“ur institutions harbor giant, silent furnaces of intra-group competitive signaling, where trillions of dollars of wealth, resources, and human effort are being shoveled in and burned to ash each year, largely for the purpose of showing off. When this goes on for a long period, we end up with institutions (like schools, or hospitals) that are built with these hidden motives in mind (at least partially). Hidden motives are not just something we do in private, as a species we also do them in public, together. Our self-deception is a strategic choice. However, we don’t want to appear selfish to other people – this is why our brain hides these hidden motives from our consciousness. We’re not just capable to have these hidden motives, but we’re designed to have and use them out of self-interest. The Elephant in the Brain is on the hidden motives of many of our actions. At the entrance of a second person, hypocrisy begins.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson Book Summary & NotesĪll text between quotation marks is taken directly from the book. The “real reasons” of why we do what we do – that are often hidden from our consciousness – is what Simler and Hanson explore in this book.įor more details and reviews go to Amazon. Morgan, everyone has a good reason to do something and a real reason. The Elephant in the Brain looks at the hidden reasons and motivations of many of the things we do.
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