research focuses on the modeling of complex interactive phenomena, particularly networks. His areas of application are wide-ranging, from international conflict to neuroscience.

Coordinator: Michele Bolton