34 Jan De Vos
allows us to see that the so-called reductionism of the neuroturn actually
relies on a prior reduction: of reducing the human being to some simple
psychological categories. These categories, such as well-being,^4 are not
only considered as straightforward, natural and theory-free, but are also
meant to be easily operationalized to use in neuroscientific experiments.
That is, if you want to see what part of the brain lights up or not (which is
dichotomous model), a simple model of the human using black and white
categories is what gets the easiest results. Considering this prior reduction,
reducing the human to some simplifying, dull or even sad categories, is this
not what textbooks are good at?
TEXTBOOK INFANTILIZATION
Textbooks address students, actually mature adults, in a infantilizing
and pampering way. “Key issues” are often at least three times repeated:
once in the text, once with an illustration, once in a highlighted side
column, and then it possibly returns yet another time in the “recap” section.
That “recap” section almost invariably contains “fill in the gap-questions,”
as if the students are still in primary school. Overall, textbooks convey
information in a light-hearted and entertaining way, using teasers and fun-
to-know items (e.g., did you know that “runner’s high” concerns the
release of hormones in your brain). Most typical are the following phrases
in which facts are presented in an engaging, if not sensational way,
including the use of attention demanding headlines:
Neurons, or nerve cells, are the basic elements of the nervous system.
Their quantity is staggering—perhaps as many as 1 trillion neurons
throughout the body are involved in the control. (Feldman, 2015, p. 51)Your 3-pound brain is wrinkled like a walnut, the size of a grapefruit,
and the texture of tofu. The next time you are in a market that sells beef
brains, stop and have a look. What you will see is similar to your own(^4) See for example Longo, Coyne, and Joseph (2017).