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12. Appealing to Irrational Parts of Our Brains

This might come as a surprise, but humans actually suck at making rational decisions and are much more likely to make emotion-driven decisions.

This is a great thing a lot of the time because in many areas of life, our emotions and feelings are excellent indicators of an appropriate course of action.

But when it comes to choosing the leader of one of the most powerful countries in the world, it might be a bad idea to vote for a guy because his smile gives you the warm fuzzies.

Unfortunately, it’s damn difficult for humans to use rationality, especially if they haven’t been trained to think critically or haven’t researched the various cognitive biases that result in inaccurate thinking.

Donald Trump knows that most people make their decisions on the basis of emotion rather than reason. He also knows that there are certain methods of manipulating people’s emotions to get them to do what you want.

Most all of the items on this list — from fear-/anger-mongering and deflection via humor to repetition, social proof, and appeal to authority — are effective methods of making people feel very confident about a position, despite the fact that they haven’t considered any statistical evidence or rational arguments.

Donald Trump understands this, and that’s why you’ll never see him engaging in a rational discussion of the issues or of the criticisms levied against him.

When challenged to do so, Trump will deflect via humor, appeal to vague authorities or social proof, or utilize some sort of half-relevant anecdote to appeal to emotion and distract from his shortcomings.


Remember that, righties. I know, I know, 'heavy lifting' to be sure.

But give it a try. Might light up some dormant synapses so that your brains look more like S, Korea at night rather than N. Korea. LOL!

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