A new study by the Brain and Creativity Institute at the University of Southern California, carried out with 40 people with strong political convictions, liberal – in the American sense – or progressive according to European terminology, has tried to challenge their beliefs with arguments rational. They have also challenged their non-political views to see the differences. The research was carried out using MRIs to detect the strength of their convictions before and after presenting them with data against their beliefs and subsequently the brain regions associated with resistance to change their mind were analyzed.
What the researchers found is that it is easier to change your mind in non-political areas than in political ideas , which rarely change no matter how strong arguments are made. They have also seen that there are two structures whose activation is associated with the greatest resistance to change: the amygdala and the insular cortex . When these regions are activated, the subject will not change his opinions . The insular cortex receives projections from the internal state of the body and generates feelings and emotions. The amygdala, for its part, detects threatening stimuli, therefore they are two areas related to emotions, and their activation increases mistrust. It could therefore be interpreted that an attack on our beliefs activates the same brain regions as threats to our physical integrity . Furthermore, it seems to follow that changing beliefs is not only a cognitive or rational process but rather an emotional process.
Another brain structure that is activated when our ideas are called into question is the default neural network (RND) , which was already known from a previous study that is also activated when people with religious beliefs question them, which comes to place on the same plane religious beliefs and political convictions . RNDs are activated when we focus on very deep beliefs that we consider non-negotiable, that we associate with our most intimate identity and the ideal of our own self.
At the frontal level there are also two structures that have to do with the ability to change beliefs. One is the tandem orbitofrontal cortex and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, whose activation is associated with cognitive flexibility and the possibility of change . The other structure is the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, whose activation indicates just the opposite, that is, resistance to change.
The results of the study, led by Jonas Kaplan, Professor of Psychology at the Brain and Creativity Institute, reveal that political and religious beliefs are a very important part of who we are and that they are very relevant to the social circle to which we belong. . According to Kaplan, to consider an alternative option of our beliefs we would have to consider an alternative version of ourselves. Changing beliefs would mean changing identity and having to break with our group, with the tribe, which is something for which a high price is paid.
