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 6
... Altruism Tradition Loyalty Community Ugly Motives ( shh ... ) Competition Deception Progress Social status Selfishness Politics Sex Figure 1. The Elephant in the Brain . Introspection Human behavior is rarely what it seems - that's the ...
... Altruism Tradition Loyalty Community Ugly Motives ( shh ... ) Competition Deception Progress Social status Selfishness Politics Sex Figure 1. The Elephant in the Brain . Introspection Human behavior is rarely what it seems - that's the ...
الصفحة 13
... altruism, cooperation, and other feel- good motives, for example, people naturally want to share it, perhaps even shout it from the rooftops: “By working together, we can achieve great things!” It reflects well on both speakers and ...
... altruism, cooperation, and other feel- good motives, for example, people naturally want to share it, perhaps even shout it from the rooftops: “By working together, we can achieve great things!” It reflects well on both speakers and ...
الصفحة 20
... ALTRUISM Before we move on to human behavior , here is one more quick example . The Arabian babbler , famously studied by Amotz Zahavi and a team of ornithologists at Tel Aviv University , is a small brown bird that lives in the arid ...
... ALTRUISM Before we move on to human behavior , here is one more quick example . The Arabian babbler , famously studied by Amotz Zahavi and a team of ornithologists at Tel Aviv University , is a small brown bird that lives in the arid ...
الصفحة 21
... altruistic behaviors. If the goal of these behaviors is to be helpful, why do the babblers waste effort competing to perform them? One hypothesis is that higher- ranked babblers are stronger, and therefore better able to forego food and ...
... altruistic behaviors. If the goal of these behaviors is to be helpful, why do the babblers waste effort competing to perform them? One hypothesis is that higher- ranked babblers are stronger, and therefore better able to forego food and ...
الصفحة 22
... altruism,” a babbler demonstrates his strength and fit- ness. An alpha who goes beak- to- beak with a prestigious beta is less likely to win the fight, and so gives the beta more leeway than he would give a beta with lower prestige ...
... altruism,” a babbler demonstrates his strength and fit- ness. An alpha who goes beak- to- beak with a prestigious beta is less likely to win the fight, and so gives the beta more leeway than he would give a beta with lower prestige ...
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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