Synopses & Reviews
“Our brains can’t help but look forward. We spend very little of our mental lives completely in the here and now. Indeed, the power of expectations is so pervasive that we may notice only when somebody pulls back the curtain to reveal a few of the cogs and levers responsible for the big show.” We all know expectations matter—in school, in sports, in the stock market. From a healing placebo to a run on the bank, hints of their self-fulfilling potential have been observed for years. But now researchers in fields ranging from medicine to education to criminal justice are moving beyond observation to investigate exactly how expectations work—and when they don’t. In
Mind Over Mind, journalist Chris Berdik offers a captivating look at the frontiers of expectations research, revealing how our brains work in the future tense and how our assumptions—about the next few milliseconds or the next few years—bend reality. We learn how placebo calories can fill us up, why wine judges can’t agree, how fake surgery can sometimes work better than real surgery, and how imaginary power can be corrupting. We meet scientists who have found that wearing taller and more attractive avatars in a virtual world boosts confidence in real life, gambling addicts whose brains make losing feel like winning, and coaches who put blurry glasses on athletes to lift them out of slumps. Along the way, Berdik probes the paradox of expectations. Their influence seems based on illusion, even trickery, but they can create their own reality, for good or for ill. Expectations can heal our bodies and make us stronger, smarter, and more successful, or they can leave us in agony, crush our spirit, and undermine our free will. If we can unlock their secrets, we may be able to harness their power and sidestep their pitfalls. Drawing on psychology, neuroscience, history, and fascinating true stories of xpectations in action,
Mind Over Mind offers a spirited journey into one of the most exciting areas of brain research today.
Review
“Fascinating.”
—New Scientist
“Mind Over Mind takes us deep into the human psychology of expectation through the worlds of wine tasting, penalty kicks, compulsive gambling, and police lineups. Berdik delivers an optimistic message with a convincing punch: understanding the power of imagination can challenge our assumptions about what it means to be human and liberate us from the tyranny of self-fulfilling prophecies.”
—Colin Ellard, author of You Are Here; director, Research Laboratory for Immersive Virtual Environments, University of Waterloo “Mind Over Mind is a captivating read, a mix of great stories and compelling science that shows us how expectations can influence our success—for better and for worse. Berdik gives us the tools to change our own behavior and influence others.”
—Sian Beilock, author of Choke; professor of psychology, University of Chicago “This is a delightful book: a mind-bending survey of what scientists are beginning to learn about the remarkable powers of the imagination. Fascinating, illuminating, and full of surprises, Mind Over Mind will forever change the way you think—about the way you think.”
—Toby Lester, author of Da Vincis Ghost and The Fourth Part of the World “Chris Berdiks vivid portrait of the placebo effect and related phenomena reveals that our brains are the clumsiest of time travelers, altering life in the present by anticipating outcomes in the future. So many books about the brain focus on whats going on in other peoples heads. Mind Over Mind helps you see whats going on in yours.”
—Michael Erard, author of Babel No More “From the French court of King Louis XVI to todays neuroscience labs, Mind Over Mind surveys the too often neglected and misunderstood power of our expectations—over our health, performance, and preferences. With wide-ranging examples from the worlds of sports, business, politics, and medicine, Chris Berdik has whipped up an engaging soufflé of a book brimming with quirky and surprising detail.”
—Seth Shulman, author of The Telephone Gambit
Synopsis
How our fast-forward minds make something out of nothing From a healing placebo to a run on the bank, the self-fulfilling potential of expectations has been observed for years. But now, neuroscientists and psychologists are beginning to solve the mysteries of our expectant brain and applying their findings to fields ranging from medicine to sports to education.
Mind over Mind explores the frontiers of expectations research, revealing how our brains work in the future tense and how our assumptions—about the next few milliseconds or the next few years—bend reality. It shows how expectations can sometimes make us healthier, stronger, smarter, and more successful while other times leave us depressed and defeated.
Along the way, author Chris Berdik uncovers some fascinating phenomena, including:
- How cheering for a team can backfire.
- How optical illusions can alleviate pain.- What our faces say about our financial future.- How stereotypes can hurt or help student test scores.
Expectations can heal our bodies and make us stronger, smarter, and more successful in many ways, or they can leave us in agony, crush our spirits, and undermine our free will. If we can unlock the power of expectations, we can maximize their potential and avoid their pitfalls.
Synopsis
How our fast-forward minds make something out of nothing
We all know expectations matterin school, in sports, in the stock market. From a healing placebo to a run on the bank, hints of their self-fulfilling potential have been observed for years. But weve never fully understood why.
Journalist Chris Berdik offers a captivating look at the frontiers of expectations research, revealing how our assumptions bend reality.
We learn how placebo calories can fill us up, how fake surgery can sometimes work better than real surgery, and how imaginary power can be corrupting. Mind Over Mind is a journey into the most exciting area of brain research today.
About the Author
Chris Berdik is a science journalist and a former staff editor at
The Atlantic and
Mother Jones. He has written for numerous publications, including
New Scientist, The Boston Globe,
The Washington Post, and
The San Diego Union-Tribune. He lives in Boston.