The Ideological Brain: Exploring the Science of Susceptible Minds: with Dr Leor Zmigrod

Dr Leor Zmigrod is a prize-winning scientist and pioneer in the field of political neuroscience and psychology. Her research centres on the cognitive, emotional, and neurobiological factors that increase people’s susceptibility to extreme ideologies – as well as the characteristics that make people more resilient and creative in the face of rigid ways of thinking.

At the Cambridge Festival, Leor will discuss her new book, The Ideological Brain, which is an authoritative, accessible, and playful examination of how ideologies take hold of our brains, fundamentally changing the way we think, act and interact with others. The Ideological Brain shows how ideologues of all types struggle to change their thought patterns when faced with new information, culminating in the radical message that our rigidities are not superficial but can become woven into the fabric of our minds. Drawing on her book, Leor will discuss what a free, authentic, and tolerant brain looks like, and explore how anyone can keep their mind open and flexible in the face of extremist ideologies.

Leor completed her PhD at Cambridge University as a Gates Scholar and was a Junior Research Fellow at Churchill College, Cambridge. She has held visiting fellowships at Stanford University, Harvard University, and both the Berlin and Paris Institutes for Advanced Study. Leor was listed on Forbes 30 Under 30 in Science and has since won numerous prizes for her trailblazing research and public outreach, including the Women of the Future Science Award and MHP’s “30ToWatch” in British Politics Gold Winner Award. Leor advises national and international policymakers on developing evidence-based counterextremism policies and her research has been featured widely in the media, including in The New York Times, Guardian, Financial Times and New Scientist. The Ideological Brain is Leor's first book, with over 10 translations in French, German, Italian, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, amongst others.

This event took place as part of the Cambridge Festival 2025 and was recorded at the Cambridge Union Society on Tuesday 1 April 2025.