The Pigheaded Brain
Loyalty a step too far
"The brain evades, twists, discounts misinterprets, even makes up evidence—all so that we can retain that satisfying sense of being in the right." This chapter talks about how attached we are to our beliefs. Whether they are beliefs that we've held for decades to opinions formed in a few seconds, it really doesn't matter.
This chapter is linked closely with chapter one which was about the vain brain. The brain not only doesn't like to be proved wrong but also likes to stick with what it already believes. Fine shows this with two examples. First she mentions when someone hypothesized that the world was round and not flat, no one believed it for a long time. Then she talks about when scientist Alice Stewart hypothesized that prenatal x-rays were linked to prenatal cancer. In 1977, no obstetrician believed the scientist's theories at all. They even thought that Alice Stewart's work was based on babies that he somehow knew would get cancer. This example showed that even scientists and doctors are susceptible to the same brain tricks that are played on everyone else.
Fine provides lots of other experimental psychology studies, articles, and quirky anecdotes in this chapter leaving the reader to wonder how in control she is of her own brain.
This chapter is linked closely with chapter one which was about the vain brain. The brain not only doesn't like to be proved wrong but also likes to stick with what it already believes. Fine shows this with two examples. First she mentions when someone hypothesized that the world was round and not flat, no one believed it for a long time. Then she talks about when scientist Alice Stewart hypothesized that prenatal x-rays were linked to prenatal cancer. In 1977, no obstetrician believed the scientist's theories at all. They even thought that Alice Stewart's work was based on babies that he somehow knew would get cancer. This example showed that even scientists and doctors are susceptible to the same brain tricks that are played on everyone else.
Fine provides lots of other experimental psychology studies, articles, and quirky anecdotes in this chapter leaving the reader to wonder how in control she is of her own brain.
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