Tuesday, August 25, 2009

How We Decide

Even though there were many instances in reading where I felt I was re-reading something I learned from Psychology 101, or from the books "Blink" or "Paradox of Choice", I really enjoyed this book. It deals with goes on inside the brain in a simple and cutting edge sort of way. Mostly a collection of case studies delivered rather well by Jonah Lehrer, a Rhodes Scholar, this book should further convince most people of the relevance to the field of neuroscience.

Some of the stories go through the step by step process of the brains thinking patterns and how it plays out in everyday choices. It helps to explain a lot of the different impulses we experience when seeing something cool to buy like a nice car, house or a pair of shoes. The rush of euphoria we feel when we see something we want is usually negated with with a counteracting feeling of rationality when we cannot afford it. However, credit cards, peer influence, flashing lights, the idea of something being 'on sale' all serve to mask these feelings of control, and we end up making the purchase...

No comments: