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Wednesday 12 September 2012

The prospect of an unrelenting campaign of negativity — and the very notion of the message grid — is not an accident of American politics. It capitalizes on a counterintuitive fact about the human brain, one that psychologists and neuroscientists understand as well as the best political strategist: Positive and negative feelings are not just opposites. The neural circuitry that produces feelings such as enthusiasm and disgust is almost entirely distinct. Nothing in our brains prevents us from associating diametrically opposite feelings with the same person — a point driven home by polls showing that most voters find Obama more likable than Romney but feel more favorably about Romney’s capacity to handle the economy. The implications for our politics are profound. The ads or stories that drive up one candidate’s positives may not be the same ads or stories that drive up the opposing candidate’s negatives. And you don’t win an election with half a brain. Drew Westen

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