The Political Brain

The Political Brain: The Role of Emotion in Deciding the Fate of the Nation by Drew Westen, 475 pages

Drew Westen is a psychologist who has studied how emotions affect our political decisions. The main point of the book is that political scientists have thought people make decisions rationally when emotions have a much larger effect than rational. 

Westen has studied this himself and cites other evidence as well. He analyzes the period of 1984 -2008. Using presidential debates and rhetoric used by Democrats and Republicans he says that Republicans used appeals to emotion to their advantage. Meanwhile, Democrats made their appeals based on facts and rational arguments. This led to Democrats losing presidential elections, as well as congressional and senate seats.

Democrats let Republicans establish positions using rhetoric with emotional appeals without challenging them. Westen provides multiple examples of how Democrats could have countered the arguments based on their values. 

The way the book is written, it would mostly appeal to Democrats but anyone interested in how people make political decisions might be interested. While the book could have been shorter, I would recommend it to those interested in the topic.