The new book from TED speaker and author of The Optimism Bias, Tali Sharot, The Influential Mind challenges the wisdom of the crowd.
Selected as a best book of 2017 by
Forbes,
The Times,
Huffington Post, Bloomberg,
Greater Good Magazine,
Stanford Business School and more.
'Take it from a leading neuroscientist: every day, we all miss opportunities to influence others. This timely, intriguing book explains why it's so difficult to shift the attitudes and actions of others - and what we can do about it' Adam Grant,
New York Times bestselling author of
Originals and
Give and Take'The Influential Mind will make you gasp with surprise - and laugh with recognition. Many of our most cherished beliefs about how to influence others turn out to be wrong; Sharot sets them right. Packed with practical insights, this profound book will change your life. An instant classic' Cass R. Sunstein, bestselling co-author of
NudgeA cutting-edge, research-based inquiry into how we influence those around us, and how understanding the brain can help us change minds for the better.
Part of our daily job as humans is to influence others; we teach our children, guide our patients, advise our clients, help our friends and inform our online followers. We do this because we each have unique experiences and knowledge that others may not. But how good are we at this role? It turns out we systematically fall back on suboptimal habits when trying to change other's beliefs and behaviors. Many of these instincts-from trying to scare people into action, to insisting the other is wrong or attempting to exert control-are ineffective, because they are incompatible with how the mind operates.
The principle idea of this book is that an attempt to change will be successful if it is well-matched with the core elements that govern how our brain works. Sharot unveils the hidden power of influence, good and bad, and enables us to identify instances in which we fall prey to delusions. The book searches deep below the surface, relying on the latest research in neuroscience and psychology-to provide new insight into human behaviour.
About the Author
Tali Sharot has a Ph.D. in psychology and neuroscience from New York University. She is currently the director of the Affective Brain Lab at University College London. Her research on optimism, memory and emotion has been featured in leading scholarly journals and media outlets, including
Newsweek, the BBC, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, The Wall Street Journal, Time, New Scientist, Nature, Science, and many others. Her website is www.theoptimismbias.com
Industry Reviews
Better facts tend to be counterproductive on hot-button issues like gun control. As Tali Sharot notes in her book The Influential Mind . . . The smarter a person is, the greater his or her ability to rationalize and reinterpret discordant information, and the greater the polarizing boomerang effect is likely to be -- David Brooks * New York Times *
In the age of big data, it's easy to assume that cold, hard facts can drive change. Not so fast, argues cognitive scientist Tali Sharot, whose new book, The Influential Mind, explores how emotion tends to overpower reason when it comes to human decision-making * Time *
The Influential Mind will make you gasp with surprise - and laugh with recognition. Many of our most cherished beliefs about how to influence others turn out to be wrong; Sharot sets them right. Packed with practical insights, this profound book will change your life. An instant classic -- Cass R. Sunstein, Harvard University; former Administrator for the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs and bestselling coauthor of Nudge
Take it from a leading neuroscientist: every day, we all miss opportunities to influence others. This timely, intriguing book explains why it's so difficult to shift the attitudes and actions of others - and what we can do about it -- Adam Grant, New York Times bestselling author of Originals and Give and Take
This brilliant and timely book is essential reading for anyone who wants an intelligent, principled guide to getting their ideas heard and their hopes fulfilled. If you follow Tali Sharot's scientifically-backed guidance, you'll become one of those great communicators and changemakers that everyone raves about - persuasive and inspirational in equal measure -- Caroline Webb, author of How to Have a Good Day
This book not only a primer on persuasion; it is far more valuable than that. It explains why so many of our well-meaning attempts to change people's minds can backfire so badly. Trump haters take note -- Rory Sutherland, Vice Chairman, Oglivy & Mather
Lucid and engaging . . . Sharot's treatment is particularly valuable for its balance between accessibility to the reader and solid grounding in scientific research. In today's "posttruth" environment, her efforts to increase awareness of the pitfalls of human reasoning, and how to overcome them, are an indispensable contribution from the coalface of cognitive scientific research * Science *
The Influential Mind covers the topic more fully and more authoritatively in a book whose title gives appropriately equal billing to thought, behavior and neurons . . . A witty survey of techniques to influence and guide human behavior * New York Times Book Review *
Advertising, politics, education - any juxtaposition of human and message involves influence. But why might a patently ill-informed demagogue sway more people than a scientist? In this perceptive study, cognitive neuroscientist Tali Sharot isolates seven factors central to influence * Nature *
A fantastic journey through the process of forming beliefs and ideas -- Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.com & New York Times bestselling author of Delivering Happiness
In the arena of behavioral science, little has held more potential than the streaking advances in behavioral neuroscience and little has stood to gain as much from those advances as the study of social influence. With The Influential Mind, Tali Sharot has offered an account that makes the connection in a way that is both instructive and engaging -- Robert B. Cialdini, author of Influence and Pre-Suasion
With a scientist's vision and a writer's grace, Sharot unmasks the secrets of influence: how people make and change their minds-and why -- David Eagleman, Stanford University neuroscientist and New York Times bestselling author
This brilliant and timely book is essential reading for anyone who wants an intelligent, principled guide to getting their ideas heard and their hopes fulfilled. If you follow Tali Sharot's scientifically-backed guidance, you'll become one of those great communicators and changemakers that everyone raves about-persuasive and inspirational in equal measure -- Caroline Webb, Author of How to Have a Good Day, CEO of Sevenshift, Senior Adviser to McKinsey & Company
The Influential Mind brilliantly unpacks the science of influence, offering guidance not only on how to influence others - but how to stop others from influencing us -- Michael Norton, Harvard Business School, coauthor of Happy Money: The Science of Smarter Spending
Concisely written, compellingly presented, and eminently applicable -- Steve Martin, New York Times bestselling co-author of Yes! 60 Secrets from the Science of Persuasion
In every chapter of this book about social psychology, its neuroscientist author manages an insightful and discomforting observation about the human mind -- Daniel Finkelstein * The Times *
