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The Cost of Conviction: How Our Deepest Values Lead Us Astray
A timely and important perspective on how people frame decisions and how relying on sacred values unwittingly leads to social polarization.
When you are faced with a decision, do you consider the best outcome, or do you consider your deepest values about which actions are appropriate? The Cost of Conviction contrasts these two primary strategies for making consequentialism, the former, or prioritizing one’s sacred values, the latter. Steven Sloman argues that, while both modes of decision making are necessary tools for a good decision maker, people err by deploying sacred values more often than they should, especially when it comes to sociopolitical issues. As a result, we oversimplify, grow disgusted and angry, and act in ways that contribute to social polarization. In this book, Sloman provides a new understanding of today’s societal ills and grounds that understanding in science.
The book begins by covering the philosophical and conceptual background of the two decision-making strategies, then takes a deep dive into the psychology of decision making. Drawing on historical and current examples of the use of the two strategies, the author provides a thorough overview of the psychology of decision making, including work on judgment, conscious and unconscious decision-making processes, the roles of emotion, and even an analysis of habit and addiction.
With its unique emphasis on sacred values, The Cost of Conviction is an eye-opening must-read for all decision makers, especially those who wish to understand judgment, social decision making, and leadership.
When you are faced with a decision, do you consider the best outcome, or do you consider your deepest values about which actions are appropriate? The Cost of Conviction contrasts these two primary strategies for making consequentialism, the former, or prioritizing one’s sacred values, the latter. Steven Sloman argues that, while both modes of decision making are necessary tools for a good decision maker, people err by deploying sacred values more often than they should, especially when it comes to sociopolitical issues. As a result, we oversimplify, grow disgusted and angry, and act in ways that contribute to social polarization. In this book, Sloman provides a new understanding of today’s societal ills and grounds that understanding in science.
The book begins by covering the philosophical and conceptual background of the two decision-making strategies, then takes a deep dive into the psychology of decision making. Drawing on historical and current examples of the use of the two strategies, the author provides a thorough overview of the psychology of decision making, including work on judgment, conscious and unconscious decision-making processes, the roles of emotion, and even an analysis of habit and addiction.
With its unique emphasis on sacred values, The Cost of Conviction is an eye-opening must-read for all decision makers, especially those who wish to understand judgment, social decision making, and leadership.
256 pages, Hardcover
Published May 20, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 25, 2026
Imagine this: society is a broken-down vehicle. This vehicle rolls but the engine doesn't start. Politics provides the propulsion for this vehicle.
Heretofore, groups of people have haphazardly banded together to push the vehicle in various directions.
It can get ugly. These groups fight each other and among themselves to move that vehicle.
But manually, on their feet, and with grunting brute force pushing and pulling the vehicle from the outside is all they can manage.
They know about the engine, but they have no idea how it works. They don't care. It doesn't even occur to them to care about how that engine works. The people can hear the driveshaft turning the crankshaft and pumping the pistons when wheels roll, but they never even think about trying to get under the hood to perhaps achieve some more efficient means to move this vehicle that everyone keeps pushing around this way and pulling away that.
Cognitive science is standing at the edge of this massive, convulsing, conflicted crowd and shouting, explaining how the engine and drivetrain work or at least that it would be much more productive if people understood those things better. If you would but listen to that explanation and advice, it may lead you to a path whereby all individuals might share a more efficient and productive means of driving this vehicle of society.
If you can forgive the slightly melodramatic analogy, I do say that Steven Sloman and his book "The Cost of Conviction" might just be that shouting voice at the edge of that sea of humanity.
When you understand the cognitive underpinnings of political behavior as Sloman does and as he imparts some of that partially to us via this book, you cannot help but see the issue in such terms.
And when you understand society in this manner, you realize that your understanding is incomplete but nevertheless much more complete than those who don’t even think of looking under the hood.
Bottom line: if you are interested in understanding political/moral/tribal/social group behavior in humans while getting some directions for a future that takes our cognition seriously and how that can lead to a more prosperous, less conflicted and polarized future, you must read this book.
Heretofore, groups of people have haphazardly banded together to push the vehicle in various directions.
It can get ugly. These groups fight each other and among themselves to move that vehicle.
But manually, on their feet, and with grunting brute force pushing and pulling the vehicle from the outside is all they can manage.
They know about the engine, but they have no idea how it works. They don't care. It doesn't even occur to them to care about how that engine works. The people can hear the driveshaft turning the crankshaft and pumping the pistons when wheels roll, but they never even think about trying to get under the hood to perhaps achieve some more efficient means to move this vehicle that everyone keeps pushing around this way and pulling away that.
Cognitive science is standing at the edge of this massive, convulsing, conflicted crowd and shouting, explaining how the engine and drivetrain work or at least that it would be much more productive if people understood those things better. If you would but listen to that explanation and advice, it may lead you to a path whereby all individuals might share a more efficient and productive means of driving this vehicle of society.
If you can forgive the slightly melodramatic analogy, I do say that Steven Sloman and his book "The Cost of Conviction" might just be that shouting voice at the edge of that sea of humanity.
When you understand the cognitive underpinnings of political behavior as Sloman does and as he imparts some of that partially to us via this book, you cannot help but see the issue in such terms.
And when you understand society in this manner, you realize that your understanding is incomplete but nevertheless much more complete than those who don’t even think of looking under the hood.
Bottom line: if you are interested in understanding political/moral/tribal/social group behavior in humans while getting some directions for a future that takes our cognition seriously and how that can lead to a more prosperous, less conflicted and polarized future, you must read this book.
July 23, 2025
This book was interesting. There was a lot of stuff that wasn't really what I was as interested in when I first heard about this book, but from a psychological standpoint, it was all interesting! I thought there was a lot of really good stuff about sacred values and such, as the title implies, and I really wish certain people in my life would read that stuff. But yeah, it's an interesting read (and being able to listen to the audiobook made it a lot easier to get through!).
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews