THE BELIEF INSTINCT (ORIGINALLY UNDER GOD’S SKIN): THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SOULS, DESTINY AND THE MEANING OF LIFE
Book ID/图书代码： 13000508B22426
English Summary/英文概要： What are the psychological foundations of supernatural belief? In this book, Jesse Bering does not attempt to solve the question of whether God exists; rather he provides a fresh examination of whether belief in God is more a matter of nature than nurture.
The author is one of the lead investigators on a €2-million project funded by the European Commission that aims to unravel the biological reasons why so many people believe in God, gods and religion in general. Called ’Explaining Religion’, it is the largest-ever scientific study of the subject. It began in September 2007, will run for three years, and involves academics from 14 universities and a range of disciplines from psychology to economics.
Chinese Summary/中文概要： 為什麼即使一個最堅定的無神論者遇到危險時也都會轉向上帝呢？ 難道「信仰」是人與生俱來的？
為什麼即使是一個最堅定的無神論者，遇到家人面臨病危關頭或者自己身處危險時也都會轉向上帝（或神）？
令人弔詭的是，關於談論上帝的宗教卻在我們的日常生活愈趨邊緣化，但這樣的「信念」卻會在我們需要的時刻出現，難道「信仰」是人與生俱來的？作者並不願意在書中證明上帝是否存在來解決這疑惑，相反地，他企圖用全新的試驗，來證明「信仰」是一件再理所當然不過的事情，並且證明這是人類與其他物種最大的差別之處。
作者是歐盟執委會「兩百萬歐元計畫」下的主要研究員之一。目標是以生物學及心理學的角度來理解「為什麼這麼多人信仰上帝？」這是從未有過的科學計畫。自2007年九月開始，計劃運作三年。吸收十四所大學從心理學到經濟學等…各項領域的研究人才。(Vincent)
Awards/获奖情况：Rights sold:
Germany- Piper
Italy -Rizzoli
Spain- Paidos
Netherlands- Nieuw Amsterdam
Portugal -Temas e Debates
Japan-Kagaku-Dojin
UK - Nicholas Brealey Praises:
“Jesse Bering is a brilliant young psychologist, a gifted storyteller, a careful reader of Jean-Paul Sartre, and a very funny man. And his first book, THE BELIEF INSTINCT, is a triumph — a moving, provocative, and entertaining exploration of the human search for meaning.”---Paul Bloom, Professor of Psychology, Yale University, author of How Pleasure Works
“Since God didn’t exist, our human ancestors found it necessary to invent him. In this scintillating book, Jesse Bering explains, with characteristic wit and wisdom, how, in the course of human evolution, God returned the compliment — by helping individuals, despite themselves, lead better lives.”---Nicholas Humphrey, author of Seeing Red
‘Bering’s own clever research on children’s perceptions of the supernatural is the centerpiece in his rich portrayal of the newly unfolding science of belief in God’---Daniel M. Wegner, Harvard University, author of The Illusion of Conscious Will
‘Bering ranges comfortably among evolutionary biology, psychology and philosophical concerns, and finds the good science in belief.’---Kirkus reviews
’Thanks to evolution we naturally expect there to be a god - or gods - watching over us. Our brains interpret the world around us in ways that created God; the notion of the divine is a scratch on our psychological lenses, says psychologist Jesse Bering. Bering admits that explaining away God in this way is radical and possibly dangerous, but he handles it deftly. His writing is witty, crammed with pop-culture references, and he employs examples and analogies that make his arguments seem like common sense rather than the hard-earned scientific insights they really are. This fascinating book presents gentle, nuanced but convincing arguments for atheism. Bering knows he can’t change the world, though. Thoroughly and permanently removing God from our heads would require a neurosurgeon not a science teacher, he says.’ ---New Scientist
’A balanced and considered approach to this often inflammatory topic’---Nature
’I’m certainly no expert in evolutionary psychology, but [after reading The God Instinct] I feel like one... a book without God but brimful of humanity.’---Simon Winchcombe, Producer, BBC Horizon
About the Author/作者介绍： Jesse Bering 博士是英國女皇大學Queen’s University認知與文化研究至主任。研究所時期主要是分析人類與黑猩猩之間的心理差異。早期比較心理學的洗禮，加上博士班心理學發展的研究。促使他逐步展開研究人類心理學，在信仰上所扮演的角色。同樣地，他是許多篇探討大學生對於「來生」想法的論文作者。www.jessebering.com/
JESSE BERING is a reader in the School of History and Anthropology and Director of the Institute of Cognition and Culture at Queen’s University, Belfast. His postgraduate studies focused on the psychological differences between human beings and chimpanzees, and this early exposure to comparative psychology, combined with his PhD in developmental psychology, led to his work studying how the evolved human mind plays a part in religious thinking. He is the author of numerous scientific articles on topics ranging from the afterlife to university students’ conceptions of destiny. His popular writings have appeared in American Scientist, Scientific American and New Statesman, and he has had several essays published in John Brockman’s Edge-derived books. He also contributes a regular blog called Bering in Mind to Scientific American Mind. An American by birth, he currently lives in a small village in Northern Ireland. He is 33 years old.
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Rights Status/版权销售情况：Simplified Chinese/简体中文：AVAILABLE(到期可授)
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