‘Neuroscience’ is one of the most advanced technologies we have today to explore new possibilities in a world where people cannot think what they feel, express what they think and do what they say.
Neuromarketing studies under the umbrella of neuroscience can be seen in all areas where people’s decision-making processes play a role and this creates life, from brands to political parties. Neuromarketing is used in political election research to learn about voters’ subconscious reactions and emotions towards different candidates, campaign messages and political issues. With increasing experience, developing technology and new techniques, it is certain that neuromarketing studies will be much more effective in the coming years and will reveal unexplored truths.
NeuroPolitics, as it is known in the literature, is used in the field of political communication. Rhetorical and profile analyses conducted on voters offer a level of detail that cannot be obtained with traditional research methods in terms of revealing emotional interactions without asking them. From this point of view, it is a fact that neuropolitical research will develop more in the coming years all over the world, as long as it is provided by experts.
A review of election campaign archives reveals that presidents and prime ministers in various countries have used neuroscience in their campaigns to scan people’s brains, bodies and faces in order to increase their emotional resonance with voters. It is possible to measure voters’ brain waves with Electroencephalogram (EEG), skin stimulation and heartbeat with Electrodermal Activity (EDA), facial expressions and emotions with Emotional State Analysis.
We can give the following examples of such studies;
– In Mexico, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), of which Enrique Peña Nieto is the president, used these technologies of neuromarketing in its 2012 presidential election campaign. According to a consultant, Nieto’s party has been using facial coding for some time to select the best candidates. Some officials have openly stated that they use these techniques not only in election campaigns but also when they are in government.
– Francisco Olvera Ruiz, governor of Hidalgo, Mexico, and a member of the ruling party says “In our government programs, we use various neuropolitical technologies to evaluate the effectiveness of our communications and messages,” and adds “Neuroscience is especially valuable for us to get a more accurate and objective view of what people think, perceive and feel.”
– In Mexico, Emotion Research Lab used cameras on digital billboards to analyze audience reactions so that the campaign could quickly change the message. Inside the billboard was a camera with a special algorithm that could read emotions such as happiness, surprise, anger, hate, fear and sadness. With feedback from the camera, the campaign’s message – images, sounds or words – could be changed to messages that voters liked better.
– In Colombia, President Juan Manuel Santos’s re-election team in 2014 won the election by working with a neuromarketing firm that also worked with the Mexican government.
– Neuromarketing consultants say they have conducted such research in Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Russia, Spain and, to a lesser extent, the United States.
– Poland’s Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz and her party Civic Platform worked with a neuromarketing company ahead of the parliamentary elections.
– In Turkey, former Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu worked with a neuromarketing firm during the June 2015 elections. Various techniques such as brain wave monitoring, eye, face, skin and heartbeat monitoring were applied to volunteers in laboratories in Istanbul.
The findings of the neuroscience studies can be listed as follows:
Ø In elections, the politician’s continuously making a name for himself/herself and being visible in various media increases his/her recognition by voters and increases his/her voting capacity over time.
Ø Being different and exciting always increases voter awareness.
Ø Appealing to emotions is the best way to influence consumers. Most people make decisions emotionally rather than cognitively.
Ø Politicians who talk about how bad the opponent is without developing a unique communication style are always doomed to remain in the second plan.
Ø It is necessary to use a clear and simple language in political communication. Mixed messages do not attract people’s attention and are forgotten over time. Especially messages that try to mobilize people and have clear goals are the first key to a correct communication. An effective message is one that is perceived within 5-7 seconds.
CONCLUSION: When traditional research methods are applied, voters may be reluctant, unconscious or unable to express how they really feel about a candidate. However, when neuromarketing technologies are used, precise, clear and subconscious data increases the quality of election studies and ensures that they are reliable within the limits of science.
