The Elephant in the Brain: Hidden Motives in Everyday Life
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| Anteprima |
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.
