The Hidden Brain: How Our Unconscious Minds Elect Presidents, Control Markets, Wage Wars, and Save Our Lives

by Shankar Vedantam

Book Overview

The hidden brain is the voice in our ear when we make the most important decisions in our lives but we re never aware of it. The hidden brain decides whom we fall in love with and whom we hate. It... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385525214
• ISBN13: 9780385525213
• Release Date: January 2010
• Publisher: Spiegel & Grau
• Length: 270 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.9" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

Sub-rosa Thinking

This is a fascinating exploration of that aspect or function of the brain that has been variously labeled the "sub-conscious" or the "id," but which seems to be closer to the surface than was ever suspected. This "hidden brain" (a function of the frontal and temporal areas of the cerebral cortex) seems to relate to perception in a manner comparable to cerebellar function in motor activiity. It learns then executes rubrics based upon experience from the earliest childhood, then allows us to function in a largely automatic way and increases the speed and agility of our decisions and actions. It also seems to underlie many of our irrational decisions and unexplained prejudices. The writing is excellent and easy to follow. Many examples and case studies clarify the surprising points made. This is a must-read for anyone trying to understand the irrational aspects of politics, social interactions or finance.

A guide to the unconscious and how it influences us.

Proponents of mindfulness and conscious intent may be disappointed when they read this book and realize just how much our unconscious dictates and influences our decisions. The author isn't afraid to tackle tough issues, such as how the hidden brain influences people's thinking about racial and gender issues, as well as how the group mind can actually harm you as opposed to help you. I found this to be a fascinating read because the author presents some compelling evidence that supports his claim and shows just how much the unconscious effects everyday life and decisions. I recommend this book as a refreshing and eye-opening perspective on how we make decisions.

A Fascinating Book about Our Sub-Conscious and How It Influences Our Lives

The subtitle to this book is "How much our unconscious minds elect presidents, control markets, wage wars, and save out live." And that is exactly what you get in this book. The book is a well written exposition on how our unconscious brain controls many of our decisions, prejudices and actions without us ever even knowing it. Now basically the author Vedantam, has compiled the research of various studies and experiments on this topic and presented it in a way that is accessible, interesting and entertaining. I was truly fascinated at how much a part of brain that we never really "Think" with controls our everyday lives, sometimes causing us to do and say things that if we really thought about it we would never do, and other times that same part of our brain saves us from danger and trouble we would never see coming. Now the author, Shankar Vedantam, is a journalist for the Washington Post and some people have knocked that fact, since he is not a Ph.D., researcher, or a scientist, I actually don't mind. As a journalist I think the author presents all his content in very easy to read, understandable and well organized format, with a mix of some great individual stories of real people and how their lives were changed by this "hidden brain". While this may not be a truly new concept to many; and other works like Freakonomics and The Tipping Point have covered similar areas, I still found this to be a really thought provoking and if the subject interests you and I would recommend this book. If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment and I would be happy to answer them.

An educational, engaging, and an excellent book in every aspect

Vedantam, an accomplished science journalist, combines an exceptional story telling talent with modern psychology research to explore seemingly intractable questions, including why very young children exhibit racial preferences, how peaceful, professional family people become suicide bombers, and why smart and accomplished people make obviously dumb and even self-destructive decisions. The big lesson of this book is that people are powerfully influenced by things that they never consciously register. Using engaging and absorbing case studies, Vedantam presents a theory about a second, hidden brain, which the human species developed through evolution. This hidden brain specializes in rapid analysis, kicks into action under certain conditions, and it often acts contrary to our own beliefs or common sense. Its danger is in that it is hard and often impossible for us to realize when we act according to our beliefs and when - according to our hidden brain. The central feature of unconscious bias is that we are not aware of it, so it's able to powerfully manipulate the conscious mind to act against its own will. Here is an example of Vedantam's numerous and powerful analogies: "If the conscious mind is the pilot and the hidden brain is the autopilot function on a plane, the pilot can always overrule the autopilot, except when the pilot is not paying attention." An educational, engaging, and an excellent book in every aspect. Yuval Lirov, Medical Billing Networks and Processes - Profitable and Compliant Revenue Cycle Management in the Internet Age

Compulsively Readable Tales of Bias and Group Behavior

First thing's first: Shankar Vedantam is a journalist, not a psychologist. "The Hidden Brain" represents advances in the field of psychology made in the past 30 years regarding our understanding of the human subconscious. Thankfully, Vedantam is a writer with exceptional talent, and this is a fine introduction to modern psychological theories of bias (race and gender) and groupthink. The anecdotal stories that Vedantam illustrates are gripping and will keep the reader turning the pages to find out the mysteries of our "hidden brains." It's very clear that this book is patterned after bestsellers such as "Outliers" and "Freakonomics." There's even a little overlap on the concept of group behavior between "The Hidden Brain" and "Freakonomics, "though both authors use different anecdotal cases and come to different conclusions. Still, this is a compulsively readable book in its own right and should interest many of the same non-fiction fans who made those other books bestsellers. It certainly has that eye-opening appeal to it: Will its readers re-examine their own biases in the wake of the evidence that Vedantam presents? But you wouldn't know that this is a book primarily about gender and racial bias from the ponderous subtitle ("How Our Unconscious Minds Elect Presidents, Control Markets, Wage Wars, and Save Our Lives"). If there is a problem with "The Hidden Brain," it's clearly in the marketing department: Vedantam goes out of his way to avoid using the term "subconscious" (although he does use it once or twice, instances that may be scrubbed prior to publication as the book goes through copy-editing). Instead, he uses his own term--"the hidden brain"--and "the unconscious," both of which caused more than a little head-scratching, especially since there is no new research to support the need for a new term to describe the subconscious.