The Cost of Conviction

How Our Deepest Values Lead Us Astray

Steven A. Sloman (Autor)

Buch | Hardcover

240 Seiten

2025
MIT Press (Verlag)
978-0-262-04982-5 (ISBN)

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A timely and important perspective on how people frame decisions and how relying on sacred values unwittingly leads to social polarization. When you are faced with a decision, do you consider the best outcome, or do you consider your deepest values about which actions are appropriate? The Cost of Conviction contrasts these two primary strategies for making decisions: consequentialism, the former, or prioritizing one s sacred values, the latter. Steven Sloman argues that, while both modes of decision making are necessary tools for a good decision maker, people err by deploying sacred values more often than they should, especially when it comes to sociopolitical issues. As a result, we oversimplify, grow disgusted and angry, and act in ways that contribute to social polarization. In this book, Sloman provides a new understanding of today s societal ills and grounds that understanding in science. The book begins by covering the philosophical and conceptual background of the two decision-making strategies, then takes a deep dive into the psychology of decision making. Drawing on historical and current examples of the use of the two strategies, the author provides a thorough overview of the psychology of decision making, including work on judgment, conscious and unconscious decision-making processes, the roles of emotion, and even an analysis of habit and addiction. With its unique emphasis on sacred values, The Cost of Conviction is an eye-opening must-read for all decision makers, especially those who wish to understand judgment, social decision making, and leadership.

Steven Sloman has taught at Brown University since 1992. He is a Fellow of the Cognitive Science Society, the Society of Experimental Psychologists, the American Psychological Society, the Eastern Psychological Association, and the Psychonomic Society. He is the author of Causal Models and a coauthor of The Knowledge Illusion (with Phil Fernbach). He has been Editor-in-Chief of the journal Cognition, Chair of the Brown University faculty, and the creator of Brown University s concentration in Behavioral Decision Sciences.

1 What This Book Is About 1
2 Why Sacred Values Are Essential 13
3 Why Sacred Values are Dangerous 33
4 Making Decisions by Consequences 51
5 The Art of Belief: How People Think About What Is 73
6 Beliefs About How Things Work 91
7 Values (the Nonsacred Kind) 113
8 Simplifying Choice 133
9 How Should I Choose? Consequentialism versus Sacred Values 153
10 What About Decisions That Don't Involve Thinking? 169
11 How to Do the Right Thing 185
12 Bottling Up Outrage 205
Acknowledgments 215
Notes 217
Index 239

Erscheinungsdatum	14.05.2025
Zusatzinfo	4 BLACK AND WHITE ILLUS.
Sprache	englisch
Maße	152 x 229 mm
Themenwelt	Geisteswissenschaften ► Philosophie ► Ethik
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Psychologie ► Allgemeine Psychologie
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Psychologie ► Biopsychologie / Neurowissenschaften
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Psychologie ► Verhaltenstherapie
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Religion / Theologie
ISBN-10	0-262-04982-1 / 0262049821
ISBN-13	978-0-262-04982-5 / 9780262049825
Zustand	Neuware