Stone Age Brain

Rick Shenkman is the author of "Political Animals:  How Our Stone Age Brain Gets in the Way of Smart Politics" (Basic Books, 2016). You can sign up for Rick's blog! Just submit your email address below and you'll receive an email every time he blogs. It's free. Your email will never be sold or transferred.

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  May 5, 2016 11:36 am
  

  Why the Media Underestimated Trump's Appeal

  by Rick Shenkman

  They made the mistake they always make. 
  

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  Apr 26, 2016 2:11 pm
  

  How Our Stone-Age Brain Undermines Smart Politics: An Interview with Rick Shenkman

  by Rick Shenkman

  Click here for the interview.
  

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  Apr 17, 2016 4:05 pm
  

  Bill Moyers Interview with Rick Shenkman

  by Rick Shenkman

  In Bill Moyers's first published podcast he talks with Rick Shenkman about the role anger is playing in the election.
  

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  Apr 17, 2016 3:55 pm
  

  C-SPAN Interview: Book Discussion on Political Animals

  by Rick Shenkman

  Author Rick Shenkman talked about his book, Political Animals: How Our Stone-Age Brain Gets in the Way of Smart Politics, about how voters' instincts are a factor in the 2016 presidential campaign.
  

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  Apr 8, 2016 4:08 pm
  

  Why Are Trump Voters Not Bothered by His Lies?

  by Rick Shenkman

  The answer may cause angst in us all, says Rick Shenkman.
  

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  Apr 2, 2016 5:15 pm
  

  Your Brain on Politics (Video)

  by Rick Shenkman

  What we need to know about the brain to protect ourselves from manipulative politicians. By Rick Shenkman
  

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  Feb 26, 2016 10:47 pm
  

  Just How Stupid Are We? Facing the Truth About Donald Trump's America

  by Rick Shenkman

  Click here to read this article.
  

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  Feb 22, 2016 7:57 pm
  

  For Voters, Facts Should Be the Lifeblood of Democracy

  by Rick Shenkman

  But if voters suddenly understood issues and facts, would we live in a democratic Camelot? Until 1988, no one knew.
  

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  Feb 13, 2016 8:17 pm
  

  Our Brain Dislikes Disorder.  That Explains a Lot.

  by Rick Shenkman

  It's another reason Trump's winning followers.  In a world of disorder he promises order. -- Rick Shenkman
  

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  Jan 22, 2016 3:15 pm
  

  Trump’s Genius

  by Rick Shenkman

  He understands this one important truth about politics.  The election is not about him, it's about us and our feelings. -- Rick Shenkman
  

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  Jan 10, 2016 6:42 pm
  

  Ted Cruz’s Stone-Age Brain and Yours

  by Rick Shenkman

  Why we have a hard time feeling for the victims of collateral damage -- and how historians can help.
  

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  Jan 8, 2016 10:37 pm
  

  What's the Voters' Problem? That's a Lot Harder to Determine than You Might Suspect.

  by Rick Shenkman

  Rick Shenkman explains why the easy answers are wrong.
  

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  Jan 7, 2016 11:17 pm
  

  We’re suffering from Stone-Age thinking in 2016: Interview

  by Rick Shenkman

  "Your book turns on a thesis about our having Stone-Age brains. What's that mean?"
  

• 
  Dec 17, 2015 3:39 pm
  

  Why Millions of Voters Are Pre-Wired to Support Donald Trump

  by Rick Shenkman

  How our stone-age psychology explains our susceptibility to lies and demagoguery in modern politics.
  

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  May 30, 2015 2:32 pm
  

  New Study: The world's a lot more violent than reported

  by Rick Shenkman

  The famed social scientist Nassim "Black Swan" Taleb is out with a new paper that claims violence in the past and present has been underestimated.
  

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  May 22, 2015 4:19 pm
  

  Why Americans Support the Iran Deal for the Wrong Reason

  by Rick Shenkman

  Given the way our brain is wired, we believe we can divine how other people think, including Iranians we have never met.  But can we? 
  

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  Apr 3, 2015 1:10 pm
  

  This is why colleges need to hire historians

  by Rick Shenkman

  Historians can now point to neuroscience as proof they are needed. 
  

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  Apr 2, 2015 8:09 pm
  

  Is Western society responsible for violence and environmental degradation?

  by Rick Shenkman

  Science has an answer. The answer is no.
  

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  Apr 1, 2015 1:44 pm
  

  Are we born with a universal grammar?

  by Rick Shenkman

  New research suggests Noam Chomsky's theory of a Universal Grammar is wrong.
  

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  Mar 25, 2015 3:45 pm
  

  Do our genes determine how we behave? Nah.

  by Rick Shenkman

  Today scientists are a lot less confident than they used to be about the effect our genes have on our behavior. No one gene determines if we'll rob a bank, do somersaults, or win the Nobel Prize.