The Elephant in the Brain: Hidden Motives in Everyday LifeHuman 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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... Columbia University “Simler and Hanson uncover the hidden and darker forces that shape much of what we say and do.” —William MacAskill, Professor of Philosophy, Oxford University; author of Doing Good Better “There are only a few ...
... Columbia University “Simler and Hanson uncover the hidden and darker forces that shape much of what we say and do.” —William MacAskill, Professor of Philosophy, Oxford University; author of Doing Good Better “There are only a few ...
الصفحة ix
Yet, we find it hard to imagine the book's central thesis becoming widely accepted among any large population, even of scholars. As better minds than ours have long advanced similar ideas, but to little apparent effect, we suspect that ...
Yet, we find it hard to imagine the book's central thesis becoming widely accepted among any large population, even of scholars. As better minds than ours have long advanced similar ideas, but to little apparent effect, we suspect that ...
الصفحة 2
Finally, people spend exorbitantly on heroic end- of- life care even though cheap, palliative care is usually just as effective at prolonging life and even better at preserving quality of life. Altogether, these puzzles cast ...
Finally, people spend exorbitantly on heroic end- of- life care even though cheap, palliative care is usually just as effective at prolonging life and even better at preserving quality of life. Altogether, these puzzles cast ...
الصفحة 7
The human brain, according to this view, was designed to deceive itself— in Trivers' words, “the better to deceive others.” We start with evolutionary psychology, but we don't end there. We continue to seek hidden motives at larger ...
The human brain, according to this view, was designed to deceive itself— in Trivers' words, “the better to deceive others.” We start with evolutionary psychology, but we don't end there. We continue to seek hidden motives at larger ...
الصفحة 8
... to organizing it around false logic, to misremembering and then misrepresenting it to others— the mind continually acts to distort information flow in favor of the usual goal of appearing better than one really is.
... to organizing it around false logic, to misremembering and then misrepresenting it to others— the mind continually acts to distort information flow in favor of the usual goal of appearing better than one really is.
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LibraryThing Review
معاينة المستخدمين - Paul_S - LibraryThingThere is nothing surprising or even taboo in this book. What sheltered lives do the authors lead? This is one step above a bloke in a pub. An interesting, articulate guy but still not any kind of expert in the field. Scholarly paper - this is not. قراءة التقييم بأكمله
LibraryThing Review
معاينة المستخدمين - Tytania - LibraryThingI really didn't learn anything. We are primates who seek to elevate our status. Almost anything we do can be viewed in this light, if you squint hard enough. This really didn't add any "a-ha" moments ... قراءة التقييم بأكمله
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activities actually advertise animal asked become behavior beliefs benefit better body brains Chapter charity competition consider conspicuous consumers conversation cost course deception don’t donate effect entirely especially example expect experience explain face fact feel friends function getting give given going hand happen hard human important impressive individual interest it’s keep kind language laugh laughter least less listeners live look loyalty male mates means medicine minds motives natural norms ourselves parties patients percent person play political prefer Press question reasons religion religious result sense signal similar simply social someone speaking spend status subjects talk there’s they’re things tion turn typically understand voting we’re what’s
معلومات المراجع
| العنوان | The Elephant in the Brain: Hidden Motives in Everyday Life |
| المؤلفون | Kevin Simler, Robin Hanson |
| الناشر | Oxford University Press, 2017 |
| رقم ISBN (الرقم الدولي المعياري للكتاب) | 0190496002, 9780190496005 |
| عدد الصفحات | 288 من الصفحات |
| تصدير الاقتباس | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |