Summary of Daniel Gilbert's Stumbling on Happiness

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.

Book Preview: #1 The human being is the only animal that thinks about the future. We are the only creatures that can use language, use tools, and think about the past and present, and we do this all while making decisions.

#2 The human brain's greatest achievement is its ability to imagine objects and episodes that do not exist in the realm of the real, and it is this ability that allows us to think about the future.

#3 Our brains are constantly making predictions about the immediate, local, personal future of our owners without our owners’ awareness. These are called predictions, but they are not really predictions in the same sense that we might predict the annual rate of inflation or the intellectual impact of postmodernism.

#4 Our brains are designed to make predictions about the immediate future, but we make a variety of future predictions that are not automatic, continuous, or nonconscious. We predict how things will feel, look, and sound next, based on our past experiences.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Feb 21, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669350255

IRB Media

With IRB books, you can get the key takeaways and analysis of a book in 15 minutes. We read every chapter, identify the key takeaways and analyze them for your convenience.

Book preview

Insights on Daniel Gilbert's Stumbling on Happiness

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 6

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The human being is the only animal that thinks about the future. We are the only creatures that can use language, use tools, and think about the past and present, and we do this all while making decisions.

#2

The human brain's greatest achievement is its ability to imagine objects and episodes that do not exist in the realm of the real, and it is this ability that allows us to think about the future.

#3

Our brains are constantly making predictions about the immediate, local, personal future of our owners without our owners’ awareness. These are called predictions, but they are not really predictions in the same sense that we might predict the annual rate of inflation or the intellectual impact of postmodernism.

#4

Our brains are designed to make predictions about the immediate future, but we make a variety of future predictions that are not automatic, continuous, or nonconscious. We predict how things will feel, look, and sound next, based on our past experiences.

#5

We often ask children idiotic questions, such as what they want to be when they grow up. But we should ask another question: what do they want to be now. Because children cannot answer the question of what they want to be later, they answer the question they can now.

#6

The human brain has a new part, the frontal lobe, that was added on top of the skull to accommodate the increased size of the human brain. The frontal lobe allows us to imagine the future.

#7

The neurologist was wrong, however, because modern brain research has shown that the frontal lobe does make a difference.

#8

A damaged part of the frontal lobe can leave people feeling calm, but unable to plan. This suggests that the frontal lobe is the key part of the brain that allows humans to project themselves into the future.

#9

The frontal lobe is the last part of the human brain to evolve, the slowest to mature, and the first to deteriorate in old age. It is a time machine that allows us to vacate the present and experience the future before it happens.

#10

We spend 12 percent of our time thinking about the future. But why do we do that. It seems like our brains are stubbornly trying to project