Emory University has announced the establishment of a new Center for Neuropolicy. The focus of the entity will be on the intersection of brain science, individual decision making, and politics.
A new Center for Neuropolicy at Emory University will focus on how the biology of the brain influences decision-making in politics, policy and business. As a partnership among researchers in the Emory School of Medicine, Emory College and the Goizueta Business School, the center will create an ideal environment to accelerate discovery in this emerging field…
The Center is the vision of Gregory S. Berns, MD, PhD, professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Emory University School of Medicine. Berns specializes in the use of brain imaging technologies to understand human motivation and decision-making, with a special interest in neuroeconomics and social neuroscience. He will lead the Center as the Emory Distinguished Chair of Neuroeconomics.
According to Berns, “Collective decision-making is political, but politics are biological.” While neuromarketing issues aren’t the focus of the Center for Neuropolicy, I have to believe that published research generated by the unit will yield valuable insights into both political marketing and neuromarketing in general. Full press release is here.
We’ll need a sample of P.J. O’Rourke’s brain tissue.
I consider this to be a major improvement in the field of cognitive science. The phrase “politics are biological” indicates a possible paradigm shift
http://www.cell.com/current-biology/abstract/S0960-9822%2811%2900289-2
As guest editor of a BBC Radio newsmagazine, actor & political activist Colin Firth commissioned a brain-science study, asking the heartfelt question voiced at all points on the political spectrum: “What is *wrong* with those people, that they disagree with me?”