In a world that feels increasingly polarised, many of us know someone who has fallen into an extreme position on at least one topic.
At times, it can seem like chance. Who is and isn’t affected by an ideology often seems puzzlingly random.
But a new field of science – political neuroscience – is challenging that notion. Scientists are revealing that some of us may be more predisposed to extreme views than others. Biology, it seems, has a bigger role to play in how we view the world than you might think.
At the forefront of this nascent area of research is Dr Leor Zmigrod, a political psychologist and neuroscientist and author of The Ideological Brain, a radical science of susceptible minds.
Zmigrod sat down for a conversation with BBC Science Focus to discuss what she’s found out in her research, and, importantly, why choice still matters in a world where the physical make-up of our minds has influence over our views.
