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 11
... social institutions. A more practical use for our book is to help readers develop better situational awareness (to borrow a term from the military). Whether in meetings, at church, or while watching politicians jabber on TV, we all want ...
... social institutions. A more practical use for our book is to help readers develop better situational awareness (to borrow a term from the military). Whether in meetings, at church, or while watching politicians jabber on TV, we all want ...
الصفحة 12
... social life distort our minds, inducing awkward contortions of selfdeception. Matthew 7:3 asks, “Why worry about a speck in your friend's eye when you have a log in your own?” In our metaphor, we might just as well ask, “Why worry about ...
... social life distort our minds, inducing awkward contortions of selfdeception. Matthew 7:3 asks, “Why worry about a speck in your friend's eye when you have a log in your own?” In our metaphor, we might just as well ask, “Why worry about ...
الصفحة 17
... social life, let's start at a simpler beginning. Because humans are an animal species, we can learn a lot about ourselves by studying other animals (and even plants, as we'll see in the next chapter). In fact, it can be especially ...
... social life, let's start at a simpler beginning. Because humans are an animal species, we can learn a lot about ourselves by studying other animals (and even plants, as we'll see in the next chapter). In fact, it can be especially ...
الصفحة 18
... social grooming.2 Picture two 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 ...
... social grooming.2 Picture two 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 ...
الصفحة 19
... social grooming, and his conclusion has since become the consensus among primatologists. Social grooming, he says, isn't just about hygiene—it's also about politics. By grooming each other, primates help forge alliances that help them ...
... social grooming, and his conclusion has since become the consensus among primatologists. Social grooming, he says, isn't just about hygiene—it's also about politics. By grooming each other, primates help forge alliances that help them ...
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