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 3
... social grooming sessions. Interviews began to look like thinly veiled initiation rituals. The company logo took on the character of a tribal totem or religious symbol. But the biggest revelation from Boehm's book concerned social status ...
... social grooming sessions. Interviews began to look like thinly veiled initiation rituals. The company logo took on the character of a tribal totem or religious symbol. But the biggest revelation from Boehm's book concerned social status ...
الصفحة 4
... social and political as ours. What's interesting is how people obfuscate all this social competition by dressing it up in clinical business jargon. Richard doesn't complain about Karen by saying, “She gets in my way”; he accuses her of ...
... social and political as ours. What's interesting is how people obfuscate all this social competition by dressing it up in clinical business jargon. Richard doesn't complain about Karen by saying, “She gets in my way”; he accuses her of ...
الصفحة 7
... social levels, taking inspiration from Thorstein Veblen, an economist and sociologist writing roughly a century ago. Veblen famously coined the term “conspicuous consumption” to explain the demand for luxury goods. When consumers are ...
... social levels, taking inspiration from Thorstein Veblen, an economist and sociologist writing roughly a century ago. Veblen famously coined the term “conspicuous consumption” to explain the demand for luxury goods. When consumers are ...
الصفحة 8
... social status with our posture, and interpret and react to all these behaviors in our interaction partners. 2. Cognitive and social psychology. The study of cognitive biases and self- deception has matured considerably in recent years ...
... social status with our posture, and interpret and react to all these behaviors in our interaction partners. 2. Cognitive and social psychology. The study of cognitive biases and self- deception has matured considerably in recent years ...
الصفحة 9
... social animal. Something just doesn't add up. 4. Economic puzzles. When we study specific social institutions—medicine, education, politics, charity, religion, news, and so forth—we notice that they frequently fall short of their stated ...
... social animal. Something just doesn't add up. 4. Economic puzzles. When we study specific social institutions—medicine, education, politics, charity, religion, news, and so forth—we notice that they frequently fall short of their stated ...
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