Us and Them: Understanding Your Tribal Mind
by David Berreby
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Description
Democrat and Republican. Meat Eaters and Vegetarians. Black and White. As human beings we sort ourselves into groups. And once we identify ourselves as a member of a particular group--say, Red Sox fans--we tend to feel more comfortable with others of our own kind, rather than, say, Yankees fans. Yet we all belong to multiple groups at the same time--one might be a woman, a mother, an American, a violinist. How do we decide which identities matter and why they matter so much? And what makes show more us willing to die for, or to kill for, a religion, a nation, or a race? In this award-winning book, David Berreby describes how twenty-first-century science is addressing these age-old questions. Ably linking neuroscience, social psychology, anthropology, and other fields, Us and Them investigates humanity's "tribal mind" and how this alters our thoughts, affects our health, and is manipulated for good and ill. From the medical effects of stress to the rhetoric of politics, our perceptions of group identity affect every part of our lives. Science, Berreby argues, shows how this part of human nature is both unexpectedly important and surprisingly misunderstood. Humans need our tribal sense--it tells us who we are, how we should behave, and links us to others as well as the past and future. Some condemn this instinct, while others celebrate it. Berreby offers in Us and Them a third alternative: how we can accept and understand our inescapable tribal mind. "[A] brave book. . . . Berreby's quest is to understand what he sees as a fundamental human urge to classify and identify with 'human kinds.'"--Henry Gee, Scientific American show lessTags
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Member Reviews
This is the kind of book where you start to see examples of the subject matter everywhere. A very thoughtful investigation of in what ways we categorize other human beings, and what practical and moral consequences that has.
FASCINATING and topical book about how, and perhaps why, people tend to pair off into us vs. them world views. "Oh, they do that because they are X….(they aren't good like us.)" Very interesting and well done text by an American reporter living in the UK. If found it very stimulating, and clarifying. Highly recommended.
This book gave me the solid background to think more deeply on social psychology. I was intrigued to learn about the details of social psychology of experiments conducted decades ago. For anyone who wants to have a broader perspective on social violence this book also provides a very good opportunity and includes a detailed scientific biography.
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Author Information
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Common Knowledge
- Original publication date
- 2005
- Epigraph
- We found several sick and famished Indians, who begged hard for mercy and for food. It hurt my feelings; but the understanding was that all were to be killed. So we did the work.
—Settler, Oregon, 1857
Keiko was n... (show all)ot one of our kind but nonetheless he was still one of us.
—Veterinary Chaplain,
Speaking at the funeral of Keiko,
A killer wale, Oregon, 2003 - Dedication
- For Beverly
- Blurbers
- Hall, Stephen S.; Horgan, John
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 224
- Popularity
- 144,958
- Reviews
- 3
- Rating
- (4.00)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 6
- ASINs
- 2
