You are not so smart : why you have too many friends on Facebook, why your memory is mostly fiction, and 46 other ways you're deluding yourself

Cover image for You are not so smart : why you have too many friends on Facebook, why your memory is mostly fiction, and 46 other ways you're deluding yourself

Title:

Author:

McRaney, David, author.

ISBN:

9781592406593

Publication Information:

New York : Gotham Books/Penguin Group, c2011.

Physical Description:

xvi, 302 p. ; 20 cm.

Contents:

Introduction: you -- Priming -- Confabulation -- Confirmation bias -- Hindsight bias -- The Texas sharpshooter fallacy -- Procrastination -- Normalcy bias -- Introspection -- The availability heuristic -- The bystander effect -- The Dunning-Kruger effect -- Apophenia -- Brand loyalty -- The argument from authority -- The argument from ignorance -- The straw man fallacy -- The ad hominem fallacy -- The just-world fallacy -- The public goods game -- The ultimatum game -- Subjective validation -- Cult indoctrination -- Groupthink -- Supernormal releasers -- The affect heuristic -- Dunbar's number -- Selling out -- Self-serving bias -- The spotlight effect -- The third person effect -- Catharsis -- The misinformation effect -- Conformity -- Extinction burst -- Social loafing -- The illusion of transparency -- Learned helplessness -- Embodied cognition -- The anchoring effect -- Attention -- Self-handicapping -- Self-fulfilling prophecies -- The moment -- Consistency bias -- The representativeness heuristic -- Expectation -- The illusion of control -- The fundamental attribution error.

Subject Term:

Thought and thinking.

Perception.

Truth -- Psychological aspects.

Defense mechanisms (Psychology)

Reason.

Holds:

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Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... Bayport Public Library	153 MCR	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Hardwood Creek Library (Forest Lake)	153 MCR	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Stillwater Public Library	153 MCR	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

An entertaining illumination of the stupid beliefs that make us feel wise.

You believe you are a rational, logical being who sees the world as it really is, but journalist David McRaney is here to tell you that you're as deluded as the rest of us. But that's OK- delusions keep us sane. You Are Not So Smart is a celebration of self-delusion. It's like a psychology class, with all the boring parts taken out, and with no homework.

Based on the popular blog of the same name, You Are Not So Smart collects more than 46 of the lies we tell ourselves everyday, including:

Dunbar's Number - Humans evolved to live in bands of roughly 150 individuals, the brain cannot handle more than that number. If you have more than 150 Facebook friends, they are surely not all real friends. Hindsight bias - When we learn something new, we reassure ourselves that we knew it all along. Confirmation bias - Our brains resist new ideas, instead paying attention only to findings that reinforce our preconceived notions. Brand loyalty - We reach for the same brand not because we trust its quality but because we want to reassure ourselves that we made a smart choice the last time we bought it.

Packed with interesting sidebars and quick guides on cognition and common fallacies, You Are Not So Smart is a fascinating synthesis of cutting-edge psychology research to turn our minds inside out.

Author Notes

A two-time winner of the William Randolph Hearst Award, journalist David McRaney writes the blog youarenotsosmart.com. A self-described psychology nerd, he lives in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

Reviews (1)

Publisher's Weekly Review

McRaney, a Hattiesburg, Miss., resident and two-time winner of the William Randolph Hearst Award, writes simplified descriptions of psychology experiments on his blog youarenotsosmart.com. He soon found success, receiving between 17,000 to 25,000 hits a day with 6,000 subscribers to the site's RSS feed. Now McRaney's past blog posts resurface in this collection, which he describes as "a compendium of information about self-delusion and the wonderful ways we succumb to it." The format first presents "The Misconception" ("You are a strong individual who doesn't conform unless forced to") and "The Truth" ("It takes little more than an authority figure or social pressure to get you to obey, because conformity is a survival instinct"). The "Conformity" chapter describes how hoax phone calls convinced fast-food managers to strip-search employees, followed by the famous Stanley Milgram obedience experiment in which unsuspecting subjects delivered electric shocks to a screaming actor. Other brief essays cover quitting an addiction cold turkey, first impressions, behavior as a reflection of personality, blind taste tests, and self-fulfilling prophecies. In popularizing these experiments, extracted from psychology books and journals, McRaney is poised to follow in the footsteps of folklorist Jan Harold Brunvand, who also mined academic publications when he popularized urban legends in a series of books. (Nov. 1) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Introduction You	p. xi
1 Priming	p. 1
2 Confabulation	p. 14
3 Confirmation Bias	p. 27
4 Hindsight Bias	p. 32
5 The Texas Sharpshooter Fallacy	p. 36
6 Procrastination	p. 44
7 Normalcy Bias	p. 53
8 Introspection	p. 64
9 The Availability Heuristic	p. 69
10 The Bystander Effect	p. 73
11 The Dunning-Kruger Effect	p. 78
12 Apophenia	p. 82
13 Brand Loyalty	p. 87
14 The Argument from Authority	p. 93
15 The Argument from Ignorance	p. 97
16 The Straw Man Fallacy	p. 100
17 The Ad Hominem Fallacy	p. 103
18 The Just-World Fallacy	p. 107
19 The Public Goods Game	p. 112
20 The Ultimatum Game	p. 116
21 Subjective Validation	p. 119
22 Cult Indoctrination	p. 124
23 Groupthink	p. 127
24 Supernormal Releasers	p. 131
25 The Affect Heuristic	p. 136
26 Dunbar's Number	p. 146
27 Selling Out	p. 151
28 Self-Serving Bias	p. 157
29 The Spotlight Effect	p. 162
30 The Third Person Effect	p. 166
31 Catharsis	p. 170
32 The Misinformation Effect	p. 175
33 Conformity	p. 183
34 Extinction Burst	p. 190
35 Social Loafing	p. 196
36 The Illusion of Transparency	p. 199
37 Learned Helplessness	p. 205
38 Embodied Cognition	p. 210
39 The Anchoring Effect	p. 214
40 Attention	p. 220
41 Self-Handicapping	p. 227
42 Self-Fulfilling Prophecies	p. 231
43 The Moment	p. 236
44 Consistency Bias	p. 240
45 The Representativeness Heuristic	p. 246
46 Expectation	p. 251
47 The Illusion of Control	p. 256
48 The Fundamental Attribution Error	p. 264
Acknowledgments	p. 275
Bibliography	p. 279

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Publisher's Weekly Review

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