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The Elephant in the Brain | Why You Never Know Your Real Motives
The Elephant in the Brain begins with an uncomfortable possibility: the reasons we give for our behavior may not be the reasons that actually drive it. Kevin Simler and Robin Hanson argue that much of human behavior is shaped by hidden motives — status, signaling, reputation and social advantage — while the conscious mind constructs more flattering explanations after the fact.The book applies that idea across education, medicine, politics, charity, laughter, art and everyday social life. Its central claim is not simply that people deceive others, but that self-deception itself may be useful…
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