Everyone from executives and judges to scientists and politicians may reason to emotionally biased judgments when they have a vested interest in how to interpret 'the facts'.

If politicians and scientists were lazier, how much happier we should all be

We did not see any increased activation of the parts of the brain normally engaged during reasoning. What we saw instead was a network of emotion circuits lighting up.

We did not see any increased activation of the parts of the brain normally engaged during reasoning. What we saw instead was a network of emotion circuits lighting up, including circuits hypothesized to be involved in regulating emotion, and circuits known to be involved in resolving conflicts.

We are re-discovering an old clinical idea. We think that the ways people fall ill psychologically are dependent on personality.

The result is that partisan beliefs are calcified, and the person can learn very little from new data.