Lay theories of the mind/brain relationship and the allure of neuroscience

Allure: the quality of being powerfully and mysteriously attractive or fascinating. Psychology is in the midst of a neuroscience revolution, with attributes deemed uniquely human—language, free will, moral responsibility, a notion of self—no longer exempt from material exploration. It is anybody's guess whether this neuroscience endeavor to explain the human mind will succeed. In the meantime, what does seem clear is that neuroscience is everywhere these days, and that people—both expert and ordinary folk—are intrigued by its role in explaining the mind. Why is neuroscience so alluring? To ask this question is to ask about current lay theories of the mind/brain relation. To approximate an answer, I start by describing the allure of neuroscience (brain) explanations for psychological (mind) phenomena. Is the allure due to neuroscience's status as a 'real' science? Or is it due to its reductive appeal? Next, I review the effect of neuroscience on judgments of responsibility and free will. Do ordinary folk shy away from free will and moral condemnation when actions are couched in terms of brain function? The next stop on our tour of uniquely human capacities is the notion of the self. Do ordinary folk believe that their brains are who they truly are? I conclude by exploring possible policy implications of the allure of neuroscience. How might it affect our funding of science, our education policy, and our mental health system? who at the time of his proclamation reflected that " the human brain, a 3-pound mass of interwoven nerve cells that controls our activity, is one of the most magnificent and mysterious wonders of creation. The seat of human intelligence, interpreter of senses, and controller of movement, this incredible organ continues to intrigue scientists and layman alike" (Library of Congress' Website, https://www.loc.gov/loc/brain/). Upon reading those sentences, it's hard not to feel some amount of sympathy for the author, as he struggles to find the words to best describe the relation between brain and mind. Absent from the proclamation are the attributes we most often think of as uniquely human: a notion of self, rational thought, language, free will. the president plays it safe, mentions intelligence, focuses on the brain's ability for sensation decoding and movement control, and calls it a day. In all fairness, most people probably could not have done much better. Philosophers have been debating the mind/brain question for centuries. In the 1600s, Descartes proposed that humans were a …