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Marcel Santos's Reviews > Subliminar: Como o Inconsciente Influencia Nossas Vidas
Subliminar: Como o Inconsciente Influencia Nossas Vidas
by
by
A very good science communication/promotion book about recent research on neuropsychology. The author takes the reader through interesting experiments on how complex our brains are when processing information and emotion, which areas in the brain are responsible for which kind of information, and on the strategies our brains use to believe, decide and make us act.
Most of all, Leonard Mlodinow, with easy and humorous narrative, gives cerebral context to some of our biases. Particularly interesting are data and experiments proving that an “unconscious” mind, whose existence had always been affirmed by ancient psychologists, really exists, interacts with the “conscious” mind, and influences us all the time.
This is another book that shows how psychology, neuroscience and even economics are getting closer to each other, possibly in a way that they will all merge soon.
Inevitable is the approximation of this brain double system theory (“conscious” and “unconscious”), which Mlodinow extensively discusses, with Daniel Kahneman’s System 1 (fast reactions and decisions) and System 2 (slow and thoughtful decisions).
However, there seems to be some discrete difference between both. D. Kahneman makes it clear that his theory is an abstract construct based on experiments and exterior observation, and has no intention to be correspondent to cerebral anatomy. Thus, there would be no use in trying to find specific areas in the brain responsible for each System, according to him.
The “conscious” and “unconscious” theory, on the other hand, is based on evidence found with the use of modern brain scan techniques (fMRI) along and concomitantly with behavioral experiments. Therefore, it is not that Kahneman’s System 1 would correspond 100% to the “unconscious”, but we can say that it is certainly influenced by it, or is how it often manifests itself in our irrational behavior. Kahneman emphasizes the type of decision and not where it was originated, while the description of the “unconscious” made by the neuroscience is more complex and tries to be more anatomically accurate. In the same way, System 2 would not be our “conscious”, but how we rationalize information we receive and act.
Most of all, Leonard Mlodinow, with easy and humorous narrative, gives cerebral context to some of our biases. Particularly interesting are data and experiments proving that an “unconscious” mind, whose existence had always been affirmed by ancient psychologists, really exists, interacts with the “conscious” mind, and influences us all the time.
This is another book that shows how psychology, neuroscience and even economics are getting closer to each other, possibly in a way that they will all merge soon.
Inevitable is the approximation of this brain double system theory (“conscious” and “unconscious”), which Mlodinow extensively discusses, with Daniel Kahneman’s System 1 (fast reactions and decisions) and System 2 (slow and thoughtful decisions).
However, there seems to be some discrete difference between both. D. Kahneman makes it clear that his theory is an abstract construct based on experiments and exterior observation, and has no intention to be correspondent to cerebral anatomy. Thus, there would be no use in trying to find specific areas in the brain responsible for each System, according to him.
The “conscious” and “unconscious” theory, on the other hand, is based on evidence found with the use of modern brain scan techniques (fMRI) along and concomitantly with behavioral experiments. Therefore, it is not that Kahneman’s System 1 would correspond 100% to the “unconscious”, but we can say that it is certainly influenced by it, or is how it often manifests itself in our irrational behavior. Kahneman emphasizes the type of decision and not where it was originated, while the description of the “unconscious” made by the neuroscience is more complex and tries to be more anatomically accurate. In the same way, System 2 would not be our “conscious”, but how we rationalize information we receive and act.
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