Events such as natural disasters or terrorist attacks result in “powerlessness and uncertainty,” the Times writes, triggering a part of the brain called the amygdala, which Whalen, a professor of psychological and brain sciences, studies. Whalen says that while the amygdala does not do anything on its own, it does prompt the rest of the brain to over analyze, according to the Times.
The article also makes reference to what Nyhan, an assistant professor of government, and a colleague have identified as the “backfire effect.” According to the Times, the political scientists “showed that efforts to debunk inaccurate political information can leave people more convinced that false information is true than they would have been otherwise.”
Read the full story, published 5/21/13 by The New York Times.