How We DecideThe first book to use the unexpected discoveries of neuroscience to help us make the best decisions Since Plato, philosophers have described the decision-making process as either rational or emotional: we carefully deliberate, or we “blink” and go with our gut. But as scientists break open the mind’s black box with the latest tools of neuroscience, they’re discovering that this is not how the mind works. Our best decisions are a finely tuned blend of both feeling and reason—and the precise mix depends on the situation. When buying a house, for example, it’s best to let our unconscious mull over the many variables. But when we’re picking a stock, intuition often leads us astray. The trick is to determine when to use the different parts of the brain, and to do this, we need to think harder (and smarter) about how we think. Jonah Lehrer arms us with the tools we need, drawing on cutting-edge research as well as the real-world experiences of a wide range of “deciders”—from airplane pilots and hedge fund investors to serial killers and poker players. Lehrer shows how people are taking advantage of the new science to make better television shows, win more football games, and improve military intelligence. His goal is to answer two questions that are of interest to just about anyone, from CEOs to firefighters: How does the human mind make decisions? And how can we make those decisions better? |
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LibraryThing Review
User Review - smbass - LibraryThingToo much overlap with the behavioral economics books (of which I've read too many). But the neuroscience focus makes it different enough to be worth reading anyway. Read full review
LibraryThing Review
User Review - Rascalstar - LibraryThingAs Ginger Campbell of Brain Science Podcast would say, this book is for everyone who has a brain. It's easy to read and provides many real life examples and situations, exposing what we know now about ... Read full review
Contents
1 The Quarterback in the Pocket | 1 |
2 The Predictions of Dopamine | 28 |
3 Fooled by a Feeling | 57 |
4 The Uses of Reason | 93 |
5 Choking on Thought | 133 |
6 The Moral Mind | 167 |
7 The Brain Is an Argument | 196 |
8 The Poker Hand | 219 |
Coda | 251 |
End Matter | 261 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
able activity actually amount answer areas asked become began behavior better Binger brain cards cause cells choose cognitive Consider creative credit card deal decided decision-making decisions dopamine easy effect emotions engine errors experiment fact feelings fire five flight forced gambling give going hand happened Haynes human idea imagine important insight it’s keep lead less look loss machine managed means mental mind mistakes moral neurons never offer Once pain patients percent performance person pilots plane play players poker possible predictions prefrontal cortex problem psychopaths rational realized reason responsible result reward says scientists seconds seemed simple situations started subjects tell thing thought tion trying turn understand University watch wrong
Bibliographic information
| Title | How We Decide |
| Author | Jonah Lehrer |
| Edition | reprint |
| Publisher | Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2010 |
| ISBN | 0547347480, 9780547347486 |
| Length | 256 pages |
| Subjects | › Business & Economics / Decision-Making & Problem Solving |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |