INVISIBLE GORILLA, THE
作者： Christopher
出版社：Random House US 2011年06月
简介：
Reading this book will make you less sure of yourself—andthat’s a good thing. In The Invisible Gorilla, Christopher Chabrisand Daniel Simons, creators of one of psychology’s most famousexperiments, use remarkable stories and counterintuitive scientificfindings to demonstrate an important truth: Our minds don’t workthe way we think they do. We think we see ourselves and the worldas they really are, but we’re actually missing a whole lot.
Chabris and Simons combine the work of other researchers withtheir own findings on attention, perception, memory, and reasoningto reveal how faulty intuitions often get us into trouble. In theprocess, they explain:
? Why a company would spend billions to launch a product that itsown analysts know will fail
? How a police officer could run right past a brutal assaultwithout seeing it
? Why award-winning movies are full of editing mistakes
? What criminals have in common with chess masters
? Why measles and other childhood diseases are making acomeback
? Why money managers could learn a lot from weatherforecasters
Again and again, we think we experience and understand the worldas it is, but our thoughts are beset by everyday illusions. Wewrite traffic laws and build criminal cases on the assumption thatpeople will notice when something unusual happens right in front ofthem. We’re sure we know where we were on 9/11, falsely believingthat vivid memories are seared into our minds with perfectfidelity. And as a society, we spend billions on devices to trainour brains because we’re continually tempted by the lure of quickfixes and effortless self-improvement.
The Invisible Gorilla reveals the myriad ways that our intuitionscan deceive us, but it’s much more than a catalog of humanfailings. Chabris and Simons explain why we succumb to theseeveryday illusions and what we can do to inoculate ourselvesagainst their effects. Ultimately, the book provides a kind ofx-ray vision into our own minds, making it possible to pierce theveil of illusions that clouds our thoughts and to think clearly forperhaps the first time.
