Verified by 
As we rubber neck both the Republican and Democratic Presidential campaigns, I’ve been more struck by what they reveal about the electorate than what they reveal about the candidates.
Being a psychiatrist and neuroscientist I’ve elected (pun intended) to look at the Presidential campaigns through the lens of neurochemistry and neuroanatomy.
Adrenaline/Dopamine, Cortisol, Oxytocin and Endorphin
Adrenaline/Dopamine, cortisol, oxytocin and endorphin are natural occurring neurotransmitters and hormones. Each is associated with particular states of mind and emotional experiences.
Adrenaline is associated with excitement and feeling powerful. When people feel an adrenaline rush, they often feel superhuman.
Dopamine is associated with pleasure. When we are entertained it rises. And when it rises it puts a smile on our face and we want more of it. And because we want more of it we tend to like and favor whatever and whoever causes it.
You know where I’m going with this.
Say what you will about Donald Trump, but nearly everyone will say, he is entertaining. Plus his outrageousness and our wondering how his target will react offers a little of an adrenaline rush as we live vicariously through the confrontation. Actually the more outrageous he acts the more we smile with disbelief as opposed to pulling back horrified by it. His outrageous behavior and comments cause such an adrenaline rush plus dopamine surge, that it’s hard to watch or listen to any of the other candidates, because of how “unpleasant” or just plain boring they appear. This might explain some of the recent tv coverage in Nevada in which many residents couldn't even recognize and of the other candidates.
Cortisol is associated with stress. The higher the stress, the higher our cortisol levels. It’s also a very unpleasant experience. Government as usual with all the gridlock, infighting, zero sum game that partisan politics play at the electorate’s expense is stressful. When fear and pain go so unnoticed and so unresponded to, that increases our collective cortisol and our feelings quickly cross over into frustration and then anger.
To quote the iconic film, Network, we become “mad as hell and don’t want to take it anymore!” Candidates Cruz, Rubio and Clinton are representative of that government and left unchecked, increase our distrust, frustration and cortisol. We have previously felt “mad as hell,” but with our collective helplessness and powerlessness it always seemed that we would just have to not grin, but bear it for four more years. By giving vent to that frustration and anger, Trump has provided a dopamine surge to counter people’s high cortisol and stress levels and replace it with pleasure.
Oxytocin is associated with connectedness and bonding. It is what allows mothers to still love children even when those kids are driving them crazy. Bernie Sanders triggers oxytocin in the younger generation and others who find his grandfather mixed with deli-master manner appealing and easy to bond with. Oxytocin is also associated with feeling that the other person who evokes it, will not hurt you. Of all the candidates, Sanders evokes that most. And if you have felt consistently hurt and let down, feeling that someone will not hurt you not only increases oxytocin, it lessens cortisol and increases dopamine as you feel the pleasure in feeling safe. However, oxytocin is a somewhat distant fourth compared to adrenaline/dopamine and cortisol.
Endorphin is associated with a feeling of well being and calmness. Of all the candidates, John Kasich best represents this, but just as well being doesn’t hold a candle to cortisol, adrenaline, dopamine and even oxytocin, Kasich doesn’t even make it onto the radar. Carson’s manner is also evocative of endorphin, but his increasing lack of awareness of anything that people can relate to has caused him to become increasingly an asterisk to this whole process and all but an afterthought in the debates.
Mirror Neurons and the Mirror Neuron Gap
Mirror neurons were first discovered in Macaque monkeys and originally called, “monkey see, monkey do” neurons as they were found to be behind the imitative behavior between monkeys (and even between monkeys and humans). They have since been discovered in humans and are felt to be associated with imitation, learning and empathy and when defective or deficient, associated with autism, where autistic individuals are unable to mirror other people and pick up on social cues.
In the research for my book, “Just Listen,” I originated the term, “mirror neuron gap.” This refers to the fact that the more we emotionally and psychologically conform to others without it being returned, the more of a gap we feel. The greater the gap, the more our disappointment turns into frustration and then anger and the more our cortisol rises . For years, with the electorate attempting to believe in their elected officials with the feeling that they have not been responsive, the gap has widened.
The significance of this is that as various experiences widen the gap, the more we develop a hunger for experiences that narrow it. The more that gap is narrowed the more frustration goes away, cortisol lessens and oxytocin and dopamine increases. One of the reasons we often cry when we receive unsolicited and unexpected kindness is because that kindness suddenly counters the lack of caring we have come to expect from the world. And the moment that kindness closes our mirror neuron gap, we feel whole and complete and cry from the relief (and the lowering of cortisol coupled with a surge of dopamine, oxytocin and endorphin) we feel.
Traditional politicians have increased the mirror neuron gap with the electorate. Outsiders like Trump have narrowed the gap by mirroring the frustration and anger of Americans and Sanders has narrowed it by mirroring the desire of the middle class to be supported and revived vs. having felt abandoned.
With the big victory of Clinton in South Carolina and with a big win on Super Tuesday, it may well come down to Trump and Clinton.
If that happens and it comes down to Trump increasing dopamine and adrenaline while Clinton increases cortisol as representing government as usual that increases the mirror neuron gap in most people, Trump could win the whole thing. That is unless of course some grand deception or lie about him especially one in which he is hurting people now in his voter base, comes out. If that happens and people suddenly feel duped and hurt (like discovering a spouse has had an affair) the adrenaline/dopamine will switch to cortisol in an instant. Perhaps this is why he is refusing to show his tax records.
If it's true that the more someone has to hide, the more they have to fear and the less they have to hide, the less they have to fear, it does cause one to wonder what Trump might be hiding.
If such devious deception occurs, it will trigger a collective “Eh tu, Donald?” reaction from all his supporters. At that point it’s anyone’s guess who will win the election with the electorate again losing out for another four years.
