The Fear Factor: How One Emotion Connects Altruists, Psychopaths and Everyone In-Between

(Paperback)

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'A riveting ride through your own brain' - Adam Grant, New York Times bestselling author of Originals

WINNER of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology's book prize for 'The Promotion of Social and Personality Science'

If humans are fundamentally good, why do we engage in acts of great cruelty If we are evil, why do we sometimes help others at a cost to ourselves

Whether humans are good or evil is a question that has plagued philosophers and scientists for as long as there have been philosophers and scientists.

Many argue that we are fundamentally selfish, and only the rules and laws of our societies and our own relentless efforts of will can save us from ourselves. But is this really true

Abigail Marsh is a social neuroscientist who has closely studied the brains of both the worst and the best among us-from children with psychopathic traits whose families live in fear of them, to adult altruists who have given their own kidneys to strangers. Her groundbreaking findings suggest a possibility that is more optimistic than the dominant view. Humans are not good or evil, but are equally (and fundamentally) capable of good and evil.

In The Fear Factor Marsh explores the human capacity for caring, drawing on cutting edge research findings from clinical, translational and brain imaging investigations on the nature of empathy, altruism, and aggression and brings us closer to understanding the basis of humans' social nature.

'You won't be able to put it down' - Daniel Gilbert, New York Times bestselling author of Stumbling on Happiness

'[It] reads like a thriller... One of the most mind-opening books I have read in years' - Matthieu Ricard, author of Altruism

Reviews

[Marsh's] book is deft enough to be chilling at times, infectiously optimistic at others - The Daily Telegraph

A brilliant, beautiful, and important book about the things that make some of us angels, some of us devils, and all of us human. You won't be able to put it down - Daniel Gilbert, Harvard University

Reads like a thriller. Abigail Marsh takes us through the groundbreaking research that has thrown light on two of the most fundamental traits of human beings: extreme selfishness and extreme altruism. Page after page, she shows convincingly that the capacity to perceive and identify fear and, consequently, to feel empathy as one would for a child in danger, is the key factor that makes us behave as a psychopath or as someone who joyfully gives a kidney to a stranger. One of the most mind-opening books I have read in years - Matthieu Ricard, Author of Altruism: The Power of Compassion to Change Yourself and the World

Beautifully and engagingly written, yet not compromising on science. Abigail Marsh has written a page-turner that takes you meticulously through the scientific evidence for why altruism exists, while fooling you into thinking that you are reading a detective novel. This is essential reading for anyone interested in why people vary in their capacity for empathy and love - Essi Viding PhD, Professor of Developmental Psychopathology at UCL

Let Abigail Marsh guide you on a riveting ride through your own brain. With lively writing and an impressive command of science, she shows how sensitivity to fear can be both a weapon of evil and a force for good - Adam Grant, New York Times bestselling author of Originals, Give and Take, and Option B (with Sheryl Sandberg)

The combination of thorough investigation and personal research experiences creates a volume far more engaging than those typically written by academics...Those who seek to comprehend the origin of fear, altruism, and elements of human nature will find this book a key factor in their increased understanding - Science

The book is overall a model of careful popular science writing, rebutting common oversimplifications... Best of all, her writing style is vivid and personable... And despite the book's optimistic message, there are moments-as when she describes a psychopathic teenage girl she tested as someone "with whom I would have been unwilling to spend a night alone in a house"-that send a chill down the spine. - The Wall Street Journal

Recommend this fascinating text to readers of pop psychology and true crime fans who wish to better understand the minds of potential criminals - Booklist

Author Bio

Abigail Marsh is a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Georgetown University. She received her PhD in social psychology from Harvard University and completed her post-doctoral training at the National Institute of Mental Health. Her work has been covered in The Times, NPR, The Economist, The Washington Post, and in her popular TED Talk.