Amygdalas, fear, and persuasion

My treadmill walking continues. Part of it is that I paid for the thing, so gosh darn I'm going to use it. But really the bigger piece is watching lectures I find interesting. At one point a few weeks ago, I was in between lectures and hadn't found one that piqued my interest at that moment. The time between finishing one and finding another? Well, I went for multiple days in a row without turning on the treadmill. So really, when it comes right down to it, I only use the machine because I limit myself to that 45 minutes of listening to online classes and it is really only the classes that keep me coming back. I always suspected that this would be the case, but my little experiment does seem to confirm it. I have learned that when I finish one course I really need to find the next one before the next morning or else I won't be walking. 

All of this is leading up to what I wanted to share from the course I was listening to this morning. (How toe Speak Effectively in Any Setting by Great Courses, Molly Bishop Shadel, JD is the teacher) Here is an excerpt:

"When you're trying to make meaning out of the material for your audience, look for meaning that is positive. Sure, you could get a reaction from the audience if you use anger or fear. But usually, negative messages aren't the ones that people study when they're looking at great speeches. The great leaders throughout history have been hopeful -- even when talking about frightening things. If you frighten or anger your audience, you're triggering strong emotions, but they are emotions that cause people to lash out or panic. They're emotions that are triggering the amygdala, that most primitive part of the brain that governs the fight-or-flight instinct. When you experience these negative emotions yourself, they might feel satisfying in the moment, but over time they don't feel great -- they are exhausting. And they make it a lot harder to think rationally. In contrast, positive emotions calm the amygdala and give you access to your prefrontal cortex, which is where you make logical choices. And positive emotions help you relax. They let you see the good in people. They help you be more inventive and resourceful. they open you up to new ideas." (Lecture 1)

I'm not sure there is a whole lot I need to add. We are a nation exhausted by strong emotions. And it is not just politicians who do this. So much of mass marketing is aimed at triggering fear and thus causing the shutting down of our thinking skills. I find this so fascinating because I have written about fear mongering here quite a bit, but as much as I write about the brain, I had never put the fear mongering alongside the shutting down of cognitive skills. It makes total sense. And you have to ask yourself, why do so many entities (politicians, schools, lobbying groups, etc.) feel the need to essentially shut down their intended audience's brains? It couldn't be that people with their brains functioning would be able to see through the rhetoric and choose another options could it?