{"title":"Hugo Mercier","description":"Hugo Mercier is a cognitive scientist at the Jean Nicod Institute in Paris and the coauthor of The Enigma of Reason. He lives in Nantes, France. Twitter @hugoreasoning","products":[{"product_id":"not-born-yesterday-the-science-of-who-we-trust-and-what-we-believe-paperback","title":"Not Born Yesterday: The Science of Who We Trust and What We Believe - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eWhy people are not as gullible as we think\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eNot Born Yesterday\u003c\/i\u003e explains how we decide who we can trust and what we should believe--and argues that we're pretty good at making these decisions. In this lively and provocative book, Hugo Mercier demonstrates how virtually all attempts at mass persuasion--whether by religious leaders, politicians, or advertisers--fail miserably. Drawing on recent findings from political science and other fields ranging from history to anthropology, Mercier shows that the narrative of widespread gullibility, in which a credulous public is easily misled by demagogues and charlatans, is simply wrong. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWhy is mass persuasion so difficult? Mercier uses the latest findings from experimental psychology to show how each of us is endowed with sophisticated cognitive mechanisms of open vigilance. Computing a variety of cues, these mechanisms enable us to be on guard against harmful beliefs, while being open enough to change our minds when presented with the right evidence. Even failures--when we accept false confessions, spread wild rumors, or fall for quack medicine--are better explained as bugs in otherwise well-functioning cognitive mechanisms than as symptoms of general gullibility. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eNot Born Yesterday\u003c\/i\u003e shows how we filter the flow of information that surrounds us, argues that we do it well, and explains how we can do it better still.","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51377628578015,"sku":"9780691208923","price":19.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/R3OqVQgXzR9780691208923.webp?v=1789236231"},{"product_id":"the-enigma-of-reason-paperback","title":"The Enigma of Reason - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Brilliant...Timely and necessary.\" --\u003ci\u003eFinancial Times\u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Especially timely as we struggle to make sense of how it is that individuals and communities persist in holding beliefs that have been thoroughly discredited.\"\u003cbr\u003e --Darren Frey, \u003ci\u003eScience\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e If reason is what makes us human, why do we behave so irrationally? And if it is so useful, why didn't it evolve in other animals? This groundbreaking account of the evolution of reason by two renowned cognitive scientists seeks to solve this double enigma. Reason, they argue, helps us justify our beliefs, convince others, and evaluate arguments. It makes it easier to cooperate and communicate and to live together in groups. Provocative, entertaining, and undeniably relevant, \u003ci\u003eThe Enigma of Reason\u003c\/i\u003e will make many reasonable people rethink their beliefs. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Reasonable-seeming people are often totally irrational. Rarely has this insight seemed more relevant...Still, an essential puzzle remains: How did we come to be this way?...Cognitive scientists Hugo Mercier and Dan Sperber [argue that] reason developed not to enable us to solve abstract, logical problems...[but] to resolve the problems posed by living in collaborative groups.\"\u003cbr\u003e --Elizabeth Kolbert, \u003ci\u003eNew Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \"Turns reason's weaknesses into strengths, arguing that its supposed flaws are actually design features that work remarkably well.\"\u003cbr\u003e --\u003ci\u003eFinancial Times\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"The best thing I have read about human reasoning. It is extremely well written, interesting, and very enjoyable to read.\"\u003cbr\u003e--Gilbert Harman, Princeton University","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51379356303583,"sku":"9780674237827","price":22.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/BGyPdRL1rD9780674237827.webp?v=1789272408"}],"url":"https:\/\/blackandbarhe.com\/collections\/hugo-mercier.oembed","provider":"Black \u0026 Barhe Bookstore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}