Black and White Thinking

Name: Black and White Thinking
SKU: 9780552175364
Availability: InStock

£10.99

This is a groundbreaking and timely book about how evolutionary biology can explain our black-and-white brains, and a lesson in how we can escape the pitfalls of binary thinking. We isolate ourselves from people who are not the same as us. We refuse to listen to the other side of the argument. We think in black and white – them or us, left or right, Leave or Remain – and dangerous possibilities arise. The Alt Right. ISIS. Brexit. Trump. Our hardwired binary brains have led to increasingly polarized beliefs and a rising tide of religious intolerance and political extremism. But by understanding our evolutionary programming we can learn how to see the grey areas and make rational sense of a complex world. In this alarm call for a better future, Oxford University psychologist Dr Kevin Dutton argues for a world in which we make subtler – and far better – decisions.

SKU: 9780552175364 Category: Popular Science

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A Malcolm Gladwell, Susan Cain, Daniel Pink and Adam Grant NEXT BIG IDEA book club read about how to avoid the pitfalls of too little, and too much, complexity.

‘Essential insights into the character of human choice and decision-making.’ ROBERT CIALDINI, bestselling author of Influence
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In this groundbreaking exploration of how our brains work, psychologist Professor Kevin Dutton explains that by understanding the nature of our hardwired black and white thinking we are better equipped to negotiate life’s grey zones and make subtler and smarter decisions.

Our brains are hardwired to sort, categorize and draw lines. It’s how we navigate the kaleidoscope of everyday information. Yet imagine failing an exam by a mere 1 per cent. Or being caught speeding at just 1 mph over the speed limit. We have to draw the line somewhere, we say. But lines can be unhelpful or even dangerous when drawn where they aren’t wanted, or in too thick a hand.

By thinking in terms of ‘ ‘them’ or ‘us’ and ‘this’ or ‘that’ we isolate ourselves from ideas we don’t agree with and people who are not the same as us. We fail to listen to the other side of the argument and beliefs become polarized. Intolerance and extremism flourish. The human race has survived by making binary decisions, but such thinking might also destroy us. We may be programmed to think in black and white but rainbow thinking is the key to our cognitive future.
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‘Fascinating, important and entirely convincing.’ SIR PHILIP PULLMAN