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Researchers at the University of Arkansas found that door-to-door salespeople can selltwice as many Christmas cards by quoting a price in pennies rather than dollars, andthat a street vendor sells more cupcakes by calling them “half-cakes,” but only if atagline -- describing the cards as a bargain or the cupcakes as delicious – is insertedimmediately after the anomaly. 48Why? Unusual events activate the amygdala and thetemporoparietal junction in our brains, which makes us more receptive to newexperiences. The effect on our brain is similar to what happens when we hear a babycry or listen to a Blues singer bend a note. Jokes do the same thing. 49“They ambushexpectations and take our emotions hostage.” 50Presenting facts at the outset doesn’t change people’s minds. Brains scans showDemocrat and Republican partisans have an initial burst of negative emotion whenexposed to contradictory statements by leaders of their own party, but the neural circuitsthat regulate emotion soon take over and somehow turn lemons into lemonade. Thepartisans not only manage to reconcile the statements, using only their emotionalcircuitry, but they then feel very good about doing it. 51The parts of their brains thatcontrol logic and rational thought take a siesta, while the emotional parts take control,pledge continued fealty to their tribe, and congratulate themselves for having chosen sowell.48 Dutton, supra note 5 at 176, citing Barbara P. Davis & Eric S. Knowles, “A Disrupt Then ReframeTechnique of Social Influence,” 76 Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 192-199 (1999).49 Id. at 177 (and at 39).50 Id. at 177-78.51 Id. at 178-79.25