The Elephant in the Brain: Hidden Motives in Everyday LifeOxford University Press, 01/12/2017 - 288 من الصفحات Human beings are primates, and primates are political animals. Our brains, therefore, are designed not just to hunt and gather, but also to help us get ahead socially, often via deception and self-deception. But while we may be self-interested schemers, we benefit by pretending otherwise. The less we know about our own ugly motives, the better - and thus we don't like to talk or even think about the extent of our selfishness. This is "the elephant in the brain." Such an introspective taboo makes it hard for us to think clearly about our nature and the explanations for our behavior. The aim of this book, then, is to confront our hidden motives directly - to track down the darker, unexamined corners of our psyches and blast them with floodlights. Then, once everything is clearly visible, we can work to better understand ourselves: Why do we laugh? Why are artists sexy? Why do we brag about travel? Why do we prefer to speak rather than listen? Our unconscious motives drive more than just our private behavior; they also infect our venerated social institutions such as Art, School, Charity, Medicine, Politics, and Religion. In fact, these institutions are in many ways designed to accommodate our hidden motives, to serve covert agendas alongside their "official" ones. The existence of big hidden motives can upend the usual political debates, leading one to question the legitimacy of these social institutions, and of standard policies designed to favor or discourage them. You won't see yourself - or the world - the same after confronting the elephant in the brain. |
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الصفحة 21
... activities appear straightforwardly altruis- tic (i.e., self- sacrificing). A babbler who takes a stint at guard duty, for example, foregoes his own opportunity to eat. Likewise, a babbler who attacks an enemy assumes risk of serious ...
... activities appear straightforwardly altruis- tic (i.e., self- sacrificing). A babbler who takes a stint at guard duty, for example, foregoes his own opportunity to eat. Likewise, a babbler who attacks an enemy assumes risk of serious ...
الصفحة 22
... activities aren't altruistic, what's the point? What's in it for the individual babbler who competes to do more than his fair share of helping others? The answer, as Zahavi and his team have carefully documented, is that altruistic ...
... activities aren't altruistic, what's the point? What's in it for the individual babbler who competes to do more than his fair share of helping others? The answer, as Zahavi and his team have carefully documented, is that altruistic ...
الصفحة 26
... activities pit humans against their environment and are therefore opportunities for cooperation . 2. Social challenges , such as competition for mates , jockeying for social status , coalition politics ( alliances , betrayals , etc ...
... activities pit humans against their environment and are therefore opportunities for cooperation . 2. Social challenges , such as competition for mates , jockeying for social status , coalition politics ( alliances , betrayals , etc ...
الصفحة 27
... activities from which we all stand to gain , like when firms compete in the marketplace , driving down costs and spurring innovation . We're even comfortable acknowledging group versus group competition , up to and including war . It's ...
... activities from which we all stand to gain , like when firms compete in the marketplace , driving down costs and spurring innovation . We're even comfortable acknowledging group versus group competition , up to and including war . It's ...
الصفحة 66
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actually advertise altruism ancestors animal apparatchik Arabian babbler asked babblers behavior beliefs benefit better body language bowerbird brains Bryan Caplan Chapter charity cheating coalitions competition consider conspicuous conspicuous consumption consumers costs course CRIMESTOP Do-Right donate effect elephant especially evolutionary psychology example explain fact feel forager friends function Geoffrey Miller give going grooming Haidt Hajj hidden motives human Ibid important incentives individual laugh laughter less listeners look loyalty male mates medicine Miller minds norms ourselves patients peers percent person play political Press Secretary prestige primates prosocial puzzles reasons religion religious Robert Trivers Robin Hanson self-deception selfish signal simply social social grooming someone spend split-brain status Steve Jobs there's things tion Trivers typically voters voting we’re what's words Zhao Gao