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Which is smarter-your head or your gut? It's a familiar refrain: you're getting too emotional. Try and think rationally. But is it always good advice?

In this surprising book, Eyal Winter asks a simple question: why do we have emotions? If they lead to such bad decisions, why hasn't evolution long since made emotions irrelevant? The answer is that, even though they may not behave in a purely logical manner, our emotions frequently lead us to better, safer, more optimal outcomes.

In fact, as Winter discovers, there is often logic in emotion, and emotion in logic. For instance, many mutually beneficial commitments-such as marriage, or being a member of a team-are only possible when underscored by emotion rather than deliberate thought. The difference between pleasurable music and bad noise is mathematically precise; yet it is also something we feel at an instinctive level. And even though people are usually overconfident-how can we all be above average?-we often benefit from our arrogance.

Feeling Smart brings together game theory, evolution, and behavioral science to produce a surprising and very persuasive defense of how we think, even when we don't.

 

 

 

Preface p. ix

Introduction: What Is Rationality? p. xv

On Anger and Commitment

What Is the Point of Getting Annoyed? Emotions as a Mechanism for Creating Commitmenpt.s 3

Why We Love Those Who Are Cruel to Us: Stockholm Syndrome and the Story of the Nazi

Schoolteacher

p. 12

Emotional Impostors, Empathy, and Uncle Ezra's Poker Face p. 18

Game Theory, Emotions, and the Golden Rule of Ethics p. 31

The Prisoner's Dilemma in Repeated Interactions: Do Drawn Knives Increase

Cooperation in the World?

p. 38

On Decency, Insult, and Revenge: Why Don't Suckers Suffer from Disgust? p. 51

On Trust and Generosity

On Stigmas and Games of Trust: Why Did the Bees Commit Suicide? p. 61

Self-Fulfilling Mistrust p. 69

Cultural Differences, Palestinian Generosity, and Ruth's Mysterious Disappearance p. 73

Collective Emotions and Uncle Walter's Trauma p. 87

The Handicap Principle, the Ten Commandments, and Other Mechanisms for Ensuring

Collective Survival

p. 98

Knowing How to Give, Knowing How to Receive: The Full Half of the Cholent p. 110

On Love and Sexuality

The Spray That Will Give Us Love: On the Hormone that Creates Trust and Neutralizes

Suspicion

p. 117

On Men, Women, and Evolution: Testing the Myths p. 121

Make Me a Match Made in Heaven: Reproduction and the Mathematics of Romance p. 145

From Cavemen Flutes to Bach Fugues: Why Did Evolution Create Art? p. 160

On Optimism, Pessimism, and Group Behavior

Why Are We So Negative? The Arithmetic of Emotions p. 167

On Arrogance and Humility: The Norwegian Professor's Syndrome p. 173

Overconfidence and Risk: The "It Can't Happen to Me" Syndrome p. 178

The Voice Is Herd: On the Sources of Herd Behavior p. 189

Team Spirit: The Paradox of the Generous Bonuses and the Lazy Workers p. 201

On Rationality, Emotions, and Genes

Irrational Emotions p. 219

Nature or Nurture: What Is the Source of Rational Emotions? p. 228

Epilogue p. 233

Notes p. 239

Index p. 247

Table of Contents provided by Blackwell's Book Services and R.R. Bowker. Used with permission.