book The Elephant in the Brain

E161136

book non-fiction book

The Elephant in the Brain is a non-fiction book that explores the hidden, often self-serving motives behind human behavior and social institutions.

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All labels observed (4)

Label	Occurrences
The Elephant in the Brain	3
The Elephant in the Brain: Hidden Motives in Everyday Life	3
The Elephant in the Brain (series)	1
book The Elephant in the Brain canonical	1

How this entity was disambiguated

This entity first appeared as the object of triple T1406278 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.

NED1 Entity disambiguation (via context triple) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: book The Elephant in the Brain
Context triple: [Robin Hanson, knownFor, book The Elephant in the Brain]

A. The Human Brain
The Human Brain is a popular science book by Isaac Asimov that explains the structure, function, and mysteries of the human brain for a general audience.
B. The Emotion Machine
The Emotion Machine is a 2006 book by artificial intelligence pioneer Marvin Minsky that explores how human thinking and emotions can be understood as computational processes of the mind.
C. How to Create a Mind
"How to Create a Mind" is a nonfiction book by futurist Ray Kurzweil that explores the workings of human intelligence and proposes designs for advanced artificial intelligence based on the brain’s principles.
D. Broca's Brain
Broca's Brain is a popular science book by Carl Sagan that explores the nature of scientific thought, the brain, and the cosmos through essays on astronomy, philosophy, and skepticism.
E. Monocultures of the Mind
Monocultures of the Mind is a book by environmental activist Vandana Shiva that critiques industrial agriculture and globalization for eroding biodiversity, indigenous knowledge, and cultural diversity.
F. None of above. chosen
G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.

NED2 Entity disambiguation (via description) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: book The Elephant in the Brain
Target entity description: The Elephant in the Brain is a non-fiction book that explores the hidden, often self-serving motives behind human behavior and social institutions.

A. The Human Brain
The Human Brain is a popular science book by Isaac Asimov that explains the structure, function, and mysteries of the human brain for a general audience.
B. The Emotion Machine
The Emotion Machine is a 2006 book by artificial intelligence pioneer Marvin Minsky that explores how human thinking and emotions can be understood as computational processes of the mind.
C. How to Create a Mind
"How to Create a Mind" is a nonfiction book by futurist Ray Kurzweil that explores the workings of human intelligence and proposes designs for advanced artificial intelligence based on the brain’s principles.
D. Broca's Brain
Broca's Brain is a popular science book by Carl Sagan that explores the nature of scientific thought, the brain, and the cosmos through essays on astronomy, philosophy, and skepticism.
E. Monocultures of the Mind
Monocultures of the Mind is a book by environmental activist Vandana Shiva that critiques industrial agriculture and globalization for eroding biodiversity, indigenous knowledge, and cultural diversity.
F. None of above. chosen

Statements (48)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	book ⓘ non-fiction book ⓘ
aimsTo	explain hidden, self-serving motives behind human behavior ⓘ show how institutions are shaped by hidden motives ⓘ
author	Kevin Simler ⓘ Robin Hanson ⓘ
countryOfPublication	United States ⓘ linked to: United States of America
discusses	charity as signaling ⓘ education as signaling ⓘ healthcare as signaling ⓘ politics as coalition signaling ⓘ
genre	non-fiction ⓘ popular science ⓘ psychology ⓘ social science ⓘ
hasConcept	motive ambiguity ⓘ self-deception as adaptation ⓘ social signaling ⓘ the elephant in the brain metaphor ⓘ
hasPart	chapters on charity ⓘ chapters on education ⓘ chapters on medicine ⓘ chapters on politics ⓘ chapters on religion ⓘ
hasPerspective	cognitive ⓘ economic ⓘ evolutionary ⓘ
influencedBy	evolutionary theory ⓘ game theory ⓘ signaling theory ⓘ
language	English ⓘ
mainSubject	evolutionary psychology ⓘ hidden motives in human behavior ⓘ self-deception ⓘ self-interest ⓘ signaling ⓘ social institutions ⓘ
mediaType	ebook ⓘ print ⓘ
notableFor	applying signaling theory to common institutions ⓘ popularizing hidden-motive explanations of everyday behavior ⓘ
publicationDate	2018 ⓘ
publisher	Oxford University Press ⓘ
targetAudience	general audience ⓘ readers interested in economics ⓘ readers interested in psychology ⓘ readers interested in social science ⓘ
title	The Elephant in the Brain: Hidden Motives in Everyday Life ⓘ linked to: book The Elephant in the Brain

How these facts were elicited