How We Decide

One of my favorite books of all time.

The first thing I'd like to point out is that this book is very versatile, in that I believe general readers will love this book just as much as I did as a student/scholar. The examples, stories, and research Lehrer used were captivating. Any football fan will love the story of Tom Brady in the chapter Quarterback in the Pocket. This study of decision making is an incredible piece of literature in the field of psychology and has been a great asset to my understanding of the mind. One of the key messages of this book was to think about how we think, in order to improve the process. Don't be alarmed by terminology if you're a general reader, as Lehrer explains the technical terms in an artful way while being informative.

I could go on, but the thing I really want to say is: READ THIS BOOK!

13 out of 13 people found this review helpful.

Fun, Easy, Quick Read

In this intriguing little book Jonah Lehrer explores the interplay between emotion and logic in decision making. When should we force back our emotions and engage in logical cost-benefit analysis? Credit cards, totally new situations that we have no experience in, when we can't outrun the fire, etc. When should we rely on instinct and turn our brain off? (When we have a lot of experience and no time to think, such as Tom Brady on his 3rd read with a linebacker closing in, or an opera singer halfway through the song, etc.) When should we get some data, sleep on it, and then decide based on emotion? (When buying houses, cars, or furniture).
Chapter 7 caught my interest the most, as he discussed the brain issues involved with Mormons and Republicans. well, he didn't call it that, he called it political partisans who have the sin of certainty, and it works in all ways, but I have been observing and contemplating such minds daily since I returned to Utah after law school in December 2006, and in my zip code, it is Mormons and Republicans who are overcertain about everything, big and little.
Contrast all of what follows with Abraham Lincoln as described in 'Team of Rivals', as he purposely filled his cabinet with intellectual and ideological diversity as much as he can. And with Colin Powell, who always asked for 1- what you know 2- what you don't know and 3- what you think, emphasizing that all 3 must always be kept seperate.
A brain that's intolerant of uncertainty- that can't stand the argument- often tricks itself into thinking the wrong thing. You just can't short-circuit the process. Unfortunately, the mind often surrenders to the temptation of shoddy top-down thinking. Voters with strong partisan affiliations are a case study in how not for form opinions: their brains are shoddy and impermeable, since they already know what they believe. 9 of 10 registered members of a political party vote for the same party 15 years later.
They put partisans in a fMRI machine and exposed them to inconsistencies and conflicting evidence regarding their preferred candidate. The brains showed them use reason to reinforce their certainty. "Once the subjects had arrived at favorable interpretations of the evidence, blithely excusing the contradictions of their chosen candidate, they activated the internal reward circuits in their brains and experienced a rush of pleasurable emotion. Self-delusion, in other words, felt really good. Partisans twirl the cognitive kaleidoscope until they get the conclusions they want, and then they get massively reinforced for it, with the elimination of negative emotional states and activation of positive ones."
This flawed thought process plays a crucial role in our lives. Partisans are convinced that they are rational- and the other side is irrational- but actually, all of us are rationalizers. They can prove this all the time. Politically active Republicans, involved and informed, by large margins, got basic facts wrong about things like the direction of the deficit under Clinton. People assimilate facts that agree with what they already think and reject the rest.
"Voters think they are thinking, but what they're really doing is inventing facts or ignoring facts so that they can rationalize decisions they've already made." The world is edited to fit the ideology. At this point, rationality actually becomes a liability, because our prefrontal cortex is just a filter, allowing us to justify practically any belie

9 out of 10 people found this review helpful.

How We Decide from a students perspective

In How We Decide, Jonah Lehrer provides logical reasoning behind the illogical and sometimes life-saving decisions we tend to make on an everyday basis. Lehrer provides reasoning behind decisions people have made in events ranging from landing an out of control plane, to buying one product in a supermarket over the other. Lehrer refers to several scenarios, and with years of research, explains the choices made by individuals involved.
In one chapter, Lehrer explains how people are more likely to take a gamble if someone tells you there is a 50% chance of winning, rather than if someone explains that there is a 50% chance of loosing. Another scenario referred to Wag Dodge, a firefighter who overcame emotion in a dangerous situation, in order to save his teammates and his self from a wall of fire. Lehrer explains the prefrontal cortex of the brain, which, in this case, was able to control emotion.
This book is filled with situations and scenarios such as this. In each situation, Lehrer analyzes and dissects the scenario, explaining what physical parts of the body provide the incentive to do what each individual did. If your looking for a good book to get lost in, How we Decide doesn't really have the compelling sense of Lord of the rings. However, if you are interested in the reasoning and logic behind peoples choices, and if you are interested in understanding the human persona, How we decide is for you.

5 out of 5 people found this review helpful.

Very good book

Very interesting information and great examples to illustrate the points. The brief summary chapter seems like a last-minute addition, so don't look for any incredible concluding insights. But overall, the book is both well done and recommended.

5 out of 5 people found this review helpful.

Good read, but of limited utility

Although an engrossing and entertaining read, when finished, I found myself hardpressed to take much away of any practical value from the book. I had a similar reaction to a related book, Blink by Malcolm Gladwell. The applications and implications of this line of study still seems in its infancy, at best.

5 out of 6 people found this review helpful.

Fantastic.

I've given this book to two of my friends as gifts. It changed how I made decisions.

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Great Read

Lehrer does a great job at introducing neuroscience to a broad audience. Before reading this book I had never heard of prefrontal cortex or amygdala, and mistakenly viewed credit cards as a convenient tool for everyday life! From the Patriots winning the Super Bowl to a story about a psychopath hiding bodies under his house, this book is sure to keep you entertained. Even though he uses quite a few scientific terms, he does so in a way easy to understand and relate to. Great book!

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

How We Decide

A must read for anyone deeply interested in psychology and/ or cognitive neuroscience. A compelling, organized, and strongly written book to inform readers of what is really going on inside your head while making decisions. A good first read for anyone even remotely interested, yet at the same time an excellent read for anyone already familiar with such a topic. Fascinating, captivating, and mind-blowing.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Who would have thunk it?

Fascinating. The introduction has this author in a flight simulator in Canada. The first chapter discusses Tom Brady of the Patriots making a Superbowl decision. Lehrer goes on to discuss the problems one man had making decisions after the "emotional" portion of his brain was impaired.

While some of the examples Lehrer chooses to illuminate his thesis are familiar from other books on psychology and neuroscience, many are new and absorbing. I came away with insights on how we make decisions under stress, and how psychology experiments are devised to test decision-making.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Superb!

This book addresses memory in a way that is both extremely interesting and highly informative. The examples--even the footnotes-- were intriguing and enlightening. This is the book to show that learning can be enjoyable--for anyone! The organization was also impressive; it moved from topic to topic in a logical manner, addressing items independently and then recapitulating. I adored it!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Good book

This book was really informative....I loved the circumstances Lehrer gave to prove his point that there are two parts that are involved in decision-making. I chose this book to read for my economics class and I highly reccomend it.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Very intresting. Not a must read, but if you have the time pick it up.

Lehrer has come up with a great way of looking at the decesion making process. Enjoyed a lot of the symbolism and the comparisons between different types of decesions made on a daily basis.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Eye-opening, exactly what a book should be

This book is exactly what I look for - new ideas, compelling presented, backed by research, and effective in presenting a new way of seeing things and acting.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Important Book For Your Shelf

Lehrer is a good wordsmith and made reading this book an enjoyable experience. I learned new research on the brain's reasoning centers and how they are easily fooled, causing us to make decisions based on illogical factors. This book will help everyone understand their thought processes and their decision making.

I am a great fan of Blink. As such, I appreciated the author filling in some of the missing pieces that was left out of Blink.

We can all something new from the practical lessons from new neuroscience.

Continued research in neuroscience and behavioral economics will continue to revolutionize our understanding of human decision-making. As the field progresses, it would be my desire that Lehrer will once again explain what it all means and how to fit it into our reality.

I hope you find this review helpful

Michael L. Gooch - Author of Wingtips with Spurs: Cowboy Wisdom for Today's Business Leaders

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

good book

Really good book lol

very interesting

i intend to reread this, at least parts of it. i hope i can improve my decision making skills

STUPID

VERY STUPID!!!!!!!!!!!!¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

0 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Fix the nook wishlist.

Great book. Bad nook. I read and archived this, but can't remove it from my wishlist on the nook. (I have to specify "on the nook" because the wishlist on the nook still doesn't sync with the nook wishlist on the website.)

What is this book about

What is this book about

0 out of 8 people found this review helpful.

Fill me in..........

People are saying it gives you info. What is the book about?

0 out of 5 people found this review helpful.