Horizon Information Portal

HSPLS site

eBooks/Audiobooks

Reading Program

Why everyone (else) is a hypocrite : evolution and the modular mind / Robert Kurzban.

by Kurzban, Robert, 1969-

View full image

Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, c2010.

Modularity (Psychology)

Evolutionary psychology.

Self-deception.

9780691146744 (hbk. : alk. paper)

0691146748 (hbk. : alk. paper)

9781400835997 (electronic bk.)

x, 274 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.

Consistently inconsistent -- Evolution and the fragmented brain -- Who is "I"? -- Modular me -- The truth hurts -- Psychological propaganda -- Self-deception -- Self-control -- Morality and contradictions -- Morality is for the birds.

"We're all hypocrites. Why? Hypocrisy is the natural state of the human mind. Robert Kurzban shows us that the key to understanding our behavioral inconsistencies lies in understanding the mind's design. The human mind consists of many specialized units designed by the process of evolution by natural selection. While these modules sometimes work together seamlessly, they don't always, resulting in impossibly contradictory beliefs, vacillations between patience and impulsiveness, violations of our supposed moral principles, and overinflated views of ourselves. This modular, evolutionary psychological view of the mind undermines deeply held intuitions about ourselves, as well as a range of scientific theories that require a "self" with consistent beliefs and preferences. Modularity suggests that there is no "I." Instead, each of us is a contentious "we"--a collection of discrete but interacting systems whose constant conflicts shape our interactions with one another and our experience of the world"--Jacket.

Horizon Information Portal 3.25_9884

Powered by Dynix

© 2001-2013 SirsiDynix All rights reserved.

Horizon Information Portal