What Makes Your Brain Happy

This is a fascinating, and practical exploration into why the things that make our brains "happy" are not always what we really need. Why do we routinely choose options that don't meet our short term needs and undermine our long-term goals? Why do we insist we're right even when evidence contradicts us? Why are we prone to assigning meaning to statistically common coincidences? "What Makes Your Brain Happy" reveals a remarkable paradox: what your brain wants is frequently not what your brain needs. In fact, much of what makes our brains "happy" leads to errors, biases, and distortions, which make getting out of our own way extremely difficult. Drawing on research into social psychology, cognitive science, neurology and even marketing and economics, this volume draws out insights that we can use to identify our brains' foibles and turn our awareness into edifying action.

ISBN 1616144831   Pages 288 ISBN13 9781616144838 (What's this?)   Weight (grammes) 440 Publisher Prometheus Books   Published in Amherst Imprint Prometheus Books   Height (mm) 229 Format Paperback   Width (mm) 152 Publication date 08 Mar 2012   Spine width (mm) 24 DEWEY 150   Academic level General DEWEY edition DC23

"DiSalvo offers 'science-help' (as opposed to self-help) by detailing the mental shortcuts our minds like to take but that don't always serve us well, with the assumption that understanding brain function helps us fight its stubborn behavior."-Psychology Today "This book is the Swiss Army knife of psychology and neuroscience research--handy, practical, and very, very useful. It boils down the latest findings into simple, easy-to-understand lessons you can apply to your daily life."-Joseph T. Hallinan, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Why We Make Mistakes "A five-star intellectual smorgasbord of the latest speculations on what makes us tick."Robert Burton, MD, Author of On Being Certain: Believing You Are Right Even When You're Not "This book will make your brain happy--in a good way. With engaging prose and compelling stories, DiSalvo provides a fast-paced overview of mental shortcuts and foibles that make us happy in the short term, often to our long-term detriment."-Daniel Simons, Author of The Invisible Gorilla: And Other Ways Our Intuitions Deceive Us "DiSalvo takes us on mind trips to the frontiers of brain and behavior research--and, being a superb guide, shows us how each development is useful, exciting, and inspired by wonder."-Jena Pincott, Author of Do Gentlemen Really Prefer Blondes? Bodies, Brains, and Behavior: The Science behind Love, Sex, and Attraction "A well-researched and effectively argued guide to uncovering the reasons why we so often think and act in ways that undermine our best interests, and it's also full of knowledge about why humans manipulate each other. If you want to know more about why you do what you do, and how to avoid becoming the victim of someone else's manipulation tactics, I encourage you to read this book."-Philip Zimbardo, PhD, Author of The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil and past president of the American Psychological Associationtion to eme

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