A colloquial synonym for encephalocentrism or neurocentrism, often used pejoratively. Brainism treats the
brain as the only relevant organ for understanding mind, reducing all mental phenomena to neural activity and dismissing psychological, social, or spiritual explanations as “folk.” It is
common in pop‑neuroscience headlines (“This is your
brain on politics”). Brainism ignores that brains develop in bodies, bodies in environments, and environments in cultures. It is a form of intellectual laziness that mistakes a necessary condition (you need a
brain) for a sufficient explanation.