|
|
Product Description
Synthesizing thirty years of research, psychologist and science historian Michael Shermer upends the traditional thinking about how humans form beliefs about the world. Simply put, beliefs come first and explanations for beliefs follow. The brain, Shermer argues, is a belief engine. Using sensory data that flow in through the senses, the brain naturally begins to look for and find patterns, and then infuses those patterns with meaning, forming beliefs. Once beliefs are formed the brain begins to look for and find confirmatory evidence in support of those beliefs, accelerating the process of reinforcing them, and round and round the process goes in a positive-feedback loop.
In The Believing Brain, Shermer provides countless real-world examples of how this process operates, from politics, economics, and religion to conspiracy theories, the supernatural, and the paranormal. And ultimately, he demonstrates why science is the best tool ever devised to determine whether or not our beliefs match reality.
Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought
- THE MORAL ARC
- The Science of Good and Evil (Holt Paperback)
- The Owner's Manual for the Brain (4th Edition): The Ultimate Guide to Peak Mental Performance at All Ages
- Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of Our Time
- Skeptic: Viewing the World with a Rational Eye
- The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives
- A Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic Visions in Contemporary America (Comparative Studies in Religion and Society)
- Denialism: How Irrational Thinking Harms the Planet and Threatens Our Lives
- Heavens on Earth: The Scientific Search for the Afterlife, Immortality, and Utopia
- The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
*If this is not the "Believing Brain" product you were looking for, you can check the other results by clicking this link
.
Details were last updated on Nov 3, 2024 22:14 +08.
