Caveman Logic: The Persistence of Primitive Thinking in a Modern World

In this highly engaging and entertaining book, Prof. Davis lays out the evolutionary reasons why humans are so prone to believing in supernatural events and deities. It is definitely worth reading once and it may change the way that you perceive events in the world as well as in your daily life. However, to get the most out of this book, it is useful to first have at least a rudimentary understanding of evolutionary theory and the mechanisms of natural selections. So if you haven't taken any biology courses covering evolution, I would advise you to first pick up an introductory book on that topic and then read this book; that way you will have a better appreciation for the content.

Hank Davis (musician, psychology professor) discusses in terms of our evolutionary past the ways in which our minds most readily work, which is what he calls "caveman logic", and how this leads us into a multitude of otherwise incomprehensible errors. Caveman logic feels right, and is generally favoured by social support, but leaves us open to seeing patterns where none exist, and to seek emotionally satisfying explanations for the impersonal acts of nature. So we are too eager to see connections that are not there, since it is better to prepare for a non-existent threat than to risk ignoring one that is all too real. We believe what we are told, since we are such intensely social beings, and develop superstitious rituals in response, like Skinner's pigeons, to essentially random stimuli. Science is counterintuitive in its methods and in its celebration of uncertainty. Introductory science teaching does nothing to address the problem, since it depends on imparting specific facts about science, rather than its central method of ongoing enquiry and testing against evidence. Ironically, as a result of our evolutionary past, we are all creationists by nature. Thus every society has its own creation myths, none of which bear the faintest relationship to the historical truth. Religious belief is just one symptom of how readily we fall prey to cognitive illusions, and if we could simply remove these, they would be replaced by other forms of irrationality. (Here Davis agrees with Chesterton, at the other end of the faith-doubt spectrum, as in The Incredulity of Father Brown.) Davis concludes with a plea for self-awareness. We are not deceived by the optical illusion that makes the moon seen so much bigger when it is close to the horizon; we should not be deceived by cognitive illusions either. Although this is a popular non-specialist work, I would have appreciated an index, and if as I hope there is a further edition, I would like it to include a brief appendix with leading references on the nature of evolutionary psychology and why it is much more than a collection of just so stories

Even with all the technology and scientific advancement we have, we're still nothing more than hairless apes. "Caveman Logic: The Persistence of Primitive Thinking in a Modern World" is a discussion of this irrationality that seems to affect all of mankind. Written in a light hearted manner, the issue is not one necessarily one to be laughed at, being the root of many problems America and its neighbors still face. A delve into the psychology of modern man and how the vestigial instincts still drive us, "Caveman Logic" is an utterly fascinating read that will shed light on modern reason.

Hank Davis, in this overview of all the foibles, fallacies, and biases that infect the reasoning abilities of our species, lays out a strong argument that although we have imperfect cognitive equipment given to us by evolution, we can overcome the pitfalls with judicious use of critical thinking, science, and intellectual honesty. While Davis specifically dwells on the supernatural phantoms that people accept as part of their lives from ghosts and spirits to deities and angels, he also delves into the purely secular arenas of fallacious thinking from gambling to the incomplete way we often evaluate data in everyday situations. Several books on this topic have been written of late such as Bruce Hood's excellent SuperSense: Why We Believe in the Unbelievable, but Davis's seems to have an endearing clarity and unique perspective. The primary thesis of Caveman Logic comes back to the fact that for all of the pre-disposed ways of human thought that work well, the areas in which we are particularly bad at stem from the misapplication of the strengths. One of the ways that this occurs is through the over-extension of one way of thinking into another domain that it was not designed by natural selection for, and more importantly, is demonstrably bad at. This comes to bear in Davis's critique of supernatural beliefs where such mental tools as agent detection (which is a very good skill to have) is applied to reasoning about natural occurrences. We see this happen all the time when our low-brow religious mouthpieces such as Pat Robertson blame natural disasters on the agency of God (as with hurricane Katrina). In Davis's estimation, which seems right on target, such a superstition is developed and utilized (and is successfully convincing to a large number of people) since it offers a social understanding of events and avoids that dreaded thing that humans have little tolerance for--ambiguity and meaninglessness. By adding an agent into the equation of explaining a natural disaster, an illusory form of meaning can be gained. Not only that, but it places the event into a social context--something humans are already very good at understanding and interpreting events within. For all the strengths of the book, I did have a few objections. The book doesn't seem to have a clear audience in mind. At one moment it seems to be a clear exposition of our "caveman logic" and therefore aimed at readers like me looking for a nice refresher and synthesis of the subject. But at others (particularly the last chapter) it can seem almost preachy. While I understand and completely agree with the author that this is an issue of vital importance, the rhetoric seemed to not match the intended goal. If his goal was to provide a good synthesis to readers like me, he didn't need the last chapter (at least in its current form--it did broach new information that would certainly want to be included in any edition). But if his goal was to persuade readers who might hold

The human mind evolved into its present form when we lived in small groups and were mostly trying to avoid sudden death, obtain food and shelter, and reproduce. The mind evolved to handle these tasks efficiently, and humans thrived. Now, however, the "caveman logic" of our early ancestors leads us to believe many things that simply aren't true. We find patterns where none exists. We perceive causation when none exists. We invent the rain god to control what we cannot control. We fear death and so invent séances and ghosts. We fear intruders into our small group and so war against those who are different. In this very readable book, Hank Davis discusses the mistakes of "caveman logic" and what we can do to avoid them. He includes up-to-date scientific research and examples from the real world. The writing is graceful and non-academic. I'd say that the book is really about how to think clearly about day-to-day events in our lives. It is easily the best book I've seen on this topic and will not disappoint anyone who wants to understand superstitions and other false beliefs.