Professor Nick Chater, University of Warwick
The Mind is Flat: The Illusion of mental depth and the improvised mind
We all like to think we have a rich inner life. Most of us assume that our beliefs and desires arise from murky mental depths of our minds. Perhaps if only we penetrate this mysterious world, we could truly understand ourselves. I argue that what we know about perception, cognition and neuroscience shows that the very idea of hidden mental depths is a myth. The brain is, instead, a masterful improviser, inventing our ideas, motives and thoughts in the moment. This explains why our supposedly firm political beliefs, personal preferences and even our romantic attractions are so often inconsistent and unstable.
Chater, N. (2018). The Mind is Flat. London, UK: Penguin Allen Lane.
Nick Chater is Professor of Behavioural Science at Warwick Business School. He works on the cognitive and social foundations of rationality and language. He has published more than 250 papers, co-authored or edited more than a dozen books, and has served as Associate Editor for the journals Cognitive Science, Psychological Review, and Psychological Science. He was elected a Fellow of the Cognitive Science Society in 2010 and a Fellow of the British Academy in 2012. Nick was scientist-in-residence for the Radio 4 series, The Human Zoo; is co-founder of the research consultancy Decision Technology; and a member on the UK’s Committee on Climate Change. He is the author of The Mind is Flat (2018).
