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How to Conquer Mob Mentality, How to Buy Happiness, and All the Other Ways to Outsmart Yourself

“You Are Now Less Dumb” is a book that will show you how your brain may be tricking you into believing things which are untrue.

About David McRaney

David McRaney is a blogger that opened up the You Are Not So Smart blog, which he later turned into a best-selling book.

“You Are Now Less Dumb Summary”

You think you know why you do what you do, right?

You think you know the reasons you feel a certain way?

Well, let us break it to you – maybe, you are not that smart when it comes to deciphering your feelings.

Your brain has a way to make you believe in things that are not real. Hence, most of the time, we do not know what drives us.

Yes, that is right.

Even if you are the most grounded and logical person on Earth, from time to time, your brain will deceive you.

Nothing you perceive is the ultimate truth.

We perceive the world individually, based on our previous experiences and our knowledge.

As a result, different people live different realities.

You have to become aware of this fact if you want to make your brain stop deceiving you.

Many things affect our attitude towards others, like the characteristics that are the most dominant when we first meet them, or their physical appearance.

All of us try not to judge “a book by its cover,” but we do it, consistently.

This is grounded in biology, especially when it comes to mates. Humans are wired to look for good looking mates since a better physical appearance is a sign of strength and health, which ultimately would lead to better offspring.

That is why many times we overlook negative traits of good-looking people. Studies show that people perceive more good looking people as smarter than the less attractive ones.

Then, there is the question of your mood.

At times you may feel bad or good and think you know why, but sometimes the reason you come up with is not the right one.

So, the next time you get a thought or feel an emotion, you need to stop for a second and think twice.

The emotion and the thought may not originate from what you primarily believed they did.

Key Lessons from “You Are Now Less Dumb”

1.      The Post Hoc Fallacy
2.      The Halo Effect
3.      The Backfire Effect

The Post Hoc Fallacy

When two things happen consecutively, people tend to think that the first event influenced the second one.

Our brain automatically creates connections so it can come up with reasons why certain things happen.

However, the conclusions we come up with are not always right.

The Halo Effect

At times we are shallow and form an opinion about a certain person based on one single characteristic.

The Backfire Effect

People always defend their opinions, so when somebody tries to persuade someone else to change their stance, the backfire effect happens.

Rather than changing the opinion, people tend to stick to their beliefs even more, when there is someone who “attacks” them.

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“You Are Now Less Dumb” Quotes