Why do some people become radicalized?
Who is most susceptible to ideological thinking?
Can we unchain our minds from toxic dogmas?
'Massively important...Zmigrod is a joyful and compelling writer' Tom Calver, The Sunday Times
‘If I had to pick one, Zmigrod’s would be my book to watch out for in 2025’ Simon Ings, New Scientist
‘Mind-expanding, a joy, her findings really are extraordinary’ Prospect
‘Filled with insightful findings, this book shows that ideological extremism and polarization are not just problems to fret about but puzzles that can be studied and understood’
Steven Pinker
The human brain faces a set of dilemmas every day: how to achieve coherence from fragmented sensory inputs and how to attain connection with other people in an increasingly atomized and isolating world. Ideologies offer a shortcut, providing easy answers, scripts to follow, and a sense of shared identity. Whether our ideologies are far-right, far-left, nationalist, religious, or even progressive, they simplify our understanding and give us organizing frameworks through which to act and interact with others. But ideologies come at a cost: demanding conformity and suppressing individuality through rigid rules, repetitive rituals, and intolerance. Once ideologies grip our minds, they fundamentally transform us, making us less sensitive and adaptable.
Drawing on her groundbreaking research, Dr Leor Zmigrod uncovers the hidden mechanisms driving our beliefs and behaviours. She uses the powerful tools of neuroscience to show that our political beliefs are not transient thoughts in our minds, divorced from our bodies – ideologies actually change our neural architecture, our cells. For instance, she demonstrates how a simple card sorting game can reveal your entire approach to life. Cognitive rigidity in such tasks – struggling to adapt to new rules – mirrors the rigidity with which you cling to social and political ideologies. While some individuals are more susceptible to dogmatic thinking than others, all of us can strive to be more flexible.
The Ideological Brain is essential reading in today’s polarized and polarizing world. To foster a more informed, resilient and freer society, we need to zoom into the processes happening inside each of us and learn to spot rigid thinking in ourselves and others. We need to learn to avoid black-and-white thinking and embrace ambiguity. We need to recognize our ability to resist irrational rules and authority. Regardless of your political stance, this book will challenge you to reassess your convictions – and what they are doing to your brain.
Dr Leor Zmigrod is a prize-winning scientist and pioneer in the field of 'political neuroscience'. She studied at Cambridge University as a Gates Scholar before winning a Junior Research Fellowship at Churchill College, Cambridge. Zmigrod has published over 30 peer-reviewed papers and has held visiting fellowships at Stanford, Harvard and both the Berlin and Paris Institutes for Advanced Study. She was listed on Forbes 30 Under 30 in Science and has won numerous prizes, including the Women of the Future Science Award. She has spoken at the Hay Festival and TEDx and her research has been featured widely in the media, including in The New York Times, Guardian, Financial Times and New Scientist. Zmigrod advises policymakers at the United Nations, the UK and US governments, and other international organizations. This is her first book.
