In this engaging discussion, Professor Bruce Hood, a noted developmental psychologist and author, unpacks the intriguing idea that our sense of self is an illusion shaped by childhood experiences. He argues that the self arises from social interactions and is deeply linked to brain development. Hood explores how perceptions and narratives construct our identities, the effects of stress on behavior, and the challenges of self-identity in the digital age, highlighting the crucial role of real-life connections amid online personas.
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insights INSIGHT
Self As An Emergent Summary
The self is an emergent internal summary that helps us interact with complex social worlds.
It is an illusion in the sense that it is not the singular controlling entity it feels like.
question_answer ANECDOTE
Sea Squirt Sacrifices Its Brain
Hood tells the sea-squirt story to show brains evolved for navigation and movement.
The sea-squirt sheds its brain after settling because it no longer needs to navigate.
insights INSIGHT
Brain Constructs Perception
Perceptual illusions show the brain actively constructs experience by filling gaps.
The brain sometimes back-propagates expectations to sensory areas, effectively hallucinating edges or shapes.
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Most of us believe that we are unique and coherent individuals, but are we?
The idea of a “Self” has existed ever since humans began to live in groups and become sociable. Those who embrace the self as an individual in the West, or a member of the group in the East, feel fulfilled and purposeful. This experience seems incredibly real, but a wealth of recent scientific evidence reveals that this notion of the independent, coherent self is an illusion – it is not what it seems.
In this talk, Professor Bruce Hood reveals how the self emerges during childhood and how the architecture of the developing brain enables us to become social animals dependent on each other. You’ll learn how the self is the product of our relationships and interactions with others, and it exists only in our brains. Prof Hood argues, however, that though the self is an illusion, it is one that humans cannot live without.
Professor Bruce Hood is the Professor of Developmental Psychology in Society in the School of Experimental Psychology at the University of Bristol. He has been a research fellow at Cambridge University and University College London, a visiting scientist at MIT and a faculty professor at Harvard.
He has been awarded an Alfred Sloan Fellowship in neuroscience, the Young Investigator Award from the International Society of Infancy Researchers, the Robert Fantz memorial award and voted to Fellowship status by the society of American Psychological Science.
He is the founder of the world’s largest expert speaker database Speakezee.org, and the bestselling author of ”Supersense”, ‘The Self Illusion”, and the ”Domesticated Brain.’ His new book, “Possessed” is published by Allen Lane in 2019.
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