Constructive Dialogue Institute: Lesson 1: Exploring the Inner Workings of the Mind

Our brains were designed for tribal life, for getting along with a select group of others (Us) and for fighting off everyone else (Them). But modern times have forced the world's tribes into a shared space, resulting in epic clashes of values along with unprecedented opportunities.

This evaluation of the sources of illogical decisions explores the reasons why irrational thought often overcomes level-headed practices, offering insight into the structural patterns that cause people to make the same mistakes repeatedly. In a series of illuminating, often surprising experiments, the author, a MIT behavioral economist, refutes the common assumption that we behave in fundamentally rational ways.

The author presents an investigation into the origins of morality, which turns out to be the basis for religion and politics.

In this work the author, explains the two systems that drive the way we think. System 1 is fast, intuitive, and emotional; System 2 is slower, more deliberative, and more logical. He exposes the extraordinary capabilities, and also the faults and biases, of fast thinking, and reveals the pervasive influence of intuitive impressions on our thoughts and behavior.

Chpt. 1 - The makings of the magical mind : the nature and function of sympathetic magical thinking by Carol Nemeroff and Paul Rozin.