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 27
... course we acknowledge office politics in the abstract , but how often do we write about it on the company blog ? In general , we prefer explanations that make us look good , whether as individuals , families , communities , or nations ...
... course we acknowledge office politics in the abstract , but how often do we write about it on the company blog ? In general , we prefer explanations that make us look good , whether as individuals , families , communities , or nations ...
الصفحة 29
... course , that's not the right way to think about it . We didn't evolve in the meadow ( metaphorically speaking ) ; we evolved in the dense forest . And like the redwood , we weren't competing primarily against other spe- cies , but ...
... course , that's not the right way to think about it . We didn't evolve in the meadow ( metaphorically speaking ) ; we evolved in the dense forest . And like the redwood , we weren't competing primarily against other spe- cies , but ...
الصفحة 30
... honesty has often been the file against which intellectual tools for truth have been sharpened . " " Of course , the social brain hypothesis isn't a complete. Figure 4. Humans Competing in Intelligence. 30 Why We Hide Our Motives.
... honesty has often been the file against which intellectual tools for truth have been sharpened . " " Of course , the social brain hypothesis isn't a complete. Figure 4. Humans Competing in Intelligence. 30 Why We Hide Our Motives.
الصفحة 31
... course ) . From the perspective of evolution , mating , not survival , is the name of the game . Now , when discussing sex in our own species , it's easy to get distracted ( often to the point of fixation ) on sex differences : how men ...
... course ) . From the perspective of evolution , mating , not survival , is the name of the game . Now , when discussing sex in our own species , it's easy to get distracted ( often to the point of fixation ) on sex differences : how men ...
الصفحة 33
... course , these two forms of status aren't mutually exclusive ; Steve Jobs , for example , exhibited both dominance and prestige . But the two forms are analytically distinct strategies with different biological expressions . They are ...
... course , these two forms of status aren't mutually exclusive ; Steve Jobs , for example , exhibited both dominance and prestige . But the two forms are analytically distinct strategies with different biological expressions . They are ...
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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