Why We're Wrong about Nearly Everything: A Theory of Human Misunderstanding

by Bobby Duffy

Overview

A leading social researcher explains why humans so consistently misunderstand the outside world


How often are women harassed? What percentage of the population are immigrants? How bad is unemployment? These questions are important, but most of us get the answers wrong. Research shows that people often wildly misunderstand the state of the world, regardless of age, sex, or education. And though the internet brings us unprecedented access to information, there's little evidence we're any better informed because of it.


We may blame cognitive bias or fake news, but neither tells the complete story. In Why We're Wrong About Nearly Everything, Bobby Duffy draws on his research into public perception across more than forty countries, offering a sweeping account of the stubborn problem of human delusion: how society breeds it, why it will never go away, and what our misperceptions say about what we really believe.


We won't always know the facts, but they still matter. Why We're Wrong About Nearly Everything is mandatory reading for anyone interested making humankind a little bit smarter.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781541618084
Publisher:	Basic Books
Publication date:	11/26/2019
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	205,200
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Bobby Duffy is director of the Policy Institute at King's College London. Formerly, he was managing director of the Ipsos MORI Social Research Institute and global director of the Ipsos Social Research Institute. He lives in London.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Perils Everywhere 1

Chapter 1 A Healthy Mind 23

Chapter 2 Sexual Fantasies 49

Chapter 3 On the Money? 73

Chapter 4 Inside and Out: Immigration and Religion 93

Chapter 5 Safe and Secure 117

Chapter 6 Political Misdirection and Disengagement 131

Chapter 7 Brexit and Trump: Wishful and Wrongful Thinking 151

Chapter 8 Filtering Our Worlds 171

Chapter 9 Worldwide Worry 193

Chapter 10 Who's Most Wrong? 207

Chapter 11 Dealing with Our Delusions 221

Acknowledgements 243

Notes 247

Index 279

Editorial Reviews

10/07/2019

Duffy, Policy Institute director at King’s College London, puts his 20 years of research into opinion formation to good use in this illuminating first book. Through cogent analysis, made accessible through charts and anecdotes, he thoroughly examines “general and widespread delusions about individual, social, and political realities.” The book divides misperceptions into two categories: mistakes people make in their own thinking, and mistakes originating in what they are told by others, both by authority figures and the media, and by friends, family, and colleagues. Within these categories, Duffy’s examples of things people often get wrong range from the trivial, such as whether the Great Wall of China is visible from space (it isn’t), to the consequential, such as whether violent crime is on the rise (a single high-profile case can make people think it is, even when crime rates are actually declining). While addressing such well-known conceptual pitfalls as the inherent “bias toward information that confirms what we already believe,” Duffy avoids pessimism. He focuses on the things everyone can do to change how they process information, such as learning not to focus on extreme examples, or improving critical reading abilities. The result is a well-informed breath of intellectual fresh air about how best to avoid misunderstanding the world. (Dec.)

Publishers Weekly

"Illuminating. Reading this book is like stepping from the shadows into the light. You will see the world anew."—Julia Gillard, 27th Prime Minister of Australia

"A first class book with hugely important and relevant analysis, really pertinent to the issues we're thinking about today... incredibly well-written and easy to read."—Dame Margaret Hodge, Labour Party MP

"A tour de force of delusion. In Why We're Wrong About Nearly Everything, master social researcher Bobby Duffy offers a thoroughly convincing account of how our false beliefs often tell us more about who we are than our true ones."—Seth Stephens-Davidowitz, author of Everybody Lies

"With wit and wisdom, Bobby Duffy reveals how the misperceptions we share shape the world we live in. Required reading for a post-truth era."—Jonah Berger, author of Invisible Influence

"Mandatory reading. This mind-altering book show how most of us are badly deluded about the state of the world."—Steven Pinker, Johnstone Professor of Psychology, Harvard University, and author of Enlightenment Now

"Illuminating and important. Duffy has spent a decade finding the gaps between our perceptions and reality. The result is this fascinating study."—Dan Gardner, co-author of Superforecasting

"A masterful overview of how our perceptions are repeatedly off the mark. Consequential and timely."—David Halpern, chief executive of the Behavioural Insights Team

"Simply indispensable. Marrying fascinating data with superb analysis, this is a unique book."—Matthew d'Ancona, author of Post-Truth and editor-in-chief of Drugstore Culture

"A great read that will help you get a better fix on reality. This book will help you understand why many of the things you think are probably wrong."—Hetan Shah, executive director of The Royal Statistical Society

"Fantastic: there are eye-opening and shocking statistics on every page. This book may force you to reconsider your most deeply held views."—Jamie Bartlett, author of The Dark NetDancyger

From the Publisher

2019-09-11
A British social scientist analyzes how we see the world—and why we're so often wrong about it.

In this striking debut, Duffy (Director, Policy Institute/King's Coll. London) draws on global studies conducted by Ipsos MORI, a London social research firm where he was a managing director for 20 years, to describe the way people misperceive social realities, from teen pregnancy to crime, obesity, and immigration. The studies involved more than 100,000 interviews on many issues in 40 nations. They demonstrate, through solid data, that we only hear what we want to hear. In England, asked what percentage of British teens gave birth every year, people guessed 19% (correct answer: 1.4%). In France, people thought Muslims were 31% of the population (reality: 8%). In the U.S., people guessed immigrants make up 33% of the population (reality: 14%). And so on. "Our misperceptions are wide, deep, and long-standing," writes the author. Complex forces shape beliefs, most notably our emotional responses, which are key to our perception of reality. Driven by "preexisting beliefs and wishful thinking," our delusions are formed by "hardwired" biases and a tendency to seek information that reinforces our views. The latter includes news media whose penchant for negative stories leads many to think "everything is getting worse." "We not only have a built-in bias towards focusing on the vivid and threatening, we also tend to think things were better in the past, and therefore are worse now," writes Duffy, echoing Steven Pinker's argument in Enlightenment Now (2018). As a result, we are often "very wrong" about global trends. The author depressingly notes that it is "difficult to change people's delusions simply by giving them more information." There is no magic formula for encouraging more accurate perceptions, he writes; increased skepticism and awareness of our emotional thinking can help.

An informative and readable guide to rational thinking in the present era.

Kirkus Reviews