A fascinating journey into the hidden psychological influences that derail our decision-making, Sway will change the way you think abo... read full description
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Mar 19, 2009
Trevor
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First you need to find yourself an interesting verb – Sway in this case, obviously, but Snoop is also good, as is Stick. It doesn’t have to start with ‘s’ – there’s Blink as well, of course. Then you need some really good stories about people at the end of their tether. Plane accidents are particularly good for this. Both Outliers and Sway both have plane crashes and both have you at the edge of your seat waiting for the inevitable.
Then you need ‘get-out-of-here’ psychology tests More...
Then you need ‘get-out-of-here’ psychology tests More...
19 comments
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(15 people liked it)
Jul 01, 2008
Lena
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I was not at all in the mood for another non-fiction book about human behavior when my husband asked if I wanted to read this one before he returned it to the library. I half-heartedly decided to scan a few pages before saying no, but I was quickly sucked in to a fictionalized re-creation of the last few hours in the cockpit of the KLM flight responsible for the 1977 Tenerife crash that claimed the lives of 583 people.
Though this book looks at research from social psychology, behavi More...
Though this book looks at research from social psychology, behavi More...
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(11 people liked it)
Jun 16, 2011
Lisa
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This book is very readable and entertaining, and so engaging that I just kept reading and didn’t read the notes until after I’d finished the book, which is unusual for me. It’s fascinating knowlege for anyone who has an interest in universal human nature and/or group dynamics.
The authors take a bunch of existing studies and do a tremendous job of presenting a cogent thesis about why human beings can exhibit such irrational behaviors. I was familiar with many of the studies cited in t More...
The authors take a bunch of existing studies and do a tremendous job of presenting a cogent thesis about why human beings can exhibit such irrational behaviors. I was familiar with many of the studies cited in t More...
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(3 people liked it)
Aug 29, 2008
Otis
rated it:
Great book. Quick read, and you learn about about psychology that you can apply to life or business.
A few notes:
- All about first impressions. First impressions can sway our opinion of something for years to come regardless of subsequent performance.
- Labels matter. If you label someone as a higher performer, top of class, leader, having command potential, etc - it will translate into them actually having it. My high school motto was Principes Non Homines (leaders not me More...
A few notes:
- All about first impressions. First impressions can sway our opinion of something for years to come regardless of subsequent performance.
- Labels matter. If you label someone as a higher performer, top of class, leader, having command potential, etc - it will translate into them actually having it. My high school motto was Principes Non Homines (leaders not me More...
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(3 people liked it)
Nov 23, 2008
Brian
rated it: 
Quick read - 181 pages. I banged it out over two days. Sway is a social economic book from the same vein as Freakonomics and The Tipping Point. The authors descibe psychological forces that can "sway" people into irrational decision making. Several well stated examples are given to support the authors theories throughout.
Overall, Sway is entertaining. It falls short on meaningful substance, and some areas are fluff laden. However, there are several interesting points More...
Overall, Sway is entertaining. It falls short on meaningful substance, and some areas are fluff laden. However, there are several interesting points More...
Jul 08, 2009
David
rated it:
This book covers roughly the same behavioral economics territory considered in such recent books as Dan Ariely's "Predictably Irrational" (http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/181...) and "Nudge" by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein (http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/205...) It had been stalking me on my Amazon recommendations queue for at least a year, but I had resisted it successfully until this weekend, when I came across it in the bookstore and finally succumbed.
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Aug 11, 2008
Jonathan
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Very entertaining. It feels like the authors have just kind of thrown a lot of material together, but the material is fascinating. Roughly speaking, the book is about how people's behavior and decisions are driven by psychological factors they aren't aware of.
Just to give an example, there was a study dealing with the impact of first impressions in which a class of college students were told they would have a substitute instructor for that day's lecture. Bios of the lecturer were ha More...
Just to give an example, there was a study dealing with the impact of first impressions in which a class of college students were told they would have a substitute instructor for that day's lecture. Bios of the lecturer were ha More...
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(1 person liked it)
Aug 04, 2008
Jackie "the Librarian"
rated it:
That street musician might just be a musical genius - you never know! Beware of making assumptions about the value of something based on superficial appearances, or you may miss out on a masterpiece, like the stolen painting in a cheap frame, left out with the trash, and found on the streets of New York by a woman with a discerning eye.
Give yourself permission to go against the crowd, and question authority when you have legitimate questions. In other words, don't let yourself fall prey t More...
Give yourself permission to go against the crowd, and question authority when you have legitimate questions. In other words, don't let yourself fall prey t More...
2 comments
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(1 person liked it)
Apr 10, 2011
Bonnie
rated it:
liked the concept, didn't like the writing style. Not as good as "the drunkards walk"
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(1 person liked it)
Jul 10, 2011
Jill
rated it:
Sway was a quick read filled with lots if sociological studies, which I always find interesting, and yet when I closed the book I felt like I hadn't gotten a thing out of it. The main studies I remember is the 'dissenters voice in a group" and the "subway musician/art in the dumpster" scenarios. But there wasn't a lot of practical application...for instance, I was interested in the job interview section. But it told me what questions not to ask, gave me a vague idea of what que
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May 28, 2011
Jeana
rated it:
Quick, entertaining read that brought me back to my college Psych 1 class. Unlike college though, reading summaries of psych studies seems to make things "click" a bit more now, as you see these findings being played out in your daily life, especially in work situations. I think the authors could have done a better job of defining "irrational behavior" or the reasons behind why we might act in seemingly irrational ways.
I especially found the snippets on how the con More...
I especially found the snippets on how the con More...
Apr 29, 2011
Trena
rated it:
Jumping on the "Blink" bandwagon, this book takes a pop psychology look at a number of unconscious biases and decisionmaking tools that can lead to irrational behavior. The phenomena include overreaction to loss (versus gain) leading to costly loss aversion, over-commitment and entrenchment to a demonstrably failing course of action, value attribution--using external cues to determine the nature of something (such as brand name or celebrity endorsement), effect of others' decisions (e
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Feb 14, 2011
Sandra
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Another great nonfiction read, this book examines the ways in which we derail our decisions, ignoring rational considerations for the irrational pull of obstinacy or out of perceptions of unfairness. The engaging writing helps a lot, but what's most fun to read is the experiences and experiments that support and dramatize the "pull of irrational behavior" the authors are discussing. Some of the most fun: if someone you cannot identify must divide a sum of money, offering you as much
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Jan 20, 2011
Shannon
rated it:
For me, this book falls into the same genre as Malcolm Gladwell’s books and Freakonomics, all of which I rather enjoy. It contains a lot of anecdotes that build to push a single point. The point driven home in this book is that there are underlying forces that are always at work “swaying” us towards doing things that from the outside seem irrational.
It was a very quick read, but a good one. While reading it, I found myself analyzing situations in my life where the forces they discus More...
It was a very quick read, but a good one. While reading it, I found myself analyzing situations in my life where the forces they discus More...
Nov 28, 2010
Rhonda
rated it:
Really liked this...a study on why we sometimes do things that are so uncharacteristic for us, and what sways us to do them.
It discussed that there are four distinct roles people play in group decisions. Of course, the initiator who comes up with the idea, bad or good, followed by the blocker, the one who helps maintain balance in the group and presents the other side. Soon the supporter steps in and takes the side of one or the other. The observer stays fairly neutral and tends More...
It discussed that there are four distinct roles people play in group decisions. Of course, the initiator who comes up with the idea, bad or good, followed by the blocker, the one who helps maintain balance in the group and presents the other side. Soon the supporter steps in and takes the side of one or the other. The observer stays fairly neutral and tends More...
Sep 24, 2010
Barnaby
rated it: 
I wish I could recommend this book, as the topic is an interesting and important one, but I can't. It's simply not well written or organized.
Brafman treats the hot topic of cognitive biases and nonconscious factors that contribute to decision making, an area which has received enormous attention in recent years in cognitive and social psychology (Wegner, Wilson), and economics (Tversky).
I gather what he's trying to do is to present some of the basic findings to a lay a More...
Brafman treats the hot topic of cognitive biases and nonconscious factors that contribute to decision making, an area which has received enormous attention in recent years in cognitive and social psychology (Wegner, Wilson), and economics (Tversky).
I gather what he's trying to do is to present some of the basic findings to a lay a More...
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Jul 17, 2010
Kelly
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I've been reading a lot of books like this lately--books that talk about how irrational humans are. Basically, all of them have me convinced that we are doomed, and this one is no different. I mean, it's fine that we made idiotic decisions or simply don't understand probability or cause and effect when we were hunting and gathering, but now that we have things like nuclear bombs, it's more frightening.
One of the stories in the book is about the worst plane crash in history (Tenerife More...
One of the stories in the book is about the worst plane crash in history (Tenerife More...
Feb 17, 2010
Julie
rated it:
Sway deals with one of my favourite topics: why we're not as rational as we think. In fact, Sway highly reminiscent of Predictably Irrational (one of my favourite non-fiction books), using many of the same example cases and to make its points. To take just a few examples: how can a seasoned pilot, the head of safety for a major airline, ram his plane into another parked on the runway? Why do players picked in later rounds of an NBA draft get less game time, even if they're just as good as earlie
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Dec 03, 2009
Jonny99
rated it:
I didn’t check the NYT Bestseller list but I would assume that Sway must be doing well. It is brief enough to read over a weekend and there is just enough psychology that you can repeat and sound like you know what you are talking. It is sort of a little tree that grew in the ground broken by Freakonomics.
The book starts with a story of the mature, highly experienced, and well-trained head of safety at KLM airlines impulsively taking off without clearance, plowing into another plane and ki More...
The book starts with a story of the mature, highly experienced, and well-trained head of safety at KLM airlines impulsively taking off without clearance, plowing into another plane and ki More...
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(1 person liked it)
Apr 12, 2009
Mazola1
rated it:
Sway is a light but thought provoking little book which attempts to shed some light on why people believe and stubbornly continue to act upon irrational beliefs. Why did Lyndon Johnson and George Bush get stuck in paths of action which viewed rationally could be seen to be mistakes? For the same reasons investors don't dump stocks even after it's obvious they're headed for the celler -- because it's very hard to take a loss. Why would people pass up an opportunity to receive a significant amount
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May 07, 2010
Chris
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Much like Predictably Irrational, which I recently read, Sway is concerned with the ways we consistently act irrationally. The Brafmans use a mix of real life illustrations and sociological research to illustrate their points, coming from the fields of business and psychology. They offer enlightening and frightening insights into human behavior, why we do the stupid things we do, and ideas for being a little less stupid.
Because I read this right on the heels of Predictably Irration More...
Because I read this right on the heels of Predictably Irration More...
Jul 19, 2010
Ross
rated it:
Think of the the Brafman brothers as a poor man's Malcolm Galdwell. A very, very poor man. "Sway" covers interesting and important ground, but dumbs it down way too much.
This might be the right call when presenting this material to a half-day corporate retreat. But it makes for a maddening read. Instead of building up their case based on evidence and support, the authors simply assert their conclusions (or the conclusions of the researchers on which they rely? It's never ma More...
This might be the right call when presenting this material to a half-day corporate retreat. But it makes for a maddening read. Instead of building up their case based on evidence and support, the authors simply assert their conclusions (or the conclusions of the researchers on which they rely? It's never ma More...
Apr 18, 2010
Christopher
rated it:
The authors main premise is that we as humans are fundamentally flawed in our abilities to make rational decisions due to various factors in our upbringing and values systems.
Take for example the story about Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? In America individuals generally admire the wealthy, and as a result when a contestant on the show uses the Ask the Audience life-line the audience gives the correct answer more than 90% of the time. Russians are suspicious of the wealthy as they b More...
Take for example the story about Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? In America individuals generally admire the wealthy, and as a result when a contestant on the show uses the Ask the Audience life-line the audience gives the correct answer more than 90% of the time. Russians are suspicious of the wealthy as they b More...
Dec 19, 2009
Yeribel
rated it:
Quotes/Notes:
Aversion to loss: It doesn’t matter how wrong the decision is, as long as you believe that things will turn out well in the end you will do everything possible to keep in the path. Fighting is better than accepting defeat.
Daniel Kahneman: “To withdraw now is to accept a sure loss,” he writes about digging oneself deeper into a political hole, “and that option is deeply unattractive.” When you combine this with the force of commitment, “the option of hanging More...
Aversion to loss: It doesn’t matter how wrong the decision is, as long as you believe that things will turn out well in the end you will do everything possible to keep in the path. Fighting is better than accepting defeat.
Daniel Kahneman: “To withdraw now is to accept a sure loss,” he writes about digging oneself deeper into a political hole, “and that option is deeply unattractive.” When you combine this with the force of commitment, “the option of hanging More...
Mar 25, 2010
Aimee (Onyx)
rated it:
3.5 stars.
The authors enumerate several different patterns of irrational behavior (sways) that are endemic in human decision making. Some are culturally based, but most are actually hardwired into our brains in various ways. I especially enjoyed the first several chapters of the book which clearly explain why I am a terrible investor.
The light tone of the book makes it incredibly readable, but the sacrifice is that the authors never go very in depth on any given sway. More...
The authors enumerate several different patterns of irrational behavior (sways) that are endemic in human decision making. Some are culturally based, but most are actually hardwired into our brains in various ways. I especially enjoyed the first several chapters of the book which clearly explain why I am a terrible investor.
The light tone of the book makes it incredibly readable, but the sacrifice is that the authors never go very in depth on any given sway. More...
Jan 01, 2010
Jennifer
rated it:
This book was awesome! Finished it in about 2 days. Ï would never expect to read something from the Business/Economics section of the bookstore, but it was in the new non-fiction display at the Coop and the title caught my eye. Behavioral Economics is a hot area right now in academics/research, and I was already familiar with the work of Kahneman on this topic. This book, however, is very approachable and engrossing. Each chapter deals with a different topic (such as loss aversion and value attr
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Sep 13, 2011
Jerilyn
rated it:
I flat-out love this book. The authors' easy, accessible style makes it a joy to understand some hard realities: we all make irrational decisions because we're loss-averse, we have trouble letting go of the past, we attribute value to the wrong things, we suffer from diagnosis bias or fairness bias (among others). The examples are real-world and illuminating. The self-awareness I gained by reading the book is stunning.
I re-read the Epilogue every few months. It gently reminds me what More...
I re-read the Epilogue every few months. It gently reminds me what More...
Jan 24, 2010
Lauren
rated it:
It turns out that the answer to that age-old question "... and if all your friends jumped off a bridge, would you do it, too?" is ... yes. Resoundingly yes. A "yes" that's possibly ingrained into our DNA.
"Sway" is an amazingly easy book to read, and it contains some compelling test results that can be somewhat disturbing. Having been raised in a "question everything" environment, I like to think that I would have stuck to my answer even when More...
"Sway" is an amazingly easy book to read, and it contains some compelling test results that can be somewhat disturbing. Having been raised in a "question everything" environment, I like to think that I would have stuck to my answer even when More...
Jan 29, 2010
Kbord
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Feb 07, 2009
Brendan
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Sway is an amazingly good book. It's got lots of great reports about human psychological studies that help illuminate the reasons we act as we do. It reminds me a lot of Freakonomics, so if you liked that book, this is definitely up your alley. The Brafmans identify several forces, or "sways," that affect our behavior and decision-making a lot more than rational thinking says they should. Here's a snapshot:
* aversion to loss - people perceive a loss as very bad, despite More...
* aversion to loss - people perceive a loss as very bad, despite More...
