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 ix
... simply talk and work together , informally , as student and advisor . This is the fruit of our collaboration : a doctoral thesis of sorts . And we suppose that makes you , dear reader , one of our thesis committee . Unlike a ...
... simply talk and work together , informally , as student and advisor . This is the fruit of our collaboration : a doctoral thesis of sorts . And we suppose that makes you , dear reader , one of our thesis committee . Unlike a ...
الصفحة 2
... simply getting healthy- and that these motives are largely unconscious . On introspection , we see only the health motive , but when we step back and triangulate our motives from the outside , reverse - engineering them from our ...
... simply getting healthy- and that these motives are largely unconscious . On introspection , we see only the health motive , but when we step back and triangulate our motives from the outside , reverse - engineering them from our ...
الصفحة 5
... simply stands there , out in the open , and can easily be seen if only we steel ourselves to look in its direction ( see Figure 1 ) . But generally , we prefer to ignore the elephant , and as a result , we systematically give short ...
... simply stands there , out in the open , and can easily be seen if only we steel ourselves to look in its direction ( see Figure 1 ) . But generally , we prefer to ignore the elephant , and as a result , we systematically give short ...
الصفحة 20
... simply give each other back massages instead of picking through each other's fur . But even though there's some hygienic value to social grooming , it doesn't explain why primates spend so much time doing it . Gelada baboons , for ...
... simply give each other back massages instead of picking through each other's fur . But even though there's some hygienic value to social grooming , it doesn't explain why primates spend so much time doing it . Gelada baboons , for ...
الصفحة 23
... simply acting on instinct ) , but their lack of awareness isn't strategic . They have no need to conceal the political intentions underlying their grooming behavior , and thus no need to sup- press their own knowledge . Knowledge ...
... simply acting on instinct ) , but their lack of awareness isn't strategic . They have no need to conceal the political intentions underlying their grooming behavior , and thus no need to sup- press their own knowledge . Knowledge ...
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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