I've been involved in the world of positive psychology for several decades and back in the eighties I did some studies of how people smile, and a review of some others' research.
I found that some people have much weaker smiles than others. One researcher found that depressed people had stronger frown muscles and weaker smile muscle reactions.
I was using biofeedback electromyographic, or surface EMG technology to measure smile muscle (zygomaticus) activity. I'd ask a subject to smile as strong as possible, to literally strain, like they were lifting a heavy weight. Some people would produce a 200 microvolt muscle reading. Others would produce a 10 or 20 microvolt reading. That's a huge difference.
Now here's the very interesting part. If, instead of asking people to strain to produce the strongest smile they could, I simply joked with them, and got them to laugh, the smile they produced was almost always stronger than the strained smile.
In other words, when people responded naturally, their reaction was stronger than when they were trying their hardest. For the depressed people, it was almost like a part of their brain was subconsiously blocking the full strength of their smiles.
I put together a theory to explain this, based on similar responses that people with stroke or head injury have which keeps them from talking.. Some of those people can't speak, but they CAN sing. Different neural pathways are involved.
I theorized that the people with the weak smile responses were suffering from self-imposed psycho-motor retardation. They were literally blocking their own smile response. One study in Japan, a nation where facial expression is often masked or diminished as a cultural phenomenon, even found that a percentage of cadavers had atrophied smile muscles.
So, here's how I apply my smile research to right wingers. They've dulled or blunted their objectivity and heightened parts of their brain that embrace messaging that supports their biases and subconscious, reflexive perceptions. Some brain experts tie this to the amygdala, which acts preconsciously, before the higher brain functions kick in.
That would mean that lower brain functions-- mammalian or reptilian brain-- are being targeted by the Super-Pacs and by the right wing pundits who push the race, the fear and other anti-Obama, anti-socialism, anti-health care reform buttons.
Logic and facts don't work if you are dealing with animal brain functions. That's always been a problem for the Democrats. They don't get it that they are competing with persuaders who are a step ahead of them neuro-reflexes-wise.
I don't know if it is possible to out-do the right wing message machine. They've been building the brain-dead reflexes for years. Now, when I say brain dead, I mean thinking brain, right pre-frontal cortex brain-- the smart part of the human brain. The right wing messaging machine has developed a way to almost totally neutralize it's functioning. That machine uses the entertainment industry, mainstream media and our whole culture. It's a formidable challenge for people who think to overcome.
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