Campaigning on eggshells through The Frighted States of Amygdala

In 2014, a team from Y&R New York partnered with the wonderful Dr. Joel Weinberger of Implicit Strategies to present a brilliant and, as it turns out, politically prescient paper at an ARF event.

Applying Implicit Strategies' unique methodology, the team set out to discover, among other things, which, from a list of 16, were considered the most important values to not just the conscious but also the unconscious minds of a representative sample of Americans.

The results were fascinating. 

When the question was asked explicitly (consciously), the top three values emerged as follows:

1) Helpfulness, 2) Choosing Your Own Path, 3) Meaning in Life

But when the probing was done implicitly, and therefore derived only from the respondents' unconscious, things turned out quite differently.

Only one of those three even (and just barely) made the unconscious top 10.

This time the medal ceremony honoured the following:

1) Maintaining Security, 2) Sexual Fulfilment, 3) Honouring Tradition

As the authors visually summarised, this all suggested that while conscious America seemed to be identifying itself with Oprah Winfrey, unconscious America appeared more in tune with Tony Soprano.

Given their findings, I doubt Dr. Joel and his partners have been as surprised as many others by the way the Republican Primaries have been going so far.

If maintaining security is the most cherished value of the electorate's unconscious, then any candidate who appears to be highly engaged with the core concept of threats is very likely to resonate. And if the collective amygdala is in an activated state, appeals to calm reason won't get a hearing.

But perhaps a twist in the tale is starting to emerge: for surely the one thing would-be banishers of threats must be most careful to avoid is being perceived as possible threats themselves? If one's implicit promise is an end to fear, then it could prove fatally undermining if one starts to be seen as a potential new source of it too. 

When the unconscious feels threatened, it will instruct its host to do whatever it takes to feel safe again. So if the land of the free is also at present the land of the somewhat afraid, then the ultimate winner will likely be the one not who most clearly notes that mood, but who appears most capable of relieving it. 

Where it matters most, America still wants to believe in a place called Safe.