Not Born Yesterday: The Science of Who We Trust and What We Believe by Mercier, Hugo

Not Born Yesterday: The Science of Who We Trust and What We Believe

Why people are not as gullible as we think Not Born Yesterday explains how we decide who...
HK$392.00
HK$392.00
SKU: 9780691178707
Product Type: Books
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Author: Hugo Mercier
Format: Hardcover
Language: English
Subtotal: $392.00
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Not Born Yesterday: The Science of Who We Trust and What We Believe by Mercier, Hugo

Not Born Yesterday: The Science of Who We Trust and What We Believe

$392.00

Not Born Yesterday: The Science of Who We Trust and What We Believe

$392.00
Author: Hugo Mercier
Format: Hardcover
Language: English

Why people are not as gullible as we think

Not Born Yesterday explains how we decide who we can trust and what we should believe--and argues that we're pretty good at making these decisions. In this lively and provocative book, Hugo Mercier demonstrates how virtually all attempts at mass persuasion--whether by religious leaders, politicians, or advertisers--fail miserably. Drawing on recent findings from political science and other fields ranging from history to anthropology, Mercier shows that the narrative of widespread gullibility, in which a credulous public is easily misled by demagogues and charlatans, is simply wrong.

Why is mass persuasion so difficult? Mercier uses the latest findings from experimental psychology to show how each of us is endowed with sophisticated cognitive mechanisms of open vigilance. Computing a variety of cues, these mechanisms enable us to be on guard against harmful beliefs, while being open enough to change our minds when presented with the right evidence. Even failures--when we accept false confessions, spread wild rumors, or fall for quack medicine--are better explained as bugs in otherwise well-functioning cognitive mechanisms than as symptoms of general gullibility.

Not Born Yesterday shows how we filter the flow of information that surrounds us, argues that we do it well, and explains how we can do it better still.

Author: Hugo Mercier
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 01/28/2020
Pages: 384
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.45lbs
Size: 8.60h x 5.70w x 1.40d
ISBN: 9780691178707


Review Citation(s):
Choice 10/01/2020

About the Author
Hugo Mercier is a cognitive scientist at the Jean Nicod Institute in Paris and the coauthor of The Enigma of Reason. He lives in Nantes, France. Twitter @hugoreasoning

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