Red Brains, Blue Brains: #4: The Neuropsychology of Authoritarianism

Welcome to this series of discussions of authoritarianism, its roots and causes, and the research surrounding it! It's an essential topic that looms large over life in the 21st century - and has, in fact, been casting its shadow since long before that...

This series of short reads is taken from the larger Red Brains, Blue Brains series by the author, breaking down the major topics of that series into more digestible reads that can be reviewed in a sitting or two.

Those books include Red Brains, Blue Brains: The Psychology of MAGA, from which the short reads The Mind of Donald Trump and The Neuropsychology of Authoritarianism are drawn; Red Brains, Blue Brains: Authoritarian We Will Go!, which offers up The Threat of Authoritarianism & Social Dominance and MAGA, Christian Nationalists, and the Mob Mentality; and finally, Red Brains, Blue Brains: One Big Happy Family, yielding Paleopolitics and The Human Adventure is Just Beginning.

Many subtopics emerge throughout the series, including discussions of humankind's ancient social roots; the nuances of the human brain that produce political and social thought; the emotions that drive our political choices; the nature of authoritarianism and social dominance, and some history of their emergence in the human story. There's a timeline showing the rise of authoritarianism in the US, specific discussion of Donald Trump, MAGA, and the Christian Nationalist movement and what they portend, from an authoritarian standpoint; and a forward-looking discussion about how we might recover some of what we've lost of our cooperative, egalitarian past.

Thank you for taking the time to pursue this important subject!