Given the disturbing history of military behavior management experiments, research into the neurological basis underlying the abandonment of core personal values will undoubtedly be applied in mass psychological warfare, particularly within the domain of the mainstream media. In light of widespread disapproval of the ballooning defense budget, militaristic propaganda of this variety has become necessary for convincing both the public and military service members that mass civilians casualties, reinforced by torture and the suspension of habeas corpus, are the only ways to ensure domestic security.
source:Science Daily, via Cryptogon
The Price of Your Soul: How the Brain Decides Whether to 'Sell Out'
ScienceDaily (Jan. 22, 2012) — A neuro-imaging study shows that personal values that people refuse to disavow, even when offered cash to do so, are processed differently in the brain than those values that are willingly sold.
Sacred values prompt greater activation of an area of the brain associated with rules-based, right-or-wrong thought processes, the study showed, as opposed to the regions linked to processing of costs-versus-benefits.
Berns headed a team that included economists and information scientists from Emory University, a psychologist from the New School for Social Research and anthropologists from the Institute Jean Nicod in Paris, France. The research was funded by the U.S. Office of Naval Research, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research and the National Science Foundation.
"We've come up with a method to start answering scientific questions about how people make decisions involving sacred values, and that has major implications if you want to better understand what influences human behavior across countries and cultures," Berns says....Research participants who reported more active affiliations with organizations, such as churches, sports teams, musical groups and environmental clubs, had stronger brain activity in the same brain regions that correlated to sacred values. "Organized groups may instill values more strongly through the use of rules and social norms," Berns says. more...
