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 2
... getting second opinions or asking for outcome statistics from their doctors or hospitals . ( One astonishing study found that only 8 percent of patients about to undergo a dangerous heart surgery were willing to pay $ 50 to learn the ...
... getting second opinions or asking for outcome statistics from their doctors or hospitals . ( One astonishing study found that only 8 percent of patients about to undergo a dangerous heart surgery were willing to pay $ 50 to learn the ...
الصفحة 3
... getting more medicine than they need strictly for their health . The conclusion is that medicine isn't just about health - it's also an exer- cise in conspicuous caring . Now , we don't expect our readers to believe this explanation ...
... getting more medicine than they need strictly for their health . The conclusion is that medicine isn't just about health - it's also an exer- cise in conspicuous caring . Now , we don't expect our readers to believe this explanation ...
الصفحة 10
... getting graded, ranked, and credentialed, stamped for the approval of employers. Religion isn't just about private belief in God or the afterlife, but about conspicuous public professions of belief that help bind groups together. In ...
... getting graded, ranked, and credentialed, stamped for the approval of employers. Religion isn't just about private belief in God or the afterlife, but about conspicuous public professions of belief that help bind groups together. In ...
الصفحة 22
... getting kicked out of the group. If the beta, for example, has earned lots of prestige by being useful to the group, the alpha is less likely to evict him. Here the logic is twofold. First, a prestigious beta has shown himself to be ...
... getting kicked out of the group. If the beta, for example, has earned lots of prestige by being useful to the group, the alpha is less likely to evict him. Here the logic is twofold. First, a prestigious beta has shown himself to be ...
الصفحة 28
... getting more sun . A forest is an intensely competitive place , and sunlight is a scarce but critical resource . And even when you're a redwood , the tallest of all tree species , you still have to worry about getting enough sun because ...
... getting more sun . A forest is an intensely competitive place , and sunlight is a scarce but critical resource . And even when you're a redwood , the tallest of all tree species , you still have to worry about getting enough sun because ...
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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