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    The Elephant in the Brain: Hidden Motives in Everyday Life
    The Elephant in the Brain: Hidden Motives in Everyday Life
    The Elephant in the Brain: Hidden Motives in Everyday Life
    Audiobook10 hours

    The Elephant in the Brain: Hidden Motives in Everyday Life

    Written by Robin Hanson and Kevin Simler

    Narrated by Jeffrey Kafer

    4.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    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.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateSep 25, 2018
    ISBN9781541446212
    The Elephant in the Brain: Hidden Motives in Everyday Life

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    Reviews for The Elephant in the Brain

    4.5/5

    349 ratings23 reviews

    What our readers think

    Readers find this title to be an amazing, intellectual, and honest mirror of the human mind. It offers a curious and thought-provoking exploration of various aspects of life, providing insights into human decision-making. The book is engaging, eye-opening, and exceptionally clear in its reasoning. It shatters imaginary walls and challenges perspectives, revealing hidden motives and exposing the self-serving ego. While some readers may disagree with certain aspects, the overall impact is transformative. It is a great book that is worth the read.

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      I really liked this book, and it's definitely recommended. It's written with an academic precision, and yet witty and easy to go through. The first part of the book is more "general", describing more overall patterns of self-deception and providing reasons for why we, as humans, have developed these. The second part is divided into thematic chapters, eg. "religion", "politics", "mating" where the overall ideas/themes from the first part of the book are compared to real-life examples from across different fields/sub-themes.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 1/5
      The book is too dry and nothing much we all already know instinctively.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      The only part of the book, l do not agree with is referring to born again Christians as being deluded in their thinking. I strongly object that because I'm a believer and my salvation exoerience was real that i can tell u the story like it happened testerday and l had the experience at my pre-teen years. Jesus is real and He did change my life.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      Why did the authors write this book?

      They mainly wanted to show how we might always have ulterior motives that drive us. Some of these are even hidden from us but are built into our social institutions. Since humans are political, it is not surprising that deception is used to get ahead socially. However, with self-deception and self-interested schemers, pretense is needed. The elephant in the brain indeed makes you confront motives within society, your circle, and yourself.

      Why did I review this book?

      This review serves as a reminder or memory bank to remember how I felt or thought about the book. However, according to the book, I might be virtue signaling or humble bragging that I read something seemingly clever.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      This book should be up with Sapiens and other books that illuminate humanity, even if they might not be entirely correct, or possibly because they might not be entirely correct, because it is the thought process and having to face our own cognitive dissonance that leads to greater wisdom.
    • 5/5
      Best book I’ve read in years. Incredible insight in to human nature. How blind we are to our own motives. This should be required reading for all of humanity.
    • 4/5
      Will change your perspective on how you see different sectors in life. Might be biased at some aspects but generally neutral on most aspects.
    • 5/5
      Fascinating, thought provoking and will certainly make me stop and check for wildlife in my brain….
    • 5/5
      Brilliant! Fascinating ideas, exceptionally clear reasoning, really fun, interesting and eye-opening!
    • 2/5
      Stalin killed millions, 600 000 human lives is a gross under estimation.

      Fact checking needed at every turn of the page, a tedious read.
    • 5/5
      Excellent work. Engaging and eye-opening. The audiobook version is very well put together.
    • 5/5
      A blatantly honest and insightful book that I highly recommend
    • 3/5
      Interesting views on our hidden motives. Conspicuous consumption, altruism, artistic expression and intellectualism all for elevating our own status. The self serving Ego what hypocrites we are.
    • 4/5
      A nice introspection into how we think as humans and how our motives are seldom apparent.
    • 3/5
      Deception and self-deception. Written pretty well, but the ideas aren’t really new, maybe just presented in a different way.
    • 5/5
      Amazing book a real eye opener in details of the aspects of the brain
    • 5/5
      Great book, great articulations and great 10hrs worthy company. I loved it.
    • 5/5
      fascinating! the book covers many different areas where humans make decisions for unrelated reasons. education, medical, charity giving.. really good insights
    • 5/5
      This book shattered the imaginary walls I had built. I had lost hope for human motives and institutions but was still secretly respecting them. This book brought it to a finish with a stamp on it.
    • 5/5
      Highly intellectual and honest mirror of our own mind and blind spots.
    • 5/5
      Very thought-provoking! An interesting way to view “normal” aspects of life
    • 2/5
      There is nothing surprising or even taboo in this book. What sheltered lives do the authors lead?

      This is one step above a bloke in a pub. An interesting, articulate guy but still not any kind of expert in the field. Scholarly paper - this is not.
    • 3/5
      I really didn't learn anything. We are primates who seek to elevate our status. Almost anything we do can be viewed in this light, if you squint hard enough. This really didn't add any "a-ha" moments, or "gotta tell someone this quote" moments, or "can't wait to read what's next moments" - nothing I really look for in a non-fiction book. It also can't help but be a downer that the author actually comes out and says he only wrote the thing as a vanity project, i.e. to elevate his status. It kind of shows.