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.
Brainism Example: “The brainist claimed that ‘poverty is a brain condition’ after readingone fMRI study. He ignored decades of economic and sociological research showing structural causes. Brainism as ideology.”