Brainwashed: The Seductive Appeal of Mindless Neuroscience

Functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI, was developed in the 1990s, introducing a way to look inside people's brains as they are thinking and feeling. Authors Satel (psychiatry, Yale Univ.) and Lilienfeld (psychology, Emory Univ.), a psychiatrist and a clinical psychologist, respectively, argue against the use of brain scans as the basis for marketing efforts, addiction treatment, lie detection, and decisions in criminal trials. Contrary to messages from naive media, neuroentrepreneurs, and zealous neuroscientists, the authors explain how particular mental states cannot be pinned directly onto active brain regions. They assert that a comprehensive understanding of behavior requires consideration of not only brain activity but also psychological, social, and cultural influences. In the final chapter, the authors discuss how a brain-centered view of behavior threatens concepts of free will, moral responsibility, and retribution for wrongdoing.