Do you see the world in black and white? You may not think so. You may think your perceptions are nuanced, your opinions technicolored. But research psychologist Kevin Dutton, who’s spent the last two decades teaching at Oxford and Cambridge, says we are evolutionarily hardwired to think in black and white. We sort our experiences into reductive frames: Fight or flight. Us versus them. Right and wrong. These simple mental divisions may have served us in our ancestral environments, but Kevin says they’re too rigid to do us much good when we try to handle the complexities of modern life.

To learn more about Kevin’s work, visit www.drkevindutton.com.

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If you enjoyed this episode, check out our interview with Antonio Damasio.