Are you tempted by an ideology?
Ideological thinking extends far beyond the familiar boundaries of left versus right politics. At its core, an ideology is a fixed framework for interpreting the world-one that resists adaptation, even in the face of new evidence. Neuroscience is beginning to reveal why some minds are drawn to these stable patterns of thought, and how our brains may actually reinforce the tendency to cling to established beliefs, regardless of their political or cultural content.
It appears that some people are more likely to adopt rigid thinking, with clear and strong prescriptions for how we should think, act, and interact with others. People who think in such ideological terms also tend to condemn any deviation from their rules. Leor Zmigrod, a neuroscientist and political psychologist at Cambridge University explores the emerging evidence that neurological structure can help explain ideological commitments. In her new book, “The Ideological Brain: The Radical Science of Flexible Thinking,” she describes how ideological thinking can narrow our ability to learn from experience and adapt to changing conditions.
The majority of people, both politically liberal and conservative, are not ideological. Dr. Zmigrod has found a bell-curve showing a small number of people, both on the left and the right, are prone to rigid, rule-based, and prejudicial thinking. And ideology does not have to be political, or connected to traditional political positions. It’s about “closedness or openness”, hard boundaries, or strong ideas about purity and cleanliness versus dirtiness and pollution.
Evidence is beginning to emerge about differing brain structures in people prone to ideological thinking. Dr. Zmigrod cites findings that people with different ideologies have differences in the physical structure and function of their brains. This is especially pronounced in brain networks responsible for reward, emotion processing, and monitoring when we make errors. However, no one has yet been able to answer the “chicken and egg” question: do people with these structures become more ideological, or does becoming more ideological influence brain structure?
More research is needed, but one thing Dr. Zmigrod emphasizes is that anyone can change. It may take longer if your brain structure tends towards ideological thinking, but we can all find ways to become more open, more flexible, and to “actively and creatively reject the temptation of dogma.”
Reference:
Matt Richtel. Your World Depends On How You’re Wired. New York Times April 8, 2025.