Shared reality : what makes us strong and tears us apart /
"What makes us human? Why do humans deal with the world in the ways that we do? The usual answer is that it is our intelligence. When it comes to intelligence, we believe we are special. When it comes to motivation, we believe we are basically the same as other animals. But human motivation is...
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| Format: | eBook |
| Language: | English |
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New York, NY :
Oxford University Press,
[2019]
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| Online Access: | Connect to the full text of this electronic book |
| Summary: | "What makes us human? Why do humans deal with the world in the ways that we do? The usual answer is that it is our intelligence. When it comes to intelligence, we believe we are special. When it comes to motivation, we believe we are basically the same as other animals. But human motivation is also special. This book describes why human motivation is special and how it makes us who we are. Humans want to experience that their feelings, beliefs, and concerns are shared by others. They want to experience that what matters to them about the world, what objects, events, and issues are worthy of attention, also matters to other people. And what humans share with others is what they experience to be real. It is a shared reality. This book tells the story of how our shared reality motivation defines who we are. It makes us strong as individuals and as groups. It can also tear us apart. Different modes of shared reality emerge during human childhood, and emerged during human evolution, that determine our experience of the world around us and how we deal with it. Our motivation to create shared realities determines how we talk to each other and remember the events in our lives. The story of shared reality is the story of how we feel, what we know, our attitudes and opinions, our sense of self, what we strive for and how we strive, and how we get along with others."--Provided by publisher What does it mean to be human? Why do we feel and behave in the ways that we do? The classic answer is that we have a special kind of intelligence. But to understand what we are as humans, we also need to know what we are like motivationally. And what is central to this story, what is special about human motivation, is that humans want to share with others their inner experiences about the world--share how they feel, what they believe, and what they want to happen in the future. They want to create a shared reality with others. People have a shared reality together when they experience having in common a feeling about something, a belief about something, or a concern about something. They feel connected to another person or group by knowing that this person or group sees the world the same way that they do--they share what is real about the world. In this work, Dr. Higgins describes how our human motivation for shared reality evolved in our species, and how it develops in our children as shared feelings, shared practices, and shared goals and roles. Shared reality is crucial to what we believe--sharing is believing. It is central to our sense of self, what we strive for and how we strive. It is basic to how we get along with others. It brings us together in fellowship and companionship, but it also tears us apart by creating in-group 'bubbles' that conflict with one another. Our shared realities are the best of us, and the worst of us. |
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| Physical Description: | 1 online resource (viii, 336 pages) : illustrations |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references (pages 287-321) and index. |
| ISBN: | 9780190948061 019094806X 9780190082536 0190082534 |