Neuromarketing: A new discipline for audience and public opinion research

Neuroscience can create a new and different citizenship and electorate. This paper presents the emergence of neuro-marketing in the public and political sphere. Techniques with neurological basis that were initially used in medicine are currently being used in commercial marketing. For the same reasons, they could be equally applied in the social and political sphere, giving the possibility of knowing the impulses, emotions and reactions of individuals to some particular stimuli. This knowledge may be as beneficial as perverse, depending on their use. Therefore, a reflection on the ethical aspects and neuroeskepticism is crucial as well as a review of some issues on privacy and anonymity of participants, where ethical behavior of researchers is essential, beyond the perception of public opinion.