JITOTM15: The Brainpower Myth

How much of your brain do you really use? Without even thinking about it, you might answer "about ten per cent." You'd be repeating something everyone seems to think it's true... but is it?

The brainpower myth is just that: a myth. All the evidence scientists have been able to gather shows that the brain - the WHOLE brain - is pretty busy most of the time. And that makes sense; why would evolution allow the development of a costly organ like a great big brain that doesn't do much?

But the question then becomes - given that we DO use more than ten per cent of our brains all the time - where did we all get the idea that we only use a fraction? Jay's tried to track down the origin of the myth, and the trail is pretty sketchy... but it leads to all kinds of interesting characters, from William James to Dale Carnegie!

Get the most out of your whole brain by listening to this week's episode of Jay Ingram's Theatre of the Mind, The Brainpower Myth.

Thanks for listening!

Behind the Curtain

• Dale Carnegie deserves a lot of the blame for promoting the ten per cent myth... but there are lots of guilty parties. This article at Snopes.com names a slew of them.
  
  
• William James is a towering figure in psychology and consciousness studies.
  
  
• Jay mentioned The Skeptical Enquirer.
  
  
• Barry Beyerstein is a fascinating character. Check out his profile at SFU.
  
  
• Homework: Barry Beyerstein's paper on the brainpower myth.
  
  
• Song of the Week: "Beautiful Mistake" by The Complements
  
  

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