Vyse’s book Believing in Magic: The Psychology of Superstition won the 1999 William James Book Award of the American Psychological Association. He taught at Providence College, the University of Rhode Island, and Connecticut College. Stuart Vyse is a behavioral scientist, teacher, and writer. As intelligent as we are, much of what has helped humans succeed as a species is not our prodigious brain power but something much more basic. Sometimes we know we aren’t making sense, and yet we are compelled to act against reason in other cases, our delusions are so much a part of normal human experience that we are unaware of them. In a number of very important situations, we benefit by not seeing the world as it is, and by not behaving like logic-driven machines. Throughout, Vyse strives to answer the question: why would some of our most illogical beliefs be as helpful as they are? Vyse also suggests that evolutionary pressures may have led to the ability to fool ourselves in order to survive.Īlthough reason and rationality are our friends in almost all contexts, in some cases people are better off putting reason aside. In his book, and in this conversation, Vyse presents an accessible exploration of the psychological concepts behind useful delusions, fleshing out how delusional thinking may play a role in love and relationships, illness and loss, and personality and behavior.

Psychologist Stuart Vyse’s new book, The Uses of Delusion, is about aspects of human nature that are not altogether rational but, nonetheless, help us achieve our social and personal goals.

the core of personality and the constructed self.

conformity, role playing, obedience to authority, and the banality of evil.

brainwashing and influence (Stockholm Syndrome, etc.).

superstitions, rituals and incantations.

self-control, will power, and time discounting.

self delusions - that is, delusions about the self.

paradoxical behavior and the search for underlying reasons for our actions.

death and delusion: Is it useful to believe death is not the end of consciousness and self?.

pragmatic truths, 3 conditions: living hypothesis, forced question, momentous.

William James: When is it ok to believe anything upon insufficient evidence?

Rational Choice Theory and Homo economicus.

Gigerenzer: rationality, irrationality, and bounded rationality

perceptual illusions and irrationalities.

Shermer and Vyse discuss: What is a delusion?

The Uses of Delusion by Stuart A. Vyse