A Mind of Its Own: How Your Brain Distorts and Deceives

A Mind of Its Own: How Your Brain Distorts and Deceives
ISBN-10
0393343006
ISBN-13
9780393343007
Category
Psychology
Pages
256
Language
English
Published
2008-06-17
Publisher
W. W. Norton & Company
Author
Cordelia Fine

Description

"Provocative enough to make you start questioning your each and every action."—Entertainment Weekly The brain's power is confirmed and touted every day in new studies and research. And yet we tend to take our brains for granted, without suspecting that those masses of hard-working neurons might not always be working for us. Cordelia Fine introduces us to a brain we might not want to meet, a brain with a mind of its own. She illustrates the brain's tendency toward self-delusion as she explores how the mind defends and glorifies the ego by twisting and warping our perceptions. Our brains employ a slew of inborn mind-bugs and prejudices, from hindsight bias to unrealistic optimism, from moral excuse-making to wishful thinking—all designed to prevent us from seeing the truth about the world and the people around us, and about ourselves.

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