Why do we side with a political party? How do social identity and partisanship play in today’s politics? Why do we view the other side as the problem? Author and researcher Dr. Jay Van Bavel explores the psychology and neuroscience behind why our brains think the way we do and how we can overcome the toxic polarization in this upcoming election.

Dr. Jay Van Bavel is a co-author of “The Power of Us: Harnessing Our Shared Identities to Improve Performance, Increase Cooperation, and Promote Social Harmony” and a Professor of Psychology and Neural Science at New York University, an affiliate at the Stern School of Business in Management and Organizations, Director of the Social Identity & Morality Lab.

From neurons to social networks, Jay’s research examines how social identities and morality shape the mind, brain, and behavior. His work addresses issues of group dynamics, cooperation, intergroup bias, social media, and public health. He studies these issues using a combination of neuroimaging, social cognition, and computational social science.

Dr. Van Bavel has published over 150 scientific publications and co-authored a mentoring column, called Letters to Young Scientists, for Science Magazine. He has written about his research for The New York Times, BBC, The Atlantic, Scientific American, The Wall Street Journal, Guardian, LA Times, and The Washington Post and his work has appeared in academic papers as well as in the U.S. Supreme Court and Senate.

Thank you to Starts with Us for their collaboration on this series. Starts with Us is an organization committed to overcoming extreme political and cultural division. Check them out at startswith.us.