SuperSense: Why We Believe in the Unbelievable - Bruce Hood
Language: EnglishKeywords:
Beliefs
Neuroscience
Psychology
Rationality
Religion
Shared by:daenigma100
A fascinating and engaging examination of why we believe in the supernatural.
Why is it that Tony Blair always wore the same pair of shoes when answering Prime Minister’s Questions? That John McEnroe notoriously refused to step on the white lines of a tennis court between points? And that President-elect Barack Obama played a game of basketball the morning of his victory in the Iowa primary, and continued the tradition the day of every following primary?
Superstitious habits are common. Do you ever cross your fingers, knock on wood, avoid walking under ladders, or step around black cats? Sentimental value often supersedes material worth. If someone offered to replace your childhood teddy bear or wedding ring with a brand new, exact replica, would you do it? How about 20 for trying on a jumper owned by Fred West?
Where do such feelings come from and why do most of us have them? Humans are born with brains designed to make sense of the world and that need for an explanation can lead to beliefs that go beyond reason. To be true they would have to be supernatural. With scientific education we learn that such beliefs are irrational but at an intuitive level they can be resistant to reason or lie dormant in otherwise sensible adults.
It now seems unlikely that any effort to get rid of supernatural beliefs or superstitious behaviours will be completely successful. This is not all bad news - such beliefs are a useful glue that binds us together as a society.
Combining brilliant insight with witty example Hood weaves a page-turning account of our ’supersense’ that navigates a path through brain science, child development, popular culture, mental illness and the paranormal. After reading SuperSense, you will realize why you are not as reasonable as you might like to think - and why that might be no bad thing.
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| Creation Date: | Tue, 28 Jul 2020 14:15:59 +0100 |
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This post has 8 comments with rating of 5/5
July 28th, 2020
Fingers crossed that this book will not veer into kookiness nor be a repeat of content we’ve seen from folks like Michael Shermer.
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence - Sagan/Laplace
July 28th, 2020
Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia has long been my favourite; taking the place of the more pedestrian paraskevidekatriaphobia.
July 28th, 2020
Try to slip that bad boy into dinner party chit-chat and you risk something akin to hyper acute hypoxia. Waking up with a crowd around one. Which itself is somewhat akin to a gentleman of a certain age doing “just a little” coke at a social gathering, and experiencing a rather embarrassing cardiac episode. Red faces all round.
July 28th, 2020
@caesar: Paraskevi did not, lets just say, have a very good time of it. Her plight is much like our own, like when we point out to the rhouge states and worshipers of the great orange one, and instead of being converted to our most sound logic, we are boxed soundly round the ears. Alas, for Paraskevi, she did not get to keep ears and body incorporate.
Now, triskaidekaphobia, on the other hand, haunts me every time I stay on the 14th floor… am I really on the benighted floor?
July 29th, 2020
I just popped in to say there is a very good reason to avoid walking under ladders.
No one ever had a hammer fall off a step and onto their head by going AROUND the ladder.
July 29th, 2020
@jkdmanaz
Thank goodness we evolved from a majority illiterate species that needed stories/superstitions to pass on knowledge of best practice and can now effectively share knowledge through the written word which is easy to disseminate as well as learn how to read in modern times.
But you’re right. Superstition was a useful form of learning best practice regarding black swan events. Outhouses were also useful in the past… but I’m grateful for indoor plumbing in my part of the world.
July 30th, 2020
This society has replaced superstition with pockets of outright stupidity. We’re no better than our ancestors when it comes to believing nonsense, even it means ignoring scientific fact.
October 22nd, 2025
Pls re-seed
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