Breaking beliefism Leor Zmigrod
Sep 12, 2025
Leor Zmigrod, a political psychologist and neuroscientist, explores how neuroscience illuminates the roots of our beliefs and ideologies. She argues that ideologies can limit our freedom, prompting a provocative debate with host Paul Dolan. They discuss how cognitive flexibility influences ideological rigidity and the role of neuroplasticity under stress. Leor advocates for re-evaluating ideologies to protect democratic values while addressing the paradox of tolerance. Their conversation is a deep dive into the intersection of belief, identity, and cognitive science.
AI Snips
Chapters
Books
Transcript
Episode notes
Neuroscience Reveals Hidden Ideological Processes
- Leor Zmigrod applies neuroscience methods to politics to reveal hidden cognitive processes behind ideological thinking.
- Neuroscience lets researchers bypass self-report and observe brain responses linked to scarcity, dehumanization, and dogmatism.
Flexibility Predicts Ideological Openness
- Cognitive flexibility predicts ideological openness: diverse idea generation maps to less dogmatic beliefs.
- Simple creativity tasks (e.g., alternate uses for a brick) reveal whether someone switches mental tracks or stays in a narrow lane.
Cognition Outpredicts Demographics
- Cognitive traits explain far more ideological variance than visible demographics like age or income.
- Including cognitive and neurobiological measures raises explanatory power from ~10% to around 40% for ideological worldviews.
