The Believing Brain: From Ghosts and Gods to Politics and Conspiracies - How We Construct Beliefs and Reinforce Them as Truths, Paperback

Descriere

Synthesizing thirty years of research, psychologist and science historian Michael Shermer upends the traditional thinking about how humans form beliefs about the world. Simply put, beliefs come first and explanations for beliefs follow. The brain, Shermer argues, is a belief engine. Using sensory data that flow in through the senses, the brain naturally begins to look for and find patterns, and then infuses those patterns with meaning, forming beliefs. Once beliefs are formed the brain begins to look for and find confirmatory evidence in support of those beliefs, accelerating the process of reinforcing them, and round and round the process goes in a positive-feedback loop. In The Believing Brain, Shermer provides countless real-world examples of how this process operates, from politics, economics, and religion to conspiracy theories, the supernatural, and the paranormal. And ultimately, he demonstrates why science is the best tool ever devised to determine whether or not our beliefs match reality.

Despre autor

Michael Shermer

scriitor american de știință · n. 1954

Michael Brant Shermer este un scriitor american și specialist în istoria științei și fondator al The Skeptics Society. Este cunoscut pentru critica adusă pseudoștiinței și existenței fenomenelor supranaturale. Un prim exemplu îl constituie cartea sa Why People Believe Weird Things, apărută în 1997 și tradusă în română sub titlul De ce cred oamenii în bazaconii.