Release date: June 18, 2007
Contact: Beverly Cox Clark at 404-712-8780 or beverly.clark@emory.edu

'Political Brain' Book Signing, Presentation by Emory's Westen June 25

WHO

Drew Westen, Emory University professor of psychology and psychiatry

WHAT

Presentation and Book Signing for "The Political Brain: The Role of Emotion in Deciding the Fate of the Nation." Free and open to the public.

WHEN

6:30 p.m. Monday, June 25

WHERE

Manuel's Tavern, 602 N. Highland Ave. (at the corner of North Ave.), Atlanta

Emory University psychologist Drew Westen examines how, when reason and emotion collide in voters' minds, emotion invariably wins in his new book, "The Political Brain: The Role of Emotion in Deciding the Fate of the Nation."

For two decades Westen has explored a theory of the mind that differs substantially from the more "dispassionate" notions held by most cognitive psychologists, political scientists and economists -- and Democratic campaign strategists. "The Political Brain" probes how the marketplace that matters most of the time in American politics is the marketplace of emotion, filled with values, images, analogies, moral sentiments and moving oratory in which logic plays only a supporting role.

"The idea of the mind as a cool calculator that makes decisions by weighing the evidence bears no relation to how the brain actually works," says Westen, professor of psychology and psychiatry at Emory. "When political candidates assume voters dispassionately make decisions based on 'the issues,' they lose. That's why only one Democrat has been re-elected to the presidency since Franklin Roosevelt -- and only one Republican has failed in that quest."

Since he began writing the book last year, Westen's work has drawn the attention of Democratic and progressive leaders around the country as well as corporate leaders who have recognized the implications of understanding how our minds and brains process emotional messages for marketing and leadership.

The New York Review of Books recently noted that Westen's recommended language for Democrats is "exhilarating to imagine," and his analyses are "something that Democrats desperately need to hear."

"The antidote lies not in familiar prescriptions of moving to the center or the left but simply in moving the electorate," Westen says. "The way to win elections, particularly against a party that understands how to move people, is to understand the political brain -- how it evolved, how it works and how central emotion is to it."

Copies of the book will be available for sale. For more information, contact Beverly Clark, associate director, Emory University Media Relations, 404-712-8780, beverly.clark@emory.edu, or Whitney Peeling, director of publicity, PublicAffairs Books, 212-397-6666, ext. 234.

Emory University is one of the nation's leading private research universities and a member of the Association of American Universities. Known for its demanding academics, outstanding undergraduate college of arts and sciences, highly ranked professional schools and state-of-the-art research facilities, Emory is ranked as one of the country's top 20 national universities by U.S. News & World Report. In addition to its nine schools, the university encompasses The Carter Center, Yerkes National Primate Research Center and Emory Healthcare, the state's largest and most comprehensive health care system.

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