Elephant in the head. Simler K., Hanson R.

People all the time evaluate us. They want to know if we will become good friends, allies, lovers or leaders. Why do we behave this way, and not otherwise? Do we think about the interests of other people, or are we completely selfish? Our brain was created in order to act in our own interests, while at the same time trying not to seem selfish before other people. And in order to knock them down the path, the brain often holds “us” (our mind) in the dark. The less we know about our own unsightly motives, the easier it is to hide them from others. So what is an elephant in the head, then? What do we not want to talk about and think about? In a word, these are selfishness - selfish components of our psyche.