Book There is an elephant hidden in my head by two authors Kevin Simler and Robin Hanson, recently published by Dan Tri Publishing House. The book’s title is inspired by an English idiom – “the elephant in the room”, which describes somewhat serious events and phenomena that everyone knows about but deliberately avoids.
Accordingly, There is an elephant hidden in my head implies that we all turn a blind eye to something that exists in our consciousness.
Sigmund Freud’s research shows that the subconscious can sometimes have a significant impact on human actions and decisions; However, the subconscious does not prevent people from giving intentional explanations for the above behaviors in everyday life. Therefore, it is difficult to accept if someone says that we do not even understand the real calculations behind our daily actions.
With There’s an elephant hidden in your head: The hidden psychological corner behind everyday calculationsKevin Simler and Robin Hanson attempt to demonstrate that there may be many different hidden motives that people are unaware of behind their social behavior.
The authors address the problem: “Why do we hide our motives” and point out that there are many different motives but we tend to focus on and exaggerate the good motives that benefit our role. own role in society, while downplaying “evil” and selfish motives.
Starting with animal social behavior – the fact that primates spend more time than necessary grooming each other may have many intentions, such as building trust and forming alliances can help them in different situations.
Another example is competitive altruism where some animals are willing to provide food and protection for others – through this behavior they can increase their status as members of the herd.
Human behavior is shaped and maintained based on evolutionary considerations, and competition is inevitable in this process. The three main types of competition of human ancestors were probably sexual, social status, and political. Regardless of where the play takes place, interspecies competition is often a waste of resources. This causes people to create standards to limit competition as well as avoid wasting brain resources.
Perhaps many of you will like the book chapter Standard – summarizes the history of the formation of norms and explains why humans need norms and the importance of rumor and reputation in forming and maintaining norms.
In theory, successful norm enforcement could reduce brain usage. However, the reality is that the human brain is getting larger instead of shrinking. Larger brains consume more energy; Therefore, it must be decisive for human survival, and one of the influencing factors can be mentioned as the existence of fraud.
Surely, many readers will be startled when turning each chapter’s pages Cheating. The authors were forced to admit that “Everyone cheats.” Mutual restraint between rule enforcers and rule avoiders improves their mental abilities.
Accordingly, there are many different forms of cheating: “cheating on a test” is a situation of avoiding standards that a specific person (invigilator) has discovered, while “drinking alcohol in public” is a situation that many people know about. In addition, there is a special way of cheating – self-deception.
Regarding the function of self-deception, the authors put forward two hypotheses in chap Self-deception. People recognize self-deception as a way to protect themselves. Others see self-deception as an extroverted, manipulative, and ultimately self-serving mechanism rather than the introverted, defensive, self-defeating mechanism proposed by Freud.
There is an elephant hidden in my head refers to human selfishness and a set of related concepts or expressions. At the same time, do not hesitate to expose “hidden motives in everyday life” to better illustrate the widespread existence of the “elephant” and its profound impact on the lives of every intelligent person. through specific examples.
There are 10 areas including: Body language, Laughter, Conversation, Consumption, Art, Charity, Education, Health, Religion and Politics – these are diverse aspects of social life. The authors present the obvious motives for each individual, point out that they are not sufficiently explanatory, and finally offer alternative motives.
A key highlight of this book is its examination of “the hidden motives behind human behavior” in various aspects.
But the authors cannot avoid choosing evidence according to their argument needs. For example, spending money on others can make people happier than those who spend money on themselves, regardless of the amount or whether the third party knows about it. Hidden motives cannot adequately explain such human behavior.
In any case, the book is still well worth reading, whether for amateur or professional practitioners of sociology, psychology, economics, political science, or other related disciplines.
Osho’s ‘Zen’ or story cannot be explained in words
Osho’s book ‘Meditation’ gives an in-depth look at meditation, a path that is not always easy to explain in words.
The streak of light at the end of sad stories
Nguyen Thi Nhu Hien’s first collection of stories ‘Rain Through Trien Rang’ revolves around familiar spaces. There, poverty, war and epidemics are the reasons that create so many painful separations… but people refuse to give up.
Enjoy a glorious old age
‘Brilliant Old Age’ is not a book sharing secrets to help us live longer, but a profound and meaningful journey to discover how to enjoy life to the fullest.
