Should START Researchers Embrace the Brain?

Abstract

What, if anything, can neuroscience offer us as scholars interested in extremist behavior? Some observers claim that we have learned more about the brain in the past decade than all previous decades combined (National Institute of Health, 2012). Despite what are sometimes breathtaking new insights regarding the internal connections and functioning of the brain, there is reason for caution with extending beyond what neuroscience findings can actually tell us. Part of the need for this caution involves a variety of methodological and statistical issues that have not yet been resolved, while other concerns involve ethical and policy implications related to the use of neuroimaging data