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The Extended Mind

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The Extended Mind

Talks at Google with Annie Murphy Paul

Talks at Google,

5 min read
4 take-aways
Audio & text

What's inside?

Learn research-based practices to help you think better – by getting out of your head.

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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Scientific
  • Applicable
  • Eye Opening

Recommendation

The acclaimed author of The Extended Mind: The Power of Thinking Outside Your Brain, Annie Murphy Paul, wants you to harness the more profound potential of your mind – by getting out of your head. In an enlightening, hour-long Talk at Google about her book, Paul confirms that thinking happens best when you access the wisdom of your body, physical surroundings and social connections. She offers simple research-based exercises to awaken your deeper mind and access its knowledge.

Summary

Involve your body, surroundings and other people to enhance your thinking.

The human brain evolved to allow you to interact with your environment, handle physical objects and engage in social relationships. But Western culture encourages you to believe cognition happens only in your head. As a result, you become “brain bound” – forgetting that your body, physical surroundings and social relationships can contribute to thinking, problem-solving and creativity. The idea that your brain functions like a computer doesn’t reflect reality and isn’t helpful.

Brains work best by “looping” information through your body, environment and others. You can use processes that would otherwise lie dormant by gathering ideas from these extra-neural resources into your cognitive thought processes. This is the idea behind “mind extension,” articulated ...

About the Speaker

Annie Murphy Paul is a senior writer for NPR’s Hidden Brain podcast and a former senior editor at Psychology Today. She is also the author of Origins: How the Nine Months Before Birth Shape the Rest of Our Lives and The Cult of Personality Testing: How Personality Tests Are Leading Us to Miseducate Our Children, Mismanage Our Companies, and Misunderstand Ourselves. 

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