Science News

A professor of behavioral economics and psychology at Duke University, Ariely is the author of Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces that Shape Our Decisions, and The Upside of Irrationality: The Unexpected Benefits of Defying Logic, both New York Times bestsellers. Ariely’s new book, The (Honest) Truth About Dishonesty, explores some of the surprising reasons we lie to each other, and ourselves.

Matthew Hutson, author of The Seven Laws of Magical Thinking: How Irrational Beliefs Keep Us Happy, Healthy, and Sane, argues that superstition has been so evolutionarily advantageous to our species that our brains are hardwired to persist in irrational beliefs against all evidence to the contrary.

More on SUPERSTITION: http://www.scoop.it/t/science-news?q=superstition

This cognitive tendency is a good thing most of the time. As cognitive scientists such as Gerd Gigerenzer points out, human rationality evolved to help us understand and organize the world by making it appear as simple as possible. Knowledge of logic and probability wasn’t important for our hunter-gatherer ancestors. But when it comes to writing about rationality and intuition we must remember that readers are going to jump to conclusions about how people jump to conclusions.