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
... primates . All - hands meetings , shared meals , and team outings became elaborate social grooming ses- sions . Interviews began to look like thinly veiled initiation rituals . The company logo took on the character of a tribal totem or ...
... primates . All - hands meetings , shared meals , and team outings became elaborate social grooming ses- sions . Interviews began to look like thinly veiled initiation rituals . The company logo took on the character of a tribal totem or ...
الصفحة 4
... primates , are constantly jockeying to keep or improve their position in the hierarchy , whether by dominance displays , squabbles over territory , or active confrontations . None of these behaviors is surprising to find in a species as ...
... primates , are constantly jockeying to keep or improve their position in the hierarchy , whether by dominance displays , squabbles over territory , or active confrontations . None of these behaviors is surprising to find in a species as ...
الصفحة 9
... primates , specifically apes . Human nature is therefore a modified form of ape nature . And when we study pri- mate groups , we notice a lot of Machiavellian behavior - sexual displays , dominance and submission , fitness displays ...
... primates , specifically apes . Human nature is therefore a modified form of ape nature . And when we study pri- mate groups , we notice a lot of Machiavellian behavior - sexual displays , dominance and submission , fitness displays ...
الصفحة 17
... primates . While humans are relatively hairless , most other primates have thick fur all over their bod- ies . When left unchecked , this fur quickly becomes matted with dirt and debris . It also makes an attractive home for fleas ...
... primates . While humans are relatively hairless , most other primates have thick fur all over their bod- ies . When left unchecked , this fur quickly becomes matted with dirt and debris . It also makes an attractive home for fleas ...
الصفحة 18
... primate species spend only 0.1 percent of their time grooming each other , while birds spend maybe 0.01 percent of their time on similar preening behaviors.5 Even more puzzling is the fact that primates spend a lot more time grooming ...
... primate species spend only 0.1 percent of their time grooming each other , while birds spend maybe 0.01 percent of their time on similar preening behaviors.5 Even more puzzling is the fact that primates spend a lot more time grooming ...
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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