Psych: The Story of the Human Mind
by Paul Bloom
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The author shares stories he gathered about wrong things people wanted to do (and did) precisely because they knew they were wrong. The stories range from a woman flirting with her friend’s boyfriend on purpose to someone walking on the grass instead of the path simply because they knew they shouldn’t. In comedy, so much of what’s funny involves people doing irrational and/or immoral things. Many of our perverse actions come from “reactance,” which is the desire to preserve our autonomy when told not to do something.
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Dr. Will Ajayi hosts author via video for Talks at Google + Q&A
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Bloom describes the limits of our consciousness; for example, if we had one podcast coming in one ear and another into the other ear, we could switch back and forth or tune out one and focus on the other, but we’re not capable of simultaneously listening to both. Bloom rejects the Whorfian hypothesis, or the idea that our native language constrains how we think. However, he does think that language reflects our thought processes. For example, as religion has declined, curse words like “hell” have lost their punch.
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Author converses with Michael Shermer via video call
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Most religious beliefs are “mythical truths” and their believers aren’t even that interested in investigating them; for example, people who claim to believe they will spend eternity in “heaven” are not nearly as interested in or anxious to arrive as they would be if they were going to spend their two-week vacation at a resort. Bloom and Shermer discuss free will and the sway of a cult-like leader over his followers in light of the January 6th insurrection brought about by Trump followers.
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Excerpt from longer interview about human emotions
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The author says that although babies start out feeling mostly joy and/or rage, they soon are able to feel and demonstrate a wide range of more subtle emotions. As adults we need to learn to trade off between rational responses and emotional decision making. If we move between countries, that is between cultures, we have to modulate emotions according to how acceptable or unacceptable it is to show anger or affection, for example, in one culture vs. another.
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