Neurobabble and Brain Porn
If we think we understand something, we feel we are capable of making an informed decision on the topic. Companies know this, and thus as the authors of The Invisible Gorilla said: “Companies often prey on the illusion of knowledge to hawk their wares, emphasizing technical details in a way that leads people to think they understand how a product works.” Audio companies wax eloquent about the quality of their cables. Phone manufacturers list a gazillion details of their models. So do car manufacturers. The term for this “information”? Technobabble. The same thing happens when explaining (irrational) human behavior. A popular answer almost always involves evolution and the wiring of the brain. Sure, that’s often the real reason. But when it’s thrown in just to make an answer sound more scientific and believable, it’s called “neurobabble”. And then there’s the cousin of neurobabble: “brain porn”. Huh? “(Brain porn refers to) the colorful images of blobs of act...