Bozo Sapiens Index

Index absentmindedness, 89 absolute, striving for, 244–49 abstract creed, 138 abstraction, 246, 251 accident, 110, 134 accuracy: and explanation, 138–39 introspective aspect of, 137–38 actors, drying up, 129 addiction, 41, 107– 8 advertising, 56– 63 and aesthetic pleasure, 62– 63 association in, 63 branding in, 60, 63 and expectations, 62, 63 image in, 57 information in, 59 and prestige, 60– 62 and price, 61 recognition in, 60 repetition in, 62 selling itself, 62 “yum” response to, 56 Agassiz, Louis, 15n aging: attitudes toward, 214–15 and knowledge, 127, 128 and memory, 98– 99 Ainslie, George, 41 Air Force, U.S., 90 Ajax, 63 Akerlof, George, 46, 48 Akhenaten, 178 Alda, Alan, 96 Allais, Maurice, 23–24, 33 Allegri, Gregorio, Miserere, 126 allomothers, 212, 213, 214 al- Qaeda, 242–43 Altemeyer, Bob, 174 altruism, 164, 230–35, 243 anandamide, 107 Andropov, Yuri, 149 anger, 236, 238–39, 241

animals: human brain response to, 80– 81 prey, 87– 88 see also primates ants, social lives of, 225 anxiety, 211 aporia, 6 arbitrageurs, 43 Ariely, Dan, 32 Aristotle, 6– 8, 9, 12 art, creative quality in, 105– 6 Assad, John, 28 assumptions, 117–18 of engineers vs. managers, 119–22 athletes, choking by, 129 attention, 86– 92 absentmindedness as loss of, 89 in aviation, 90– 92 bundling in, 87– 88 and concentration, 89 and expectations, 88 familiarity vs., 139 and novelty, 88 significance extracted in, 88 as task-driven, 89– 90 visual, 87, 88 attractive place, 187– 89 attribution error, 138, 146 Austen, Jane, Pride and Prejudice, 202 authoritarianism, 173– 75 autistic spectrum disorders, 157 availability heuristic, 42, 43 aviation: absolutist vs. probabilistic thinking in, 147–49 attention in, 90– 92 cockpit resource management (CRM), 141 and cognitive illusions, 116–17 delegation of responsibility in, 118–19 F-22 Raptors, 119 Holland, Arthur “Bud,” skills in, 129–31 money wasted in, 36 phugoid motion in, 132 pilot-induced oscillation, 132

281

206-39830_ch02_4P.indd 281

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282

aviation (continued) safety in, 140, 141–43 United 232 flight, 141–43 World War II bombers, 55 babies: attention of, 88 empathy in, 158–59 vision of, 128 warm response to, 180 Bacon, Sir Francis, 11–13, 14–15, 19, 74 bacteria, memory in, 93 banality, 133 bandit, use of term, 3 Baron- Cohen, Simon, 157 barter, 40 Bayesian calculation, 124 Bean, L. L., 56 Beckford, William, 24–26 Beethoven, Ludwig van, 127 behavioral assumptions, 185– 86 behaviorism, 132–33 belief, 14–15, 138, 178– 79 Bernoulli, Daniel, 22 Berryman, John, 179 Bertrand, Marianne, 57, 60 beta-endorphin, 107 betrayal, 53 Bible, on right and wrong, 2 Blakemore, Colin, 67 Blombos Cave, South Africa, 187– 89, 200 Boahen, Kwabena, 69 body language, 173 body mass index, 204 Bonnet syndrome, 80 boredom, 139 Botvinnik, Mikhail, 126 Boven, Leaf van, 63 Bowles, Samuel, 164 Brabazon (airliner), 36 brain: and attention, 86– 92 complexity of, 106 as computer, 69, 109–10 dorsal system, 78– 79, 139 dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, 53 and drugs (chemicals), 106– 9 economical use of resources in, 122–23, 134 energy output of, 69– 70 filling in gaps in time, 87 frontal lobes, 53

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Index

function precisely of matter in, 106 gender differences in, 54 and hearing, 82– 86 hippocampus, 128 illusions of, 80 inaccessibility of, 68 inferotemporal region, 88 insula, 28–29, 166 and language, 99–106 limbic system, 179, 180 mammalian cortex, 73– 74 mapping, 68, 106 medial prefrontal cortex, 28 and memory, 92– 99 mesolimbic, 29 metaphors for, 68– 69 modularity of, 71 motor cortex, 128 natural state of, 106 neocortex, 74, 160– 61 neural networks in, 68, 213 neurons in, 28, 68, 70, 71, 78 neurotransmitters in, 171 nonlinearity of, 71– 72 nucleus accumbens, 28, 29 orbitofrontal cortex, 54, 231 pain centers in, 29 parallel activities of, 67, 70– 71 perception in, 83 plasticity of, 213 posterior superior temporal sulcus, 84 preference and pleasure centers in, 28–29, 64, 104–5 preformatted, 71 prefrontal cortex, 38, 53, 74, 179, 229, 234 reptilian, 73 and Shakespearian language, 103–5 signals in, 68 speed vs. certainty in, 70 subgenual area, 231 superior colliculi, 88 temporoparietal junction, 79 thinking, 107 triune theory of, 72– 74 unconscious processes in, 106 unpredictability of, 71– 72 and vagus nerve, 231 ventral system, 78, 139 ventromedial striatum, 231 verbal cues to, 104 and vision, 68, 69, 74– 82, 128

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Index

brand recognition, 60, 63 Branson, Richard, 233 Brezhnev, Leonid, 41 British Midland Flight 092, 116–17 Brown, Capability, 187 Bshary, Redouan, 20 Bucharest, crowd in, 152–53 Buchwald, Art, 63n Buddha, 178 bullshit, use of term, 10 bundling, 87– 88 Buraku people of Japan, 168 Burma-Shave, 62, 111 Burns, Arthur, 48 Bush, George H. W., 161n Bush, George W., 240–41 Butler, Samuel, 225 Buxton, Jedediah, 109 Bwiti religion, 108– 9 caloric intake, daily, 204–5 camera as metaphor for perception, 75 Capablanca, José Raúl, 125–26 Carnegie, Andrew, 65 Carroll, Lewis, Alice in Wonderland, 221 Carter, Jimmy, 233 cartoon characters, 81– 82 caste systems, 170 categorization, 78 causation, 15, 89 cell phones, 60 certainty, 16 challenge, expectation of, 127 Challenger space shuttle, 119–20, 121 Chaplin, Charlie, 81 charge of the Light Brigade, 102 cheating, 164– 65, 243 Chen, Keith, 30–31 chess, 125–26 child abuse cases, 95– 96, 98 children: audio illusions of, 83 born outside marriage, 190 bringing up, 210–15 investment in, 194, 197 and language, 186– 87 learning, 214 memories in, 122–23 and men, 194, 197, 233 and morality, 224 and old people, 214–15 opinions of, 176, 177

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283

sensory neurons in, 98 of single parents, 190, 191 choice: and advertising, 56– 63 brain processes of, 28–29 negative effect of, 60 in perception, 86 and predictability, 33–34 in rational economics, 56 between right and wrong, 2–3 choking (as a term in sports), 129 Christmas card lists, 161, 180 Christmas clubs, 40 Cipolla, Carlo, “The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity,” 3–4 classification, 123 cleaner fish, 19–20 Coca- Cola, 60 Cochran, William, 15 cockpit resource management (CRM), 141 “cocktail party effect,” 83 cognition: error of, 125 undermined by motivated reasoning, 136 cognitive illusions, 112–16 in aviation, 116–17 collective, 118 and delegation of responsibility, 118–19 cohabitation, 190 coincidence, 89 Coleridge, Samuel Taylor, 107, 204 collective irrationality, 151–54 Colson, Chuck, 100 commitment, 190 common sense, 249–50 community: shared beliefs of, 138 social networks in, 160– 63 compensation, theory of, 49 competition for resources, 217 computer: brain as, 69, 109–10 and information, 106 voice-recognition software, 83 computer code, 102 concentration, 89, 126 Concorde, 36 conditioned response, 132–33 confession, 3 Confucius, 4 con games, 42

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284

consciousness, 16 conspiracy theories, 179 Constitution, U.S., 235–36 contamination, 166 contrapositives, rule of, 116 control, illusion of, 53 Controlled Demolition Inc., 128 Convair jetliner, 36 Coolidge effect, 199 cooperation, 53, 226 cooperative breeders, 212 corporate safety, 134, 140–41 cortisol, 171 courtship, 195–203, 227 credit, 22, 39–40, 54 creeds, abstract, 138 crowds, madness of, 151–54, 172– 75 culture: fictions created in, 250–51 and morality, 221, 247 socializing to, 213–14 stereotypes of, 247–48 uses of, 218–20 curiosity, 146 Czikszentmihalyi, Mihaly, 129 d’Alenson, Colonel, 135 Damasio, Antonio, 234 dancing, 180 Dante Alighieri, 200–201 Darwin, Charles, 156, 183, 237 Davis, Philip, 103–5 Dawkins, Richard, 178 deafness, 82 death, attitude toward, 186 decisions, see choice Declaration of Independence, 248 delayed gratification, 41 Dennett, Daniel, 69 Denver International Airport, 121–22 De Quincey, Thomas, 107 Descartes’ theater, 68– 69 design, 80 detective stories, 140 determinism, 250 diabetes, 207 dietary preferences, 165 diet industry, 205 discovery, 250 disgust, 165– 66, 230–31 dissent, 178 division of labor, 164

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Index

divorce, 190– 92 dogs: bonding to humans, 228–29 playing, 225–26 dominance, 171– 72, 173– 75, 228, 236 Dörner, Dietrich, 144–47, 148, 250 dot-com bubble, 44, 45 Dowd, Timothy J., 143 driving (automobiles), 122 drugs, 106– 9 addiction to, 41, 107– 8 religious use of, 108 Dunbar, Robin, 160– 61 eating disorders, 41 economics: behavioral, 30–33 compensation theory in, 49 fungibility in, 23 Homo economicus, 42–43, 51 inflation, 34, 47, 48 macroeconomics, 45–48 markets in, 43, 45 maximizing utility in, 20–21, 47 neuroeconomics, 27–30 and the norm, 48 rational, 22–24, 27, 56 rational expectation in, 47–48 strong reciprocity in, 52 supply and demand, 62 unemployment, 47, 48 economic theory, 43 Edison, Thomas A., 36 Edmondson, Amy, 240 elections, 146–47 e-mails, 101–2 emotions: and disgust, 165– 66, 230–31 in fallacies, 8– 9 and food, 208 irrational spasms of, 72 lack of, 74 madness of crowds, 151–54, 172– 75 and mammalian cortex, 73– 74 and morality, 227, 229–35 in music, 82, 105 in racism, 166– 67 in social context, 229, 234–35 and terrorism, 243–44 empathy, 157–59 endorphins, 107 endorsements, celebrity, 60

1/23/09 9:33:24 PM

Index

endowment effect, 31–33, 34–35, 36 reversal of, 35 engineers vs. managers, 119–22 enkephalin, 107 entheogens, 108– 9 Ephesus, pagans of, 153 ergodic principle, 125 error: attribution, 138, 146 of cognition, 125 and cognitive illusions, 118 expectation of, 3 experts prone to, 133 hierarchy of, 133 and human reliability, 131–32 knowledge-based, 133, 134 leaving no room for, 121–22 of perception, 132 pervasiveness of, 4 potential for, 72 probabilistic thinking leading to, 111 recovery from, 133 rule-based, 133 self-serving, 136 slips, 133 in thinking process, 139 universal, 4 vulgar, 2 ethics, see morality evidence: as basis for mutual understanding, 138 conflicting, 137 selective perception of, 137–38 evolution, 183, 185, 197, 200–201, 236 exercise, 206 expectations: and advertising, 62, 63 assumptions, 117–18 cause and effect, 89 of challenge, 127 and context, 113, 119, 251 of engineers vs. managers, 119–22 of error, 3 failure to meet, 1–2 and false memories, 95– 98 of financial gain, 28–29 and motivation, 136 new, 99 and novelty, 88 and observation, 78 rational, 47–48

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285

and visual images, 105– 6 wage, 47 experience: and expert knowledge, 122 flow, 129, 131, 139 higher-order encoding of, 125 and memory, 92– 99 and probability, 113 and satisfaction, 64 and scientific experiments, 12–13 selective memory of, 137 simplification of, 125 experimentation, 12–13 expert knowledge, 125–28 and aging, 127, 128 automatic, 128–29 effect on brain of, 128 and error, 133 and expectation of challenge, 127 and experience, 122 and heuristics, 127–28 explanation, 138–39 Facebook, 181 faces, 155–57, 166– 67, 196, 198 faith, 138, 177– 78 fallacies, 4–11 emotions in, 8– 9 in formal logic, 7– 8 informal, 8– 9 as scams, 10 false-belief experiment, 159 familiarity, 139 Fangio, Juan Manuel, 126–27 Fang people, 108 Farm Ser vice Administration, 202 Fehr, Ernst, 50–54, 164 feng shui, 5 Ferdinand I, Emperor, 235, 239 Ferguson, Chris “Jesus,” 38 Feynman, Richard, 121 fictions, making, 250–51 Fields, W. C., 36 filmmaking, and visual attention, 87, 88 finger ratios, 58 first impressions, 172– 73 Fisher, David Hackett, 248 Fitch, Dennis, 141–42 Fitzgerald, F. Scott, 65 Flaubert, Gustave, Madame Bovary, 192– 93, 194, 197, 203 flow experience, 129, 131, 139

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286

food, 203–10, 224–25 Ford, Henry, 65 Frankfurt, Harry, 10 Franklin, Benjamin, 165 free will, 72, 248 french fries, 207– 8 French paradox, 209–10 French Revolution, 239 friendly fire, 90– 92 fundamental attribution error, 138 fusiform face area, 166– 67 gambler’s fallacy, 33 gambling, 23–24, 37–39, 120–21 game theory, 50–52, 53, 163– 64, 201–2 Garner, Jay, 240–41 Gates, Bill, 65 Gay, Peter, 125 genealogy, 183– 84, 185 General Dynamics, 36 generations, 184– 85 gestures, 100–101 ghrelin, 107, 206 Gigerenzer, Gerd, 140 Gilligan, Carol, 246 Gilovich, Thomas, 63 globalization, 210, 217 Golby, Alexandra, 166 gold, 22 Goldberg, Jeffrey, 52–53 goodness, 221–23, 234, 236, 248 Gordy, Berry, 180 Goslin, Goose, 129 gossip columnists, 161– 62 Gould, Stephen Jay, 140 government, 235–41, 249 Great Fear (1789), 154 Green, Hetty, “Witch of Wall Street,” 26–27, 34 Greenspan, Alan, 48 Griskevicius, Vladas, 232 Gruenfeld, Deborah, 237–38, 239 Hagen, Edward, 180 Haidt, Jonathan, 166, 230–31 hair, 199–200 Haldane, J. B. S., 80 Haldeman, H. R., 99–100 hallucinations, 80, 108 hallucinogens, 106 Hanratty, James, 102 happenstance, 10–11

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Index

Hardin, Garrett, 216 Hardy, Thomas, 102–3 harmonious action, 129 Harris, Paul, 176, 177 Harrisson, Tom, 93 Hauser, Marc, 234 Haynes, Al, 142 hearing, 82– 86 deafness, 82 illusions of, 83– 86 and vision, 83– 84 hearsay, in advertising, 56– 63 hedge funds, 45 “Hello Peace,” 181 helmets, 131 helplessness, 3 Hemingway, Ernest, 65 Henri IV, king of France, 238, 240 heroin, 107 heuristics, 124–25, 126, 127–28, 134 hippocampus, 128 history, shared, 202 Hobbes, Thomas, 105 Hokusai, Japanese painter, 127 Holland, Arthur “Bud,” 129–31 Homo economicus, 42–43, 51 hospitals, safety in, 143 How to Spend It, 57 Hrdy, Sarah Blaffer, 212 human error/reliability, 131–32 Hume, David, 223, 244 hunger, 206, 208 hunter-gatherer societies, 188, 198, 206– 7, 215–16, 241 hyperbolic discounting, 39–41 hypocrisy, 178 hypotheses: assumptions in, 117–18 null, testing against, 114 testing through experiment, 12–13 ibogaine, 108– 9 iconography, 105 Idaho Air National Guard, 90– 92 illusions: of biological motion, 81– 82 Bonnet, 80 cognitive, 112–16 of control, 53 of hearing, 83– 84 irreversibility of, 83 motivated, 136

1/23/09 9:33:24 PM

Index

occult experiences, 84– 86 optical, 77– 80 psychotic, 80 significant, 80 simple, 80 impartiality, 15 implosion, 128 induction, 13 inductive inference, 123–24 inflation, 34, 47, 48 information, 106 available, 140 conflicting, 140 information overload, 179– 81 infrasound, 85 inheritance, 35, 47 innocence, 137 inspiration, 15 instinct, 16 intelligence, 3 intermittent explosive disorder, 73 international date line, 119 Internet, 179, 181 intuition, 16 investment portfolio: collective, 43–44 and inheritance, 35 and loss aversion, 32–33, 34, 37 maximizing value in, 47 Iraq War, friendly fire incident, 90– 92 Jackson, Andrew, 175 Jagger, Mick, 83 James, William, 89 Japan Air Lines, 141 Jefferson, Thomas, 230–31, 248 Jennings, Paul, 111 Jesus Christ, 178 Johnson, Lyndon B., 237 Jolly, Alison, 199 judgment, 213 justice, impersonal standard of, 246 Kahneman, Daniel, 30, 31, 42 Kamla, Rudolf, 153 Kant, Immanuel, 14 Kaplan, Stephen, 187 Kaplan’s Law, 49 Karlan, Dean, 41 Kawelka people, 218–20 kendo (Japanese fencing), 89 Kennedy family, 238

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287

Khan, Mohammad Sidique, 242–43 Khartoum, panic in, 154 Khattak, Khushal Khan, 247 Kingsley, Charles, 221–22 Kipling, Rudyard, 163 Kissinger, Henry A., 237 knowledge: and aging, 127, 128 and choice, 2 fatal, 131 of right and wrong, 2–3 and truth, 13–14, 16 knowledge-based mistakes, 133, 134 Kohlberg, Lawrence, 245–46 Konner, Melvin, 189 Korda, Alexander, 160 Korean Air Lines Flight 007, 148 Kroupa, Patrick, 109 Kuhn, Thomas, 15 Kunda, Ziva, 136 !Kung people, 188, 189 Ladygina-Kohts, Nadia, 228 Laing, R. D., 16 Lakota Sioux, 215 landscape gardeners, 187 language, 99–106 and children, 186– 87 computer code, 102 gestures, 100–101 in iconography, 105 of leadership, 146 of poetry, 102–3 political speech, 146–47 puns, 105 of Shakespeare, 103–5 spoken, 101 symbolic power of, 82 vagueness of words in, 106 verbal memory in, 97 written, 101–2 Lanning, Kenneth, 97– 98 Lao Tzu, 5 laughter, 180 Lauren, Ralph, 60 leadership, 146, 171 Lebed, Jonathan, 44 Lehrer, Tom, “National Brotherhood Week,” 151 leptin, 206 liberty, meanings of term, 248–49 Lieberman, Daniel, 196

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288

Lieberman, Matthew, 101 Light Brigade, charge of, 102 L. L. Bean, 56 loaded questions, 9 Loftus, Elizabeth, 96 logic: absolute, 113 deductive, 7–11, 12 emotion lacking in, 74 formal, 7– 8, 11 informal, 8– 9 rule of contrapositives in, 116 statements with no meaning, 9–10 syllogisms in, 7– 8, 12 testing, 13 Loizeaux, Jack, 128 London Blitz, memories of, 93 London taxi drivers, 128 looking, process of, 136 loopholes, 118–19 loss aversion, 30–33, 34, 36, 37, 38 lost-ticket problem, 32 Louis XV, king of France, 14 love, 189–203 and commitment, 190 and courtship, 195–203, 227 at first sight, 173 and marriage, 190– 92, 202–3 romantic, 194– 95, 200–201, 202 and sex, 193– 94, 197 Lucan, Lord, sightings of, 82 Lund, Bob, 120 Luria, A. R., The Mind of a Mnemonist, 109 Luther, Martin, 178 Lyon, George, 207 Lyttelton, George, 98– 99 MacLean, Paul, 73 Macmillan, Harold, 147 macroeconomics, 45–48 Mafia, U.S., 168 managers vs. engineers, 119–22 marine cleaning ser vices, 19–20 markets, perfect, 43 Markóczy, Lívia, 52–53 marriage, 190– 92, 202–3 Marxist historical theory, 125 Mason, Jerry, 120 Mass- Observation movement, 93 mastery, desire for, 126 Mbuti Pygmies, 210–11, 215

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Index

McCloskey, Robert, 101 McDonald’s, 58, 208 McGurk effect, 83– 84 meaning, 212, 251 media, information overload, 179– 81 medical errors, preventable, 143 memory, 92– 99 and aging, 98– 99 building, 98, 99 capacity of, 93, 97– 99 in children, 122–23 as comparison over time, 93 complexity of, 93 dispersal in the brain, 97 false, 95– 98 and future plans, 98 holding, 97 illogicality of, 93 of Proust, 92, 93 purpose of, 98, 99 quality of, 98 recovered, 98 selective, 137 sources of, 96– 97 speed of access, 93 stability of, 93– 95 and suggestibility, 94– 95 visual components of, 97 men: and charity, 232–33 and children, 194, 197, 233 and household tasks, 233–34 love and courtship, 193–200, 227 mirror neurons in, 157 in social choices, 53–54 and stereotype threat, 169 Mencken, H. L., 61 mental illness, 212 metabolism, 206 method: Aristotle on, 6– 8 scientific, 1, 11, 12–13, 15 Michaels, Margaret Kelly, 95 Milgram electroshock studies, 170 Miller, G. William, 48 Milton, John, 127 mirror neurons, 157 modularity, 71 Moll, Jorge, 231–32 “mondegreens,” 83 monetary policy, 48

1/23/09 9:33:24 PM

Index

money, 34–37 cash, 37 in context, 35–37 and endowment effect, 34–35 savings, 34, 66 seeing through, 65– 66 thinking about, 64 utility function of, 22 and value, 37 wasted, 36 work for, 49 Moniac, 46, 47, 48 Montherlant, Henry de, 1 Moore, G. E., Principia Ethica, 223 morality, 221–51 absolute, 244–49 abstraction of, 228–29 altruism, 164, 230–35, 243 dynamics of, 227–28 and emotions, 227, 229–35 gender studies of, 232–34 goodness, 221–23, 234, 236, 248 and government, 235–41 grammar of, 224 principles of, 245–46 probability of, 225, 249–50 of social animals, 224–29, 232 and terrorism, 241–44 Morgan, J. P., 42 morphine, 107 Morris, Michael, 102 mortality, 186 Morton Thiokol, 119–20 motivated reasoning, 134–36 motivation, 136 Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus, 105, 126 Muhammad, 178 Mulloy, Larry, 120 Murphy’s Law, 125 music: and emotions, 82, 105 shared, 180 mutual funds, 43 myelin, 213 Nantucket Shoals, 118 NASA, 119–20, 121 Nash, Ogden, 119 NATO, 149 nature, coexisting with, 215–18 Neufville, Richard de, 122

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289

neuroeconomics, 27–30 neurons: action potential of, 71 and expected gain, 28 mirror, 157 neural encoding, 88 numbers of, 68, 70 sensory, 98 synapses of, 128 in ventral system, 78 Neuwagenverweigerungsproblem, in new car purchase, 37 Newton, Sir Isaac, 14 Nika riots of Byzantium, 153 Nivelle, Robert, 134–36 Nixon, Richard M., 99–100, 101 normal, as artificial construct, 10 norms: concept of, 48 social, 50–55 noticing, see attention novelty, 88 nuclear family, 213 Nuremberg, crowd in, 154 obesity, 204–5, 207 O’Brien, Edna, 173 observation: as evidence, 159 Mass- Observation movement, 93 in scientific method, 12, 13 and vision, 74– 75, 78 occult experiences, 84– 86 Ocean Ranger oil rig, 118 Odean, Terrance, 32 Odysseus and Penelope, 203 offset effect, 131 oil exploration, 118 Okinawan culture, 206 Olmsted, Frederick Law, 187 Omaha, lynching in, 151–52 One Laptop Per Child, 59 Ongka (Kawelka headman), 218–20, 232 opiates, 106, 107, 108 opinions, 175– 79 opioids, 107 optical illusions, 77– 80 optimism, 114 O-ring seals, 119–20 oscillation, pilot-induced, 132 Osipovich, Gennadi, 147–48, 149

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290

Other, complexity in, 180 Ott, Ludwig, Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, 175 out-of-body experience, 79 oxytocin, 107 Padoa-Schioppa, Camillo, 28 Paine, Thomas, 236 paranormal effects, 85 parenthood, 180 Park, Bob, Voodoo Science, 178 parrots, talking, 84 Pashtun people of Afghanistan, 247 Paul, apostle, 153 peers, respect of, 49 penis panic, 154 Pentland, Alexander, 172 perception, 83, 86, 88 errors of, 132 and motivation, 136 pleasure in, 104 and reference dependence, 31 selective, 137–38 perfection, 121–22, 131 per formance, mistakes in, 131 Pétain, Philippe, 135 Peter the Great of Russia, 237 Petrov, Stanislav, 148–49 peyote, 108 Phillips, A. W., 46 Phillips curve, 46, 47 phugoid motion, 132 Piaget, Jean, 246 pilot-induced oscillation, 132 Pinchbeck, Daniel, 108 Pirese, 163, 175 Plato, 6– 7, 231 Plato’s cave, 68 play, 225–26 poetry, 102–3 political office, election to, 146–47 Pompadour, Marquise de, 14 Ponzi, Charles, 43 Ponzi schemes, 43 positive, false trust in, 114–15 power, 171, 237–41 predictability, 33–34 prejudice, 137, 166– 72, 178 Presley, Elvis, sightings of, 82 prestige, 60– 62

206-39830_ch02_4P.indd 290

Index

price: and advertising, 61 fair, 40 and value, 33, 61 primates: anger of, 239 attention of, 88 brains of, 73, 74 choices made by, 28 decision-making in, 158 dominance in, 173– 75, 236 empathy in, 158 hair of, 199–200 hierarchal societies of, 236–37 loss aversion in, 30–31 morality of, 226–28, 232 and the norm, 49 and progeny, 194 reference dependence in, 31 ser vice economy of, 20–21, 22 sharing, 207, 221, 232 social networks of, 160– 63 primitive societies, 187– 89 principles, 245–46 prisoner’s dilemma, 50, 53 probabilistic thinking, 111, 147–49, 250 probability: Bayesian calculation in, 124 and cognitive illusions, 112–16 and common sense, 249–50 in engineers vs. managers, 119–22 ergodic principle, 125 and morality, 225, 249–50 and repetition, 113 understanding of, 134 and value, 23, 24 Procter and Gamble, 59 prolactin, 107 proofreading, 70 prospect, 187 Proust, Marcel, 92, 93 Pryor, Richard, 180 psilocybin, 108 psychopharmacology, 106 psychotic illusions, 80 public good, 22 puns, 105 puzzles, 140 questions, loaded, 9

1/23/09 9:33:24 PM

Index

racism, 166– 67, 168, 169 Raleigh, Michael J., 171 randomness, 10–11, 15, 110, 249, 250, 251 rationality, 20–24 of economic choice, 22–24, 27, 56 of expectations, 47–48 Rawlinson, Graham, 70, 71 RCA, 36 real estate, “ten-minute” houses, 36 Reason, James, 131–32, 133, 134 reasoning, motivated, 134–36 reciprocity, 52, 54 reference dependence, 31, 34 refrigeration, 144 refuge, 187 relationships: cohabitation, 190 generations, 184– 85 history in, 202 long-term, 197 love and courtship, 189–203 primitive societies, 187– 89 relativity, 113, 119 Rembrandt van Rijn, 127 repetition, 62, 113 representativeness heuristic, 42, 43–44 reptiles, brains of, 73 reputation, 232 resistentialism, 111–12 riddles, 140 right and wrong, 2–3 right-wing authoritarians (RWAs), 174– 75 Rime of the Ancient Mariner, The, 83 risk: in acts of protest, 144 elimination of, 139 offset effect in, 131 and reward, 121 Robbers Cave experiment, 154–55 Robertson, Pat, 5 Rockefeller, John D., 65 Roosevelt, Eleanor, 167 Roosevelt, Franklin D., 147 Roosevelt family, 238 Royal Dutch Shell, 134 Royal Majesty cruise ship, 118 rule-based mistakes, 133 saccades, 87, 88 saccharin, 209 Sacks, Oliver, “The Dog Beneath the Skin,” 109–10

206-39830_ch02_4P.indd 291

291

safety, 139–44 in aviation, 140, 141–43 backup systems in, 141 checklists for, 143 corporate, 134, 140–41 culture of, 144 elimination of all risk, 139 in hospitals, 143 and human error, 143–44 traffic, 139 safety features, 131 Sageman, Marc, 242–43 Salieri, Antonio, 105 Samuelson, Paul, 29–30 Sappho, 201 savants, 109–10 savings, 34, 66 scams, 10, 43, 44 scientific method, 11 experiments in, 12–13 failure to use, 1 induction in, 13 observation in, 12, 13 as unnatural, 15, 250 scrub jays, 20 sea slugs, memory in, 93 selective memory, 137 self-awareness, 167– 68 self-control, 206 self-serving bias, 55–56 senescence, 98– 99 sense perception, 83– 84 and occult experiences, 84– 86 serotonin, 106, 171, 237, 239 sex, 193– 94, 197 Seyhun, Nejat, 34 Shakespeare, William, 97, 103–5, 205 Shanidar I skeleton, 214 Shereshevsky, Solomon, 109 Sherif, Muzafer, 154–55 significance, 84, 86, 88 significant illusions, 80 Simon effect, 140 simple illusions, 80 simplification, 125 sine-wave speech, 83 sins, 244–45 Skinner, B. F., 132–33 sleep disorders, 73 sleep sex, 73 sleepwalking, 73

1/23/09 9:33:24 PM

292

slips, 133 Smith, Adam, 22, 65 Smith, Stephen B., 143 snap judgments, 172– 73 social choices, 50–55 social engagement, 226 socialization, 212, 213–14 social networks, 160– 63, 168, 178, 180, 212 social signals, 172– 75 Socrates, 6, 7 Solomon, 3, 189 Solzhenitsyn, Aleksandr, 55 Song of Songs, 201 sound, 82– 86 Soviet Union: in Cold War, 147–49 gulag system in, 55 speech, 101 speed dating, 172 Stalin, Joseph, 55 Stapp, John, 125 static, 83 Steele, Claude, 169 stereotypes, inaccuracies of, 247–48 stereotype threat, 169– 72 Stevenson, Adlai E., 244 Stone, Sam (fict.), 95 Strathern, Andrew, 219 Stratofortress, 129 Strauss, Richard, Salome, 105 stress hormone, 171 string players, brains of, 128 stupidity, 3–4 sugar, 208– 9 suggestibility, 94– 95 suicide, 211 Summer of Love, 154 survival, 250 sweeteners, artificial, 208– 9 Swift, Jonathan, 177– 78 Swiss cheese model, 131–32, 134 Swiss T-shirt test, 193 syllogistic reasoning, 7– 8, 12 symmetry, 53 talking to ourselves, 101 Tanaland (fict.), 144–45, 250 Tandy, Vic, 85 Taoism, 4 taxonomies, 123, 128 terrorism, 241–44 testing against null hypothesis, 114

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Index

testosterone, 54, 58, 196, 197, 199 theft of mind, 245 theology, 177– 78 theory of mind, 159, 160 thinking: absolutist vs. probabilistic, 147–49 all available information in, 140 definition of, 107 error as part of, 139 Thomas, Will, 175, 177 Three Mile Island nuclear plant, 118 thrifty gene, 207 Thurber, James, 175 timing, errors in, 132 Tolstoy, Leo, 172 tone, 173 traffic safety, 139 tragedy of the commons, 216–17 Trump, Donald, 233 trust, 54, 164, 178 truth: and experience, 13 and fantasy, 41 and knowledge, 13–14, 16 obvious, 2 proof of, 12–13 and scams, 10 seekers of, 138 and validity, 11 Tryon, Admiral, 102 tulip mania, 44 tuna, 216–17 Tupolev, A. N., 55 Turner, Ted, 233 Tversky, Amos, 30, 31, 42 ultimatum game, 50, 58 uncertainty, 146 unconscious, 16, 106 unemployment, 47, 48 Unione Siciliana, 168 United 232 flight, 141–43 universe, parallel, 136–37 unknown, classification of, 123–24 Us vs. Them: accents, 165 altruistic behavior, 164 belonging, 160 cheating, 164– 65 conspiracy theories, 179 cultural differences, 165– 66 disgust, 165– 66

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Index

and empathy, 157–59 faces, 155–57, 166– 67 hating the stranger, 166 mobs, 151–54, 172– 75 mutual protection, 164– 65 opinions, 175– 79 prejudice, 166– 72, 178 racism, 166– 67, 168, 169 self-awareness, 167– 68 social networks, 160– 63, 168, 178 social signals, 172– 75 theory of mind, 159, 160 trust, 164, 178 utility: expected, 23, 28, 30 maximizing, 20–21, 47 utility function, 22 validity, 7, 11 value: absolute, 37, 45 brain processes in evaluating, 28 in context, 35–37 and gambler’s fallacy, 33 maximizing, 47 in perfect markets, 43 and price, 33, 61 and probability, 23, 24 quantitative, 35 rational calculations of, 27–28 supply and demand, 62 and worth, 22–23, 33, 57, 61 Velvet Revolution, 154 ventriloquists, 84 verbal memory, 97 virtual reality, 79 vision, 74– 82 and attention, 87, 88 binocular, 82 blind spot, 76, 87 brain pathways of, 68, 69, 128 categorization in, 78 exercises in, 75– 78 and expectations, 105– 6 and hearing, 83– 84 and inferotemporal region, 88 looking, 136 and memory, 97 and observation, 74– 75, 78 optical illusions, 77– 80 resources of, 77– 78 Vohs, Kathleen, 64

206-39830_ch02_4P.indd 293

293

voice-recognition software, 83 Voltaire, 14 Waal, Frans de, 226 wage expectations, 47 Wal-Mart, 56 Wang Chong, 4–5, 10 Watergate scandal, 99–100 Weber, Ernst, 31 Weil, Joseph “Yellow Kid,” 42, 43 Whitman, Walt, 68 Wiener, Norbert, 106 Wieseltier, Natalia, 180– 81 Wilde, Oscar, 144 will: enforcement of, 89 free, 72, 248 Williams, Ted, 89 Wilson, Woodrow, 147 Wiltshire, Stephen, 109 Wisk, 62 women: and charity, 232–33 and children, 194, 212, 213, 214 cooperation among, 54 and divorce, 190– 92 and ethics of care, 246–47 love and courtship, 193–200, 227 mirror neurons in, 157 promotion of, 54–55 in social choices, 53–54 and stereotype threat, 169 wonders of the world, 67 Woods, Tiger, 127 Woodward, Bob, State of Denial, 240–41 words: as bullshit, 10 connotations in, 9 functions of, 11 in logic, 8– 9, 124 vagueness of, 106 work: company loyalty, 162 for money, 49 power in, 239–41 self-serving bias in, 56 sharashka, 55 shared goals in, 162 strong reciprocity in, 52 World Economic Forum, Davos (2008), 210, 211 world population, 184– 85

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294

Index

World War I, motivated reasoning in, 134–36 World War II: French pessimism in, 135 memories of, 93– 94 worth, 22–23, 33, 57, 61 Wright, Steven, 104–5 Wright, Sylvia, 83 writer’s block, 129 Yanomamö people, 164, 197 Yeager, Chuck, 137

206-39830_ch02_4P.indd 294

“Yellow Rose of Texas, The” (song), 83 yetis, 82 Yunus, Muhammad, 54 Zagros Mountains, 214 Zahn, Lawrence, 52–53 Zen archery, 129 Ziegler, Philip, 93 Zimbardo, Philip, 170– 71 Zimbardo prison experiment, 170– 71 Zuñi people, 251

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