“People repeat behaviour that leads to flooding their brains with pleasurable chemicals. The short-term reward loop acts over hours to years, and the long-term reproductive success loop over generations.”
Tip: press → for another quote, C to copy, S to share.
People can undergo a sudden change of thinking and loyalties under threat of death or intense social pressure and isolation from friends and family.
People under the influence of cults is similar to that we observe in addicts. Typical behaviour for both includes draining bank accounts, neglecting children, destroying relations with family and losing interest in anything except the drug or cult.
Evolution acts slowly. Our psychological characteristics today are those that promoted reproductive success in the ancestral environmen.
Lie detection is like language there is a learning window. Telling whoppers to small children seems to be a family tradition in many families.