The Science of Fear
From Calliespedia
Contents |
Author
Daniel Gardner
Audible.com Link
Publisher's Summary
From terror attacks to the War on Terror, bursting real-estate bubbles to crystal meth epidemics, sexual predators to poisonous toys from China, our list of fears seems to be exploding. And yet, we are the safest and healthiest humans in history. Irrational fear is running amok, and often with tragic results. In the months after 9/11, when people decided to drive instead of fly - believing they were avoiding risk - road deaths rose by 1,595. Those lives were lost to fear.
The Science of Fear is a disarmingly cheerful roundtrip shuttle to the new brain science, dissecting the fears that misguide and manipulate us every day. As award-winning journalist Daniel Gardner demonstrates, irrational fear springs from how humans miscalculate risks. Our hunter-gatherer brains evolved during the old Stone Age and struggle to make sense of a world utterly unlike the one that made them. Numbers, for instance, confuse us. Our "gut" tells us that even if there aren't "50,000 predators...on the Internet prowling for children," as a recent U.S. Attorney General claimed, then there must be an awful lot. And even if our "head" discovers that the number is baseless and no one actually knows the truth - there could be 100,000 or 500,000 - we are still more fearful simply because we heard the big number. And it is not only politicians and the media that traffic in fearmongering. Corporations fatten their bottom lines with fear. Interest groups expand their influence with fear. Officials boost their budgets with fear. With more information, warnings and scary stories coming at us every day from every direction, we are more prone than ever to needlessly worry.
Real-world examples, interviews with experts, and fast-paced, lean storytelling make The Science of Fear an entertaining and enlightening tour. Ultimately, by revealing the psychology behind the many ways our "gut" reactions lead us astray and allow others to manipulate us. The Science of Fear...
Started
January 13, 2010 [1]
Finished
January 26, 2010 [2]
Ideas and Concepts
Rule of Typical Things
- The "Linda" Problem
- Gut is a sucker for a good story
The Example Rule
- The easier it is to remember examples, the more common it must be
- Earthquake insurance is the most expensive right after an earthquake when statistically that is when it is the safest
- The example rule is a good strategy for learning from the very worst experiences.
- If the rational mind doesn't have an answer, it makes one up.
The Good, Bad Rule
- If it makes me feel good, it cannot be bad.
- If it makes me feel bad, then it must be bad.
Confirmation Bias
- We look for evidence that confirms our preconceived notions.
- Experiment
- Person is given the sequence of numbers - 10, 12, 14 - and is asked to determine what the pattern being described.
- Person is allowed to ask whether or not a sequence of numbers of their own choosing fit the pattern.
- Is 2, 4, 6 an example of the pattern? Yes.
- Is 22, 24, 26 an example of the pattern? Yes.
- Is 36, 38, 40 an example of the pattern? Yes.
- Is the pattern even numbers in ascending order? No. The pattern is numbers in ascending order
Hindsight Bias
- With outcomes known, the risks and fears don't seem as great.
White Male Effect
- Communal vs. individualist
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