The Mind of the Market: How Biology and Psychology Shape Our Economic Lives

362 Pages·2009·1.75 MB·English

by  Michael Shermer

Praise for The Mind of the Market
“[A] captivating raconteur of all the greatest hits of behavioral, evolutionary and
neuropsychology, [and] provider of wonderful cocktail party material . . .
Fascinating.”
—Los Angeles Times Book Review
“Compelling . . . Take[s] us on an intimate tour of the best of the last half-
century’s work in behavioral economics and neuroscience.”
—New York Post
“The book has no end of conversation starters, from capitalism as modern
Darwinism to neuroeconomics that show that—biochemically, at least—a human
brain is shockingly similar during smooth business deals and sex.”
—The Boston Globe
“Extremely interesting . . . Shermer is a fantastic presenter.”
—Steven D. Levitt, The New York Times Freakonomics Blog
“Michael Shermer brilliantly shows that the real experts of Homo economicus
are often found in psychology, biology, even primatology.”
—Frans de Waal, author of Our Inner Ape
“Have you ever wondered how people develop trust and live together
peacefully? Michael Shermer’s new book uses psychology and evolution to
examine the root of these human achievements. . . . [He] has earned the right to
our attention.”
—The Washington Post Book World
“Drawing from research, and injecting his own wit, Shermer explains why
people make bad decisions about money, why wealth can’t buy you happiness,
and why we love cooperating.”
—Psychology Today
“Written with his customary verve and flair, The Mind of the Market is Michael
Shermer at his best.”
—Dinesh D’Souza, author of What’s So Great About America
“[Shermer] does a bang-up job knitting together the complexities of science and
the frail psychology of human beings to explain the unpredictable postmodern
world of trade and finance. . . . An informative, inventive, broad-spectrum
analysis of what makes modern man tick, starting with his wallet.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“Economists who understand Charles Darwin are almost as rare as biologists
who understand Adam Smith. Yet the two were essentially saying the same thing
—that order emerges unordained from competition and innovation. Michael
Shermer brilliantly brings the two insights together to explain how the human
mind creates the human market.”
—Matt Ridley, author of The Origins of Virtue
“Using fascinating examples . . . Shermer explores the evolutionary roots of our
sense of fairness and justice, and shows how this rationale extends to the market.
. . . Offers much insight into human behavior and rationales regarding money.”
—Publishers Weekly
“The Ripley’s Believe It or Not of behavioral economics, or why people act the
way they do in a capitalistic marketplace . . . Shermer applies his wide-ranging
knowledge of science and its rigorous investigatory discipline to uncover the
answers and make connections between trade and emotion—in essence,
popularizing neuron-economics.”
—Booklist

THE MIND OF THE MARKET
ALSO BY MICHAEL SHERMER
Why Darwin Matters
Science Friction
The Science of Good and Evil
In Darwin’s Shadow: The Life
and Science of Alfred Russel Wallace
The Skeptic Encyclopedia
of Pseudoscience (general editor)
The Borderlands of Science
Denying History
How We Believe
Why People Believe Weird Things
THE MIND OF
THE MARKET
How Biology
and Psychology
Shape Our
Economic Lives
MICHAEL SHERMER
A HOLT PAPERBACK
HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY NEW YORK
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Copyright © 2008 by Michael Shermer
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Originally published in hardcover in 2008 by Times Books
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To
Jay Stuart Snelson
Aperire Terram Gentibus
A number of porcupines huddled together for warmth on a cold day in winter;
but, as they began to prick one another with their quills, they were obliged to
disperse. . . . At last, after many turns of huddling and dispersing, they
discovered that they would be best off by remaining at a little distance from one
another. In the same way the need of society drives the human porcupines
together, only to be mutually repelled by the many prickly and disagreeable
qualities of their nature. The moderate distance which they at last discover to be
the only tolerable condition of intercourse is the code of politeness and fine
manners.

—ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER,
Parerga and Paralipomena, II, 31, 1851