Believing
eBook - ePub

Believing

The Neuroscience of Fantasies, Fears, and Convictions

  1. English
  2. ePUB (mobile friendly)
  3. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub

Believing

The Neuroscience of Fantasies, Fears, and Convictions

About this book

A new book about brain chemistry, neural systems, and the formation of beliefs from the scientist who brought to light serotonin's many crucial roles in human behavior. Beliefs: What are they? How have evolution and culture led to a brain that is seemingly committed to near endless belief creation? And once established, why are most beliefs so difficult to change?Believingoffers answers to these questions from the perspective of a leading neuroscientist and expert in brain-behavior research. Combining personal anecdotes and the latest research, Dr. McGuire takes the novel approach of focusing on the central and critical role of brain systems and the ways in which they interact with the environment to create and maintain beliefs. This approach yields some surprising and counterintuitive conclusions: Ā·The brain is designed for belief creation and acceptance. Ā·It is biased in favor of its own beliefs and is highly insensitive to disconfirming evidence. Ā·It prefers beliefs that are pleasurable and rewarding to those that are unfavorable. Ā·Beliefs are "afterthoughts" of unperceived brain activities; they don't cause behavior. Ā·Our consciousness has minimal influence on the neural systems that create beliefs. Based on these observations, McGuire concludes that for the foreseeable future people will continue to hold a multitude of beliefs, many of them intransigent.

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Yes, you can access Believing by Michael McGuire in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Biological Sciences & Neuroscience. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Information

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Title page
  3. Copyright
  4. Table of Contents
  5. Acknowledgments
  6. Chapter 1. A Career Turns Upside Down
  7. Chapter 2. Where to Start?
  8. Chapter 3. Types and Uses
  9. Chapter 4. What Psychologists Have Found
  10. Chapter 5. Lessons from History
  11. Chapter 6. Evidence, Sources, and Interpretation
  12. Chapter 7. Seeing What We Believe
  13. Chapter 8. Religion as an Exception to Science—Or Is It?
  14. Chapter 9. Philosophical Considerations
  15. Chapter 10. Awareness, Belief, and the Physical Brain
  16. Chapter 11. The Biology of Belief
  17. Chapter 12. Enter Imaginings, Beliefs, Uncertainty, and Ambiguity
  18. Chapter 13. Theory of Mind, Mirroring, and Attribution
  19. Chapter 14. Stories and Models
  20. Chapter 15. Triggering
  21. Chapter 16. Intransigent Beliefs and Belief-Disconfirmation Failure
  22. Chapter 17. And Why?
  23. Chapter 18. What to Do?
  24. Notes
  25. Index
  26. Back Cover