He was too busy congratulating himself on the quality of construction in his building. Not the fact that it has no sprinklers.
A neuroscientist explains what could be wrong with Trump supporters’ brains
Bobby Azarian, Raw Story07 Apr 2018 at 08:52 ET
9-11 minutes
There’s no doubt that Donald Trump has said many things that would have been political suicide for any other Republican. And almost every time he made one of these shocking statements, political analysts on both the left and the right predicted that he’d lose supporters because of it. But as we have clearly seen over the past year, they were dead wrong every time. Trump appears to be almost totally bulletproof.
The only thing that might be more perplexing than the psychology of Donald Trump is the psychology of his supporters. In their eyes, The Donald can do no wrong. Even Trump himself seems to be astonished by this phenomenon. “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters, OK? It’s, like, incredible.”
Senator John McCain, who has been a regular target for Trump, has a simple explanation for his unwavering support. “What he did was he fired up the crazies.”
While the former Republican presidential nominee may be on to something, he doesn’t exactly provide a very satisfying scientific explanation. So how exactly are Trump loyalists psychologically or neurologically different from everyone else? What is going on in their brains that makes them so blindly devoted?
The Dunning-Kruger Effect:
Some believe that many of those who support Donald Trump do so because of ignorance — basically they are under-informed or misinformed about the issues at hand. When Trump tells them that crime is skyrocketing in the United States, or that the economy is the worst it’s ever been, they simply take his word for it.
The seemingly obvious solution would be to try to reach those people through political ads, expert opinions, and logical arguments that educate with facts. Except none of those things seem to be swaying any Trump supporters from his side, despite great efforts to deliver this information to them directly.
The Dunning-Kruger effect explains that the problem isn’t just that they are misinformed; it’s that they are completely unaware that they are misinformed. This creates a double burden.
Studies have shown that people who lack expertise in some area of knowledge often have a cognitive bias that prevents them from realizing that they lack expertise. As psychologist David Dunning puts it in an op-ed for Politico, “The knowledge and intelligence that are required to be good at a task are often the same qualities needed to recognize that one is not good at that task — and if one lacks such knowledge and intelligence, one remains ignorant that one is not good at the task. This includes political judgment.” Essentially, they’re not smart enough to realize they’re dumb.
And if one is under the illusion that they have sufficient or even superior knowledge, then they have no reason to defer to anyone else’s judgment. This helps explain why even nonpartisan experts — like military generals and Independent former Mayor of New York/billionaire CEO Michael Bloomberg — as well as some respected Republican politicians, don’t seem to be able to say anything that can change the minds of loyal Trump followers.
Out of immense frustration, some of us may feel the urge to shake a Trump supporter and say, “Hey! Don’t you realize that he’s an idiot?!” No. They don’t. That may be hard to fathom, but that’s the nature of the Dunning-Kruger effect — one’s ignorance is completely invisible to them.
Hypersensitivity to Threat
Science has unequivocally shown that the conservative brain has an exaggerated fear response when faced with stimuli that may be perceived as threatening. A classic study in the journal Science found that conservatives have a stronger physiological reaction to startling noises and graphic images compared to liberals. A brain-imaging study published in Current Biology revealed that those who lean right politically tend to have a larger amygdala — a structure that is electrically active during states of fear and anxiety. And a 2014 fMRI study found that it is possible to predict whether someone is a liberal or conservative simply by looking at their brain activity while they view threatening or disgusting images, such as mutilated bodies. Specifically, the brains of self-identified conservatives generated more activity overall in response to the disturbing images.
So how does this help explain the unbridled loyalty of Trump supporters? These brain responses are automatic, and not influenced by logic or reason. As long as Trump continues his fear mongering by constantly portraying Muslims and Mexican immigrants as imminent dangers, many conservative brains will involuntarily light up like light bulbs being controlled by a switch. Fear keeps his followers energized and focused on safety. And when you think you’ve found your protector, you become less concerned with remarks that would normally be seen as highly offensive.
Terror Management Theory
A well-supported theory from social psychology, called Terror Management Theory, explains why Trump’s fear mongering is doubly effective.
The theory is based on the fact that humans have a unique awareness of their own mortality. The inevitably of one’s death creates existential terror and anxiety that is always residing below the surface. In order to manage this terror, humans adopt cultural worldviews — like religions, political ideologies, and national identities — that act as a buffer by instilling life with meaning and value.
Terror Management Theory predicts that when people are reminded of their own mortality, which happens with fear mongering, they will more strongly defend those who share their worldviews and national or ethnic identity, and act out more aggressively towards those who do not. Hundreds of studies have confirmed this hypothesis, and some have specifically shown that triggering thoughts of death tends to shift people towards the right.
Not only do death reminders increase nationalism, they influence actual voting habits in favor of more conservative presidential candidates. And more disturbingly, in a study with American students, scientists found that making mortality salient increased support for extreme military interventions by American forces that could kill thousands of civilians overseas. Interestingly, the effect was present only in conservatives, which can likely be attributed to their heightened fear response.
By constantly emphasizing existential threat, Trump creates a psychological condition that makes the brain respond positively rather than negatively to bigoted statements and divisive rhetoric. Liberals and Independents who have been puzzled over why Trump hasn’t lost supporters after such highly offensive comments need look no further than Terror Management Theory.
High Attentional Engagement
According to a recent study that monitored brain activity while participants watched 40 minutes of political ads and debate clips from the presidential candidates, Donald Trump is unique in his ability to keep the brain engaged. While Hillary Clinton could only hold attention for so long, Trump kept both attention and emotional arousal high throughout the viewing session. This pattern of activity was seen even when Trump made remarks that individuals didn’t necessarily agree with. His showmanship and simple messages clearly resonate at a visceral level.
Essentially, the loyalty of Trump supporters may in part be explained by America’s addiction with entertainment and reality TV. To some, it doesn’t matter what Trump actually says because he’s so amusing to watch. With Donald, you are always left wondering what outrageous thing he is going to say or do next. He keeps us on the edge of our seat, and for that reason, some Trump supporters will forgive anything he says. They are happy as long as they are kept entertained.
Of course these explanations do not apply to all Trump supporters. In fact, some are likely intelligent people who know better, but are supporting Trump to be rebellious or to introduce chaos into the system. They may have such distaste for the establishment and Hillary Clinton that their vote for Trump was a symbolic middle finger directed at Washington.
So what can we do to potentially change the minds of Trump loyalists before voting in 2020? As a cognitive neuroscientist, it grieves me to say that there may be nothing we can do. The overwhelming majority of these people may be beyond reach, at least in the short term. The best we can do is to motivate everyone else to get out to the booths and check the box that doesn’t belong to a narcissistic nationalist who has the potential to damage the nation beyond repair.
Bobby Azarian is a neuroscientist affiliated with George Mason University and a science writer. His research has been published in journals such as Cognition & Emotion and Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, and he has written for The New York Times, Scientific American, Psychology Today, Slate, The Daily Beast, and The Huffington Post. He also runs the website Science Is Sexy. Follow him @BobbyAzarian.
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The NY Times is reporting that Trump wanted to fire Mueller in December, but was talked out of it for the second time by advisors. CNN is reporting that Trump is now considering dismissing Rosenstein, another way to clamp down on the Special Counsel, though he has grumbling about doing that for a while. Republican leadership is still resisting bringing legislation to protect the Special Counsel to a vote.
Do you mind me asking, why have you posted this article?
You haven’t added any of your own opinions or commentary.
Some ask Why, I ask Why not?
You don’t think it’s relevant in the US politics thread to post an interesting article about US politics, and Voter behavior?
And why does it need a comment, … I think the article speaks for itself, no?
But, if you think I need to explain myself…
The right wingers here play the exact same fear cards, and play on it through biased press.
I have half a psych degree, and a 30 year plus interest in Human behavior, and it’s manipulation…
I found it interesting,. …
It’s about US politics and this is the thread for such things,
Ummm, … 
I don’t mean to be sarcastic, … really, … but I am surprised at the question, . as I would have thought it fairly obvious.
And I’d be pretty interested to hear why you asked it?
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Axios with a story that Paul Ryan, Speaker of the House, will not seek re-election. That adds a very high profile name to the Republicans heading for the exits. Is it the polling, or just Trump chaos fatigue? He got his big tax cuts, I could understand not wanting to stick around for the deficits the Congressional Budget Office was forecasting on the back of them.
An anonymous Republican Congressman ranted to Erick Erickson about the President shortly after being on television defending him
“I say a lot of ■■■■ on TV defending him, even over this. But honestly, I wish the motherf***** would just go away. We’re going to lose the House, lose the Senate, and lose a bunch of states because of him. All his supporters will blame us for what we have or have not done, but he hasn’t led. He wakes up in the morning, shts all over Twitter, shts all over us, shts all over his staff, then hits golf balls. F** him. Of course, I can’t say that in public or I’d get run out of town.”
“It’s like Forrest Gump won the presidency, but an evil, really fcking stupid Forrest Gump. He can’t help himself. He’s just a f**king idiot who thinks he’s winning when people are btching about him. He really does see the world as ratings and attention.”
Not exactly the bravest move, saying one thing to the cameras and venting in private, but illuminating none-the-less.
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Ryan got his dream of tax cuts through, and never wanted the speakership or to deal with Trump. So he’s off.
There is a lot to be played out in the so-called US/ China trade war. The Section 301 action on IP requires that US can only take trade measures following recourse to WTO dispute settlement processes. The US has begun that process by requesting WTO dispute settlement consultations. It is up to the US to decide when and if it wishes to go through to WTO legal rulings. It can reach a bilateral settlement at any stage of the processes and the formal adoption of rulings can be indefinitely postponed.
In the interim, China has signalled it is willing to implement reforms and only registered low key concerns under the other business item on the agenda of a recent WTO meeting. Looks like the adults are in charge and that they have explained to Trump the limits of their own law. At least this time, they seem to have persuaded him not to cast it as a security issue ( which allows more scope for unilateral action).
Reuters has reported lobbying of the US Treasury Secretary by tech trade interests warning against tariffs , rather favouring generation of an international coalition to resolve China problems.
BAD!
BuT hE sAiD No CoLlUsIon!
He may be raging but he knows that firing Comey made things much worse for him.
There’s only 2 things that have had a significant impact to Trump’s approval rating, healthcare and Comey. Other than that his approval has basically flatlined, despite all the noise around him. If he fires Mueller, it will have a major impact.
The Blue Wave is a comin …
For a long time it’s annoyed me when people post articles without bothering to post why or add their own opinion or content. A few posters make a habit of it. I think it’s lazy and even when it’s not obvious trolling, it contributes to division. I guess I asked why, because all these articles seem to do is entrench people’s positions. But then I thought, you’ve probably given up trying to sway opinion. I rephrased my previous post a couple of times and thought the simplest question might draw out an interesting response.
I found the article interesting.
As I read the article I thought to myself that large tracts of it are painting Trump supporters as “not smart enough to realise they are dumb”, idiots, ignorant, “hypersensitive” and scared with low attention spans. It didn’t use the word deplorable, which I guess is something. Any Trump supporter reading that would dismiss it as trolling or ‘fake news’
Certainly we should know from experience now that this kind of article won’t sway Trump supporters.
Is the message that we shouldn’t even try?
Is it that to defeat Trump at the next set of Primaries, the Republican party will need to find someone just like Trump?
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No, they just need to convince Rupert and others controlling the media they can make more money with their Trump replacement.
This is why giving teachers guns is an idiotic idea:
Yep, he had the gun, left it behind in a public area, and a drunk homeless guy shot into the building to see if it was loaded…
Of course, he came back for the gun shortly after that, and wrestled it away from the guy. I mean, what on earth could have gone wrong with that???
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I don’t think it’s quite that simple any more. Trump’s base has an inertia if its own now. Murdoch and Fox OPPOSED trump during the republican primaries remember, they wanted jeb bush or Rubio or someone, they only switched behind trump when it was clear he was going to win and they decided to hold their nose and back him against the dems.
Murdoch’s success has been in creating a block of voters who see the world in a certain way. Those voters applied that worldview to the election choices available to them in 2016, and were a major contributor to giving trump the win.
Trumps voter base are not mindless puppets. They make their own decisions based on the info available to them and their understanding of the broader political environment. It had been useful, up to now, for Murdoch to create a demographic of people who though immigrants, Moslems, and feminists were the devil, who were profoundly wrong about scientific, economic, and geographical facts, and who admired ‘decisiveness’ and ‘strength’ over nuance, diplomacy, and expertise. These people could be relied on to always vote republican, which in practise meant that Murdoch got the low-corporate-tax low-regulation government he wanted.
However, when a candidate who ACTUALLY BELIEVED this stuff showed up, these voters naturally flocked to him, even when Murdoch and fox favoured another candidate.
Trump is a natural consequence of murdochs decades of dedicated work to shape the political narrative and manage the worldview of an entire demographic of people. But he’s an UNINTENDED consequence. Murdoch and Fox and that whole machinery of lunatic right wing nutjobbery have succeeded too well. They know that if they turn on trump, the audience they created, which formed trumps base, would pick him over them.
Which is kind of hilarious, from a karma point if view, but disastrous from the point if view of anyone who wants sane, solid govt in the USA.
Murdoch and fox know trump is toast (whether through impeachment or election), but they’ll support him to the last, and when he’s gone they’ll claim he was betrayed by the deep state and Soros and so on, and that TRUE AMERICANS need to fight back by supporting the next guy who they will say will take up trumps crusade, but who they quietly hope will be more controllable.
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One for every occasion.
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They warned Russia in advance and bombed evacuated sites. Great work everyone.
Alex Jones has had a melt down and is done with Trump. What a shame.