Not Born Yesterday: The Science of Who We Trust and What We Believe

(Hardback)

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Description

Why people are not as gullible as we think Not Born Yesterday 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 ad

Reviews

"A bracing book that might make you less gullible about gullibility."---Barbara Kiser, Nature
"At the risk of being seen as credulous, Id say [Mercier] makes a strong case for gullibility being a far less prevalent and important trait than we thought." * New Scientist *
"[Not Born Yesterday] will be of interest to anyone who wonders how to trust what people say and do, especially in the digital, free-for-all age of unfettered, often suspect, information. The breadth and depth of research studies presented by Mercier will be especially appealing to science aficionados."---Karen Koenig, New York Journal of Books
"In Not Born Yesterday, the cognitive scientist Hugo Mercier brings the conceptual reversal to a domain in desperate need of new insights: that of truth and falsehood, knowledge and ignorance."---N. J. Enfield, Times Literary Supplement
"[Not Born Yesterday] marshals a convincing body of research . . . from history and sociology, from anthropology and from the psychology laboratory."---Timandra Harkness, UnHerd
"[Mercier's argument] is refreshingly optimistic."---Daniel Akst, Strategy+Business
"[A] thought-provoking book about the science of who we trust." * Paradigm Explorer *
"At a time when large swaths seem to believe that we are hopelessly doomed because everyone else is stupid and easily misled or manipulated, Merciers book provides a nuanced antidote to such thinking, grounded in a careful examination of a wealth of evidence from psychology and the social sciences."---Felix Simon, Medium
"[A] lucidly written introduction to the social psychology of communication and reasoning."---Shreeharsh Kelkar, Public Books

Author Bio

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