How Pleasure Works: The New Science of why We Like what We LikeThe thought of sex with a virgin is intensely arousing for many men. The average American spends more than four hours a day watching television. Abstract art can sell for millions of dollars. People slow their cars to look at gory accidents, and go to movies that make them cry. Pleasure is anything but straightforward. Our desires, attractions, and tastes take us beyond the symmetry of a beautiful face, the sugar and fat in food, or the prettiness of a painting. In How Pleasure Works, Yale University psychologist Paul Bloom draws on groundbreaking research to unveil the deeper workings of why we desire what we desire. Refuting the longstanding explanation of pleasure as a simple sensory response, Bloom shows us that pleasure is grounded in our beliefs about the deeper nature or essence of a given thing. This is why we want the real Rolex and not the knockoff, the real Picasso and not the fake, the twin we have fallen in love with and not her identical sister. In this fascinating and witty account, Bloom draws on child development, philosophy, neuroscience, and behavioral economics in order to address pleasures noble and seamy, highbrow and lowbrow. Along the way, he gives us unprecedented insights into a realm of human psychology that until now has only been partially understood. |
What people are saying - Write a review
HOW PLEASURE WORKS: The New Science of Why We Like What We Like
User Review - Jane Doe - KirkusBloom (Psychology/Yale Univ.; Descartes' Baby: How Child Development Explains What Makes Us Human, 2004, etc.) presents essentialism as a weighty determinant of our pleasures. "What matters most is ... Read full review
FASCINATING AND ABSORBING READ!
User Review - psychreader - BordersHow Pleasure Works is a great book - it's entertaining and informative, and also surprising - as well as surprisingly funny. It examines different sources of pleasure - from food, to sex, to art ... Read full review
Other editions - View all
How Pleasure Works: The New Science of Why We Like What We Like Paul Bloom No preview available - 2011 |
Common terms and phrases
14th Dalai Lama adaptationist adults alief animals argued artwork asked attractive baby bedtrick belief Bloom bowerbird brain Bruce Hood cannibalism child clever create culture Darwin daydreams Denis Dutton described discussion disgust doesn’t duplicate Dutton emotions enjoy essence essentialism essentialist evolutionary evolved experience explain faces feces feel female fiction friends Gelman genes genetic Geoffrey Miller going human imagination individuals instance interesting Joshua Bell Keltner live look male masochism mate Meegeren Miller moral movie natural O. J. Simpson objects obsession one’s pain painting Paul Rozin penis performance person Pinker placenta play pleasure prefer psychologist real-world reality religion ritual Rozin sense sexual selection siblings social someone sometimes sort species sport Steven Pinker story supertaster taste television tell tend theory things thought tion typically Vermeer virginity watching what’s wine women
Bibliographic information
| Title | How Pleasure Works: The New Science of why We Like what We Like |
| Author | Paul Bloom |
| Edition | illustrated |
| Publisher | W. W. Norton & Company, 2010 |
| ISBN | 0393066320, 9780393066326 |
| Length | 280 pages |
| Subjects | › Psychology / Cognitive Psychology & Cognition Psychology / Emotions Science / General |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |