A Mind of Its
Own – How your brain distorts and deceives

By Cordelia
Fine

WHAT’S THE BIG IDEA?

Your brain is like a good spin-doctor - it makes sure that
reality is filtered through a rose-coloured prism  so you never get to  see the ghastly truth. In particular it
protects you from ugly rumours about yourself - manipulating your perceptions
to present your prospects in the most optimistic way, massaging evidence to
cast you in the best light and selecting your memories to protect your self image . We fail a test, and the brain assures that we just
didn’t make the effort. He fails the same test and we smugly note that he
must be thick. Or rather, you do, because, of course, my brain insists
that I would never be guilty of such a double standard. .

As well as polishing your halo,  your brain tirelessly labours to
protect you from  facts that might
undermine your beliefs. It discounts evidence that goes against your
prejudices, and amplifies that which supports them. This pigheaded loyalty to old
ideas sometimes works for our benefit. It is the basis of the placebo effect ( we expect a drug to work so it does) and if we think we
are wonderful we tend to live up to it. One study found that school children
who were given IQ test results which falsely boosted their scores later  did better
in genuine tests than classmates who had not previously been duped .   But it can also delay progress and
lead us to make disastrous mistakes. Doctors, for example,  went on x-raying pregnant women
for nearly a quarter of a century after one maverick physician produced
evidence to show that radiation endangered unborn babies. Throughout that time
the medical profession as a whole convinced itself  the evidence was unsound, mainly
because it went against prevailing opinion.

“A Mind of Its Own” is cringe-making and
sometimes disillusioning.  Happily,
though,  your
brain will swiftly forget the bits that reflect less than kindly on you, and
the take-away message is that by protecting your ego, your brain not only keeps
you happy, but also helps to keep you healthy

SO WHAT’S NEW?

Nothing much. Most of the information comes from
psychological studies dating back 10 years or more, many of which have already
been written about quite widely. That’s not really the point though
– rather it is that the book pulls the evidence together in a
particularly neat and
revealing way.

HOW READER FRIENDLY IS IT?

Totally. Cordelia Fine writes clearly and
elegantly and even made this reader laugh out loud (in public).

BOFFIN-RATING

The only quibble I have with this book is that  it talks about the brain   in the way that some men talk of
their penises – as a wayward appendage, to be fond of and grateful to,
but not really responsible for. In fact, your brain  is you, as mine is me.
This, though,  is
nitpicking – its very difficult to write about the brain any other way.
In fact ,
I have probably done the same here. Happily, though, my brain
won’t let on.