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Title details for On Second Thought by Wray Herbert - Available

On Second Thought

Outsmarting Your Mind's Hard-Wired Habits

by Wray Herbert
Dan John Miller
Audiobook
2 of 2 copies available
Borrow Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
2 of 2 copies available
Our brains are marvels, hard-wired by millions of years of evolution to boast a number of mental shortcuts, biases, and tricks that allow us to negotiate our complicated lives without overthinking every choice and decision we have to make. Unfortunately, those ancient shortcuts don't always work to our advantage in our modern lives—when we don't also think slowly and rationally, those hard-wired habits can trip us up. This intriguing book helps us to understand how our minds are predisposed to think about the world—and how to avoid many of life's common mistakes.


Among the surprising examples of these mental habits at work in our lives:


—Experienced skiers make fatal mistakes on familiar terrain more often than less experienced ones.


—Ninety-nine point nine percent of the citizens of France are registered organ donors, but only 28 percent of Americans are.


—Early birds on jury duty are more likely to succumb to racial stereotypes in delivering verdicts when the day gets late.


—People who are hungry for lunch will donate less money to charity.


Wray Herbert introduces us to twenty of these shortcuts and biases, explaining how they affect us in the real world and how they're being studied in labs around the world.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    September 14, 2010

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781400198382
      • File size: 247856 KB
      • Duration: 08:36:21

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      With his appealing vocal personality, Dan John Miller doesn't miss any nuance as he delivers this outstanding summary of psychological research on how we think and make choices. Miller's calm and deliberate narration is enjoyable but also rivets attention and inspires thoughtfulness and curiosity. The author describes 20 common mental shortcuts or heuristic mechanisms that include habits like defaulting to the familiar, relaxing scrutiny when comfortable, and associating scarcity with value. He says if we recognize these habits, we can learn to override them with the slower, more deliberate thinking that much of modern life requires. The discussion will remind many of Malcolm Gladwell's fascinating books. With Miller's narrative performance, this is one of the fastest-moving behavioral science audios on the market. T.W. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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