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
النتائج 11-15 من 60
الصفحة 14
... look inward and confront the elephant or continue to avert our gaze— as similar to the choice Morpheus offers Neo in The Matrix. “After this,” Morpheus warns, holding out a blue pill in one hand and a red pill in the other, “there is no ...
... look inward and confront the elephant or continue to avert our gaze— as similar to the choice Morpheus offers Neo in The Matrix. “After this,” Morpheus warns, holding out a blue pill in one hand and a red pill in the other, “there is no ...
الصفحة 17
... look at two animal behaviors that are hard to decipher. In each case, the animals appear to be doing something simple and straightforward, but as we dig below the surface—the same way we'll approach our own behavior in later chapters ...
... look at two animal behaviors that are hard to decipher. In each case, the animals appear to be doing something simple and straightforward, but as we dig below the surface—the same way we'll approach our own behavior in later chapters ...
الصفحة 21
... look for food. At first glance, these activities appear straightforwardly altruistic (i.e., self- sacrificing). A babbler who takes a stint at guard duty, for example, foregoes his own opportunity to eat. Likewise, a babbler who attacks ...
... look for food. At first glance, these activities appear straightforwardly altruistic (i.e., self- sacrificing). A babbler who takes a stint at guard duty, for example, foregoes his own opportunity to eat. Likewise, a babbler who attacks ...
الصفحة 22
... looks like altruism is actually, at a deeper level, competitive self- interest. HUMAN BEHAVIORS We can't always take animal behavior at face value— that's the main lesson to draw from the preceding examples. The surface- level logic of ...
... looks like altruism is actually, at a deeper level, competitive self- interest. HUMAN BEHAVIORS We can't always take animal behavior at face value— that's the main lesson to draw from the preceding examples. The surface- level logic of ...
الصفحة 24
... look more carefully at how our brains were designed and what problems they're intended to solve. We have to turn, in other words, to evolution. 2 Competition H umans are a peculiar species. We're relatively 24 Why We Hide Our Motives.
... look more carefully at how our brains were designed and what problems they're intended to solve. We have to turn, in other words, to evolution. 2 Competition H umans are a peculiar species. We're relatively 24 Why We Hide Our Motives.
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