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Albert Moukheiber

Your Brain Is Playing Tricks On You

Why are we often convinced that we’re right even when we’re wrong?
Why are we jealous, or paranoid, even when we have absolutely no reason to be?
Why is it so easy for fake news to spread around the globe and fool us?


It’s because we don’t see the world as it is, rather we reconstruct it in our mind. Reality is way too complex and multiple to be apprehended by our capacities of attention, which are quite limited, as well as our brain abilities. That is why our perception of the world is subjective and various elements influence the way we acquire knowledge and form opinions. Our brain is recreating the world in its own way — most of the time for our own good: how hard would it be if, before making a choice, we had to know about all the options available in a given situation? It would take us forever to choose an item of clothing in a store, or a meal in a restaurant! Luckily, our brain can estimate: even if it makes us imperfect and subject to illusion, delusion and error, it allows us to reconstruct the world as we know it, and live in it.

However, these very useful mechanisms can sometimes mislead us and have a rather negative impact on our actions, beliefs and opinions: when our brain behaves that way, we say it is biased. Albert Moukheiber gives us tips and tricks to fight against these cognitive biases — the first one being not to trust ourselves too much and to always doubt our thinking processes, especially in this era where social networks spread information like an epidemic. In this book, filled with multiple examples from our daily lives and psychosocial experiments, Moukheiber explores the building blocks of our perception, cognition and behaviour, which are involved in acquiring knowledge or forming opinions.
146 printed pages
Original publication
2022
Publication year
2022
Publishers
Legend Press, Hero
Have you already read it? How did you like it?
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Impressions

  • Andrea Elena P Sorianoshared an impression9 months ago
    👍Worth reading
    💡Learnt A Lot
    🎯Worthwhile
    🚀Unputdownable

    This really helped me with my life

  • Mish Jazshared an impression10 months ago
    👍Worth reading

  • Beast Gamershared an impression7 months ago
    👎Give This a Miss

Quotes

  • Sabin Chaulagainhas quoted10 months ago
    human beings tend to blindly trust their perception, to the point of considering it to be shared by everyone.
  • Shizhas quoted10 months ago
    Without thinking, does the black figure seem to be facing us, or does it have its back to us? Are you above it, or below? You’re hesitating…

    Now look at the image below: the individual clearly seems to be facing us, their elbows leant on the barrier, and they’re located above you. And now that you have this image in mind, look at the first version of the image again. The interpretation you make of it will copy the scenario that image (a) led you to see, and now the black figure appears to be facing you at a low-angle shot
  • AURAhas quoted10 months ago
    brain, which shelters our knowledge, operates through estimates. The outcome is that our knowledge of things and of the world is always relative.

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