Summary Of Immune To Reality By Daniel Gilbert
In Daniel Gilbert’s essay, “Immune to Reality,” he explores how each person’s psychological immune system plays a major role in allowing him or her to cope with traumatic situations that come up in daily life. The psychological immune system is the mind’s cognitive mechanisms that work subconsciously to make the existing state of affairs more bearable. It does this by allowing the brain to make excuses for negative events, which, in turn, help the troubled individual feel better. Gilbert’s conclusions challenge the way people think and are causing some people to reshape the way they approach situations
Gilbert discusses how the brain attempts to protect itself from the unpleasant things in life. He calls this the psychological immune system
because, just like the human body's immune system, thit removes all negatives from the brain and leaves only that which will keep the brain happy
The psychological immune system is a theory which states that the human brain has a natural defense mechanism against ambiguous situations
Daniel Gilbert, author of "Immune to Reality", states that "when experiences make us feel sufficiently unhappy, the psychological immune system cooks facts and shifts blame in order to offer us a more positive view" (Gilbert 136). Gilbert believes ambiguity to be one cause of humanity's unhappiness.
In Daniel Gilbert’s essay, “Immune to Reality,” he explores how the brain attempts to protect itself from the unpleasant things in life. Each person has a psychological immune system which helps them cope with traumatic situations that come up in daily life. This defense mechanism is just like the human body’s immune system which removes all the bad experiences from the brain and leaves only the positive ones to keep the brain happy. It does this by allowing the brain to make excuses for negative events, which, in turn helps the unhappy individual feel better. However, Gilbert believes our consciousness sets off “intensity triggers” which determine whether the experience is bad enough to initiate our psychological defense mechanism. Gilbert explains that, “when experiences make us feel sufficiently unhappy, the psychological immune system cooks facts and shifts blame in order to offer us a more positive view" (136). Therefore, our brain’s coping mechanism will most likely be activated by intense situations rather than mild ones, but it also depends on an individual’s emotional reaction to the negative experience.
Gilbert discusses how the brain attempts to protect itself from the unpleasant things in life. He calls this the psychological immune system
because, just like the human body's immune system, thit removes all negatives from the brain and leaves only that which will keep the brain happy
The psychological immune system is a theory which states that the human brain has a natural defense mechanism against ambiguous situations
Daniel Gilbert, author of "Immune to Reality", states that "when experiences make us feel sufficiently unhappy, the psychological immune system cooks facts and shifts blame in order to offer us a more positive view" (Gilbert 136). Gilbert believes ambiguity to be one cause of humanity's unhappiness.
In Daniel Gilbert’s essay, “Immune to Reality,” he explores how the brain attempts to protect itself from the unpleasant things in life. Each person has a psychological immune system which helps them cope with traumatic situations that come up in daily life. This defense mechanism is just like the human body’s immune system which removes all the bad experiences from the brain and leaves only the positive ones to keep the brain happy. It does this by allowing the brain to make excuses for negative events, which, in turn helps the unhappy individual feel better. However, Gilbert believes our consciousness sets off “intensity triggers” which determine whether the experience is bad enough to initiate our psychological defense mechanism. Gilbert explains that, “when experiences make us feel sufficiently unhappy, the psychological immune system cooks facts and shifts blame in order to offer us a more positive view" (136). Therefore, our brain’s coping mechanism will most likely be activated by intense situations rather than mild ones, but it also depends on an individual’s emotional reaction to the negative experience.