The Elephant in the Brain
Hidden Motives in Everyday Life
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The Elephant in the Brain
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Narrated by:
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Jeffrey Kafer
About this listen
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.
©2018 Kevin Simler and Robin Hanson (P)2018 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
What listeners say about The Elephant in the Brain
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Garreth Byrne
- 28-02-25
a fine, important book
reviewing in 2025, mamy facets of the thesis laid out in this book have seeped quite far into the mainstream, especially for those heavily online. As such, reading it is not revelatory in a way it may have been in the past. Still the book is focusing on an important issue and the healthcare chapter in particular still has a lot to offer public policy and personal health choices. 3.5 out of 5. the narration was quite dry and matter of fact and I believe that reflected the underlying work.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- George Boylan
- 28-07-19
Pointless comment
I am writing this review not because I am reviewing the book, but because I want people to read it and see me as an intelligent being, who spends his time listening to books.
A great book. I am not sure how to take what I have learned from listening to this. I feel I wotn be able to look at other humans the same way. After listening to this book and learning about our own motives, we are all selfish beings and in the long run any action we take is done for our own good.
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5 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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- Stephen M.
- 29-05-22
Good listen on the why of human behaviour
Interesting take on why / how we react to our environment. Looks at the animal behaviour of our brains, build on biases, evolution traits and self interest
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Martin A. Petersen
- 23-09-19
great view into how our brains work!
I highly enjoyed a look into how self-deception plays a vital role to us all
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Anonymous User
- 17-02-23
great listen, will listen again soon
loads of great content, and so much more to understand! i want to give it another listen soon to go more in-depth.
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- David Boosey
- 29-01-24
Fascinating
Don't get too hung up and just enjoy the mild discombobulation as you realise all your good deeds are for selfish motives!
Really interesting, it makes you aware of what's really happening and how good we are at lying to ourselves and why we do it.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Amazon Customer
- 31-05-19
Red pill or blue pill?
I love to learn about human psychology because what seems to be simple on the surface is so complex beneath. For me, this book coalesced much other material about economics, evolution and psychology into a clearer explanatory narrative of human behaviour.
Unsurprisingly there are few answers to the question "What should be do with this knowledge?". But for me, simply knowing it gives me an opportunity to be humble and admit that I don't know why I did something, rather than defend it mindlessly.
An excellent book, thoroughly recommended for those, like me, who choose the red pill.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 18-11-20
Engaging read!
Interesting and well researched with entertaining humorous comments sprinkled in. Theories are supported by scientific literature but the authors still present a healthy dose of scepticism. It's refreshing to hear about their own introspection aswell. The reading may be a little monotonous at times but it's easy to follow and suits the occasional dry humour.
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- Jacopo Pierotti
- 02-12-22
very good book about hidden motives
very good book about hidden motives behind our action. the chapters about religion and education are especially intriguing.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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- SteveN
- 27-12-23
An Interesting Perspective on Signalling
I enjoyed listening to this open and honest account of the authors view on why we do what we do, it was also refreshing to hear the authors acknowledgement that such behaviours have driven them to writing this book further enforcing their message.
What this book does is expose that we are all pro-self at heart, more animal than divine despite our virtues, and that acknowledging this is not actually a bad thing and in fact has far greater negative social connotations should we continue to ignore them.
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