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 8
Hidden Motives in Everyday Life Kevin Simler, Robin Hanson. keep our thoughts pure and chaste. “We” don't always know what our brains are up to, but we often pretend to know, and therein lies the trouble. THE BASIC ARGUMENT At least four ...
Hidden Motives in Everyday Life Kevin Simler, Robin Hanson. keep our thoughts pure and chaste. “We” don't always know what our brains are up to, but we often pretend to know, and therein lies the trouble. THE BASIC ARGUMENT At least four ...
الصفحة 17
... stay clean. Individual primates can (and do) groom themselves, but they can only effectively groom about half their bodies. They can't easily groom their own backs, faces, and heads. So to keep their entire 1 Animal Behavior.
... stay clean. Individual primates can (and do) groom themselves, but they can only effectively groom about half their bodies. They can't easily groom their own backs, faces, and heads. So to keep their entire 1 Animal Behavior.
الصفحة 18
... keep their entire bodies clean, they need a little help from their friends.1 This is called social grooming.2 Picture two male chimpanzees engaged in an act of social grooming. One chimp— the groomee— sits hunched over, exposing his ...
... keep their entire bodies clean, they need a little help from their friends.1 This is called social grooming.2 Picture two male chimpanzees engaged in an act of social grooming. One chimp— the groomee— sits hunched over, exposing his ...
الصفحة 20
... keep their fur clean with only 30 minutes of social grooming every day, but instead they spend 120 minutes. (This seems similar to a human showering four times a day.) Only politics explains why the geladas spend those additional ...
... keep their fur clean with only 30 minutes of social grooming every day, but instead they spend 120 minutes. (This seems similar to a human showering four times a day.) Only politics explains why the geladas spend those additional ...
الصفحة 22
... keep him around. Second, by performing more acts of “altruism,” a babbler demonstrates his strength and fitness. An alpha who goes beak- to- beak with a prestigious beta is less likely to win the fight, and so gives the beta more leeway ...
... keep him around. Second, by performing more acts of “altruism,” a babbler demonstrates his strength and fitness. An alpha who goes beak- to- beak with a prestigious beta is less likely to win the fight, and so gives the beta more leeway ...
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