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 5
... prefer to ignore the elephant, and as a result, we systematically give short shrift to explanations of our behavior that call attention to it. Box 1: “The Elephant” So what, exactly, is the elephant in the brain, this thing we're ...
... prefer to ignore the elephant, and as a result, we systematically give short shrift to explanations of our behavior that call attention to it. Box 1: “The Elephant” So what, exactly, is the elephant in the brain, this thing we're ...
الصفحة 12
... prefer to believe that almost all of us have pretty motives. In such cases, we can all be quite wrong, together, about what drives our behavior. TRAJECTORY OF THE BOOK The book is divided into two parts. Part I, “Why We Hide Our Motives ...
... prefer to believe that almost all of us have pretty motives. In such cases, we can all be quite wrong, together, about what drives our behavior. TRAJECTORY OF THE BOOK The book is divided into two parts. Part I, “Why We Hide Our Motives ...
الصفحة 22
... prefers to keep him around. Second, by performing more acts of “altruism,” a babbler demonstrates his strength and fitness. An alpha who goes beak- to- beak with a prestigious beta is less likely to win the fight, and so gives the beta ...
... prefers to keep him around. Second, by performing more acts of “altruism,” a babbler demonstrates his strength and fitness. An alpha who goes beak- to- beak with a prestigious beta is less likely to win the fight, and so gives the beta ...
الصفحة 26
... prefer the keys to our intelligence to be found somewhere in the pleasing light of ecological challenges, implying that our extra gray matter evolved in service of cooperation. “We grew. Figure 2. Human Ancestors' Brain Volume Over Time ...
... prefer the keys to our intelligence to be found somewhere in the pleasing light of ecological challenges, implying that our extra gray matter evolved in service of cooperation. “We grew. Figure 2. Human Ancestors' Brain Volume Over Time ...
الصفحة 27
... prefer explanations that make us look good, whether as individuals, families, communities, or nations. When it comes to our rivals, we're perfectly happy to entertain unflattering theories about their behavior, as long as the mud we ...
... prefer explanations that make us look good, whether as individuals, families, communities, or nations. When it comes to our rivals, we're perfectly happy to entertain unflattering theories about their behavior, as long as the mud we ...
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