7 Laws of Magical Thinking How Irrational Beliefs Keep Us Happy, Healthy, and Sane

Name: 7 Laws of Magical Thinking How Irrational Beliefs Keep Us Happy, Healthy, and Sane
Price: 10.36 USD
Availability: InStock
ISBN: 9781594630873

ISBN-10: 1594630879

ISBN-13: 9781594630873

Edition: 2012

Authors: Matthew Hutson

List price: $25.95

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Description:

"Psychologists have documented a litany of cognitive biases--misperceptions of the world--and explained their positive functions. Now, Matthew Hutson shows us that even the most hard-core skeptic indulges in magical thinking all the time--and it's crucial to our survival. Drawing on evolution, cognitive science, and neuroscience, Hutson shows us that magical thinking has been so useful to us that it's hardwired into our brains. It encourages us to think that we actually have free will. It helps make us believe that we have an underlying purpose in the world. It can even protect us from the paralyzing awareness of our own mortality. In other words, magical thinking is a completely irrational…

Book details

List price: $25.95
Copyright year: 2012
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date: 4/12/2012
Binding: Hardcover
Pages: 304
Size: 6.25" wide x 9.25" long x 1.25" tall
Weight: 1.188
Language: English



Introduction: We're All Believers



Objects Carry Essences: Cooties, Contagion, and Historicity



Symbols Have Power: Spells, Ceremonies, and the Law of Similarity



Actions Have Distant Consequences: Using Superstition to Make Luck Work for You



The Mind Knows No Bounds: Psychokinesis, ESP, and Transcendence



The Soul Lives On: Death Is Not the End of Us



The World Is Alive: Animals, Objects, and Gods Are People, Too



Everything Happens for a Reason: You've Got a Date with Destiny


Epilogue: The World Is Sacred: A Stab at a Secular Spirituality Spirituality


Acknowledgments


Notes


Further Reading and Selected Bibliography


Index