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. |
من داخل الكتاب
الصفحة 18
... male chimpanzees engaged in an act of social grooming. One chimp— the groomee— sits hunched over, exposing his full backside. The other chimp— the groomer— crawls up and begins examining the first chimp's fur. He'll typically spend a ...
... male chimpanzees engaged in an act of social grooming. One chimp— the groomee— sits hunched over, exposing his full backside. The other chimp— the groomer— crawls up and begins examining the first chimp's fur. He'll typically spend a ...
الصفحة 20
... Male babblers arrange themselves into rigid dominance hierarchies. The alpha male, for example, consistently wins in small squabbles with the beta male, who in turn consistently wins against the gamma male. Very occasionally, a much ...
... Male babblers arrange themselves into rigid dominance hierarchies. The alpha male, for example, consistently wins in small squabbles with the beta male, who in turn consistently wins against the gamma male. Very occasionally, a much ...
الصفحة 21
... male is standing guard duty at the top of a tree, the alpha will often fly up and harass the beta off his perch. The beta, meanwhile, isn't strong enough to bully the alpha from guard duty, but he will often stand insistently nearby ...
... male is standing guard duty at the top of a tree, the alpha will often fly up and harass the beta off his perch. The beta, meanwhile, isn't strong enough to bully the alpha from guard duty, but he will often stand insistently nearby ...
الصفحة 22
... Males with greater prestige get to mate more often with the females of the group. A prestigious alpha, for example, may take all the mating opportunities for himself. But if the beta has earned high prestige, the alpha will occasionally ...
... Males with greater prestige get to mate more often with the females of the group. A prestigious alpha, for example, may take all the mating opportunities for himself. But if the beta has earned high prestige, the alpha will occasionally ...
الصفحة 31
... males and females converge.9 Humans aren't perfectly pair- bonded and monogamous, of course, but it's a fair approximation. In fact, as Ridley says, “It is hard to overemphasize how unusual humans are in this respect.”10 Thus in sex, as ...
... males and females converge.9 Humans aren't perfectly pair- bonded and monogamous, of course, but it's a fair approximation. In fact, as Ridley says, “It is hard to overemphasize how unusual humans are in this respect.”10 Thus in sex, as ...
طبعات أخرى - عرض جميع المقتطفات
عبارات ومصطلحات مألوفة
activities actually advertise animal asked become behavior beliefs benefit better body brains Chapter charity competition consider conspicuous consumers conversation cost course deception don’t donate effect entirely especially example expect experience explain face fact feel friends function getting give given going hand happen hard human important impressive individual interest it’s keep kind language laugh laughter least less listeners live look loyalty male mates means medicine minds motives natural norms ourselves parties patients percent person play political prefer Press question reasons religion religious result sense signal similar simply social someone speaking spend status subjects talk there’s they’re things tion turn typically understand voting we’re what’s