The Cost of Conviction: How Our Deepest Values Lead Us Astray
May 2025 · MIT Press
Ebook
256
Pages
family_home
Eligible
info
infoThis book will become available on May 20, 2025. You will not be charged until it is released.
About this ebook
A timely and important perspective on how people frame decisions and how relying on sacred values unwittingly leads to social polarization.
When you are faced with a decision, do you consider the best outcome, or do you consider your deepest values about which actions are appropriate? The Cost of Conviction contrasts these two primary strategies for making decisions: consequentialism, the former, or prioritizing one’s sacred values, the latter. Steven Sloman argues that, while both modes of decision making are necessary tools for a good decision maker, people err by deploying sacred values more often than they should, especially when it comes to sociopolitical issues. As a result, we oversimplify, grow disgusted and angry, and act in ways that contribute to social polarization. In this book, Sloman provides a new understanding of today’s societal ills and grounds that understanding in science.
The book begins by covering the philosophical and conceptual background of the two decision-making strategies, then takes a deep dive into the psychology of decision making. Drawing on historical and current examples of the use of the two strategies, the author provides a thorough overview of the psychology of decision making, including work on judgment, conscious and unconscious decision-making processes, the roles of emotion, and even an analysis of habit and addiction.
With its unique emphasis on sacred values, The Cost of Conviction is an eye-opening must-read for all decision makers, especially those who wish to understand judgment, social decision making, and leadership.
When you are faced with a decision, do you consider the best outcome, or do you consider your deepest values about which actions are appropriate? The Cost of Conviction contrasts these two primary strategies for making decisions: consequentialism, the former, or prioritizing one’s sacred values, the latter. Steven Sloman argues that, while both modes of decision making are necessary tools for a good decision maker, people err by deploying sacred values more often than they should, especially when it comes to sociopolitical issues. As a result, we oversimplify, grow disgusted and angry, and act in ways that contribute to social polarization. In this book, Sloman provides a new understanding of today’s societal ills and grounds that understanding in science.
The book begins by covering the philosophical and conceptual background of the two decision-making strategies, then takes a deep dive into the psychology of decision making. Drawing on historical and current examples of the use of the two strategies, the author provides a thorough overview of the psychology of decision making, including work on judgment, conscious and unconscious decision-making processes, the roles of emotion, and even an analysis of habit and addiction.
With its unique emphasis on sacred values, The Cost of Conviction is an eye-opening must-read for all decision makers, especially those who wish to understand judgment, social decision making, and leadership.
About the author
Steven Sloman has taught at Brown University since 1992. He is a Fellow of the Cognitive Science Society, the Society of Experimental Psychologists, the American Psychological Society, the Eastern Psychological Association, and the Psychonomic Society. He is the author of Causal Models and a coauthor of The Knowledge Illusion (with Phil Fernbach). He has been Editor-in-Chief of the journal Cognition, Chair of the Brown University faculty, and the creator of Brown University’s concentration in Behavioral Decision Sciences.
Reading information
Smartphones and tablets
Install the Google Play Books app for Android and iPad/iPhone. It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.
Laptops and computers
You can listen to audiobooks purchased on Google Play using your computer's web browser.
eReaders and other devices
To read on e-ink devices like Kobo eReaders, you'll need to download a file and transfer it to your device. Follow the detailed Help Center instructions to transfer the files to supported eReaders.
