Тёплая чашка в холодный день: Как физические ощущения влияют на наши решения

by Thalma Lobel

Like the revolutionary bestsellers Predictably Irrational and Emotional Intelligence, Sensation is an exciting, completely new view of human behavior ? a new psychology of physical intelligence (or embodied cognition) ? that explains how the body unconsciously affects our everyday decisions and choices, written by one of the world's leading psychologists. From colors and temperatures to heavy objects and tall people, a whole symphony of external stimuli exerts a constant influence on the way your mind works. Yet these effects have been hidden from you ? until now. Drawing on her own work as well as from research across the globe, Dr. Thalma Lobel reveals how shockingly susceptible we are to sensory input from the world around us. An aggressive negotiator can be completely disarmed by holding a warm cup of tea or sitting in a soft chair. Clean smells promote moral behavior, but people are more likely to cheat on a test right after having taken a shower. Red-colored type causes us to fail exams, but red dresses make women sexier and teams wearing red jerseys win more games. We take questionnaires attached to heavy clipboards more seriously and believe people who like sweets to be nicer. Ultimately, the book's message is startling: Though we claim ownership of our decisions, judgments, and values, they derive as much from our outside environment as from inside our minds. Now, Sensation empowers you to evaluate those outside forces in order to make better decisions in every facet of your personal and professional lives.

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction, Science, Sociology, Popular Science, Audiobook, Self Help

260 pages, Hardcover

First published March 27, 2014

Reviews

[Danielle · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was okay. Maybe if I was holding something warm when I read it I would have liked it more.

[☘Misericordia☘ ⚡ϟ⚡⛈⚡☁ ❇️❤❣ · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is either the worst case of hoodoo ever or the profoundest read since the Bible. Well, I do have my doubts, most of stuff in here is likely from those irreplicable experimental psychology that shocked people recently. Then again, all this is such a fun read that i just can't harp about it. 5 stars. (Just be careful implementing any of this, since, well, these might all be just urban legends. *shrugs*

[☘Misericordia☘ ⚡ϟ⚡⛈⚡☁ ❇️❤❣ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Q:
В этой книге я проведу вас по миру ощущений и расскажу, как сенсорный опыт воздействует на наши мыслительные процессы, которые мы полагаем рациональными, и на наши решения, которые мы считаем независимыми. Я объясню, почему тепло временно делает нас более дружелюбными, а красный цвет может повредить нам на экзамене. Я продемонстрирую, как две точки, поставленные рядом на координатной плоскости, заставляют нас ощутить более тесную эмоциональную связь с объектом, а резюме, прикрепленное к тяжелому планшету, усиливает впечатление о профессионализме подателя. Я покажу, что запах чистоты (например, жидкости для мытья окон) способствует более нравственному поведению, в то время как душ перед экзаменом может усилить тягу к списыванию и обману.
...
Эта книга – о том, как внешние стимулы влияют на внутреннее восприятие. Невидимые раздражители, с которыми мы незаметно для себя взаимодействуем в окружающем мире, могут заставить нас потерять сон, провалить экзамен или влюбиться.
...
Теория воплощенного познания.
(c)

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I want to have liked this more than I did but it's not as well written or as heavily backed up as Nudge, The Spell of the Sensuous, Metaphors In Mind or Metaphors We Live By. However it does bridge the gap between the these although not sadly not explicitly. Some interesting studies shared in some nice, if a little repetitive, ways. The conclusions could have been bolder.

[Jacq · Rating 2 out of 5]

A book on embodied cognition. Read the uncorrected proof copy.
The main message of the book is to expose us to understand how we are unconsciously affected by irrelevant environment in our daily behaviours. However, the chapters are presented in very similar way and made it quite boring to read after the first few chapters. The author also made unconvincing links between her personal experience to her results. As well as many unconvincing statements (correlations vs causations). But, it is my first book on embodied cognition and it provides me an alternative perspective to things around me.

[Tim Petersik · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting review of literature concerning how physical/bodily states influence psychological, usually interpersonal, judgments. I don't question the research, but sometimes it surely challenges the imagination. In essence, this book shows that many of our metaphors are not merely metaphors.

[Red · Rating 1 out of 5]

Это очень плохая научно-популярная книга, пытающаяся выдать себя за хорошую.
Это нормальная книга про абстрактные метафоры и их прообразы в физическом мире, но тогда тема слишком очевидная и ценность не больше, чем у словаря с тематикой.

“Многим сложно поверить в то, что такие результаты исследований не обусловлены некими неучтенными факторами или несовершенством самого эксперимента.”
И приводит исследования на 40 человек, сомнительно разделенных на две группы, без контрольной. Может быть они не так уж скверны, как они мне показались по описанию в книге, но изучать статьи по списку в конце книги желания не возникло.

Даже если допустить, что все исследования качественные, тема требует дальнейшего изучения, то всё равно сама книга написана очень уныло, скучное перечисление метафор, соответствующих явлений и сопутствующего эксперимента на 40 человек: красный и сексуальный, высокий и наделенный властью. И ещё обилие непримечательных эпизодов из жизни автора с риторическими вопросами в стиле "А что если они вели себя дружелюбнее, потому что были в белом, а что если я воспринимала их дружелюбнее, потому что они были в белом?".
Заодно делаются далеко идущие выводы (которых нет в упоминаемых экспериментах), например, что надо название компании на буклете писать выше, а перед переговорами выпить теплого.

Немного любопытными показались эксперименты с приписываемым количеством не технических нарушений (агрессивная игра, видимо, такое есть) в зависимости от покраски цвета формы, но опять же не очень ясна чистота и качество эксперимента.
И ничего поражающего воображение, может, кроме заявленной чашки. Что красный в культуре связан с сексом мы и так в курсе, но теперь и по данным 20 студентов!

[Claudia Lady Circumference · Rating 3 out of 5]

Did you read all those fascinating books on smart decision-making? Have you trained your brain and think you got the edge now?
Well, think again, turns out that our bodies, specifically our senses have quite an input into our behaviour without us even noticing.

There is an enormous fluidity between body and mind and there are countless metaphors and figures of speech in our language to demonstrate this: a weight on our shoulders, seeing red, something smells fishy, having a clean conscience, etc.
Sensory cues are around us all the time, colours, weight, texture, physical space can unconsciously bias our decision making and our evaluation of others.
‘Embodied Cognition’ is an emerging field in psychology and Thalma Lobel describes in her book cutting-edge studies that prove and systematically examine these connections.

Because embodied cognitions is so new and much more research needs to be done to tighten it up, some of the studies come across as a bit vague, still, it’s a fascinating topic and it will make you notice and think about your environment in different ways.

[GONZA · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well as a former psychologist and psychoteherapist I would really liked to believe all that was written in this book, anyway, ad the author said, it is probably possible not to replicate the results of this experiment because they are "too broad" and sooooo let´s hope that cuddling a cat makes us gentler....

Come ex psicologa e psicoterapeuta mi piacerebbe davvero credere che tutto quello scritto in questo libro comunque, come dice anche l'autrice, é possibile che molti di questi esperimenti non siano replicabili perché un po´"troppo ampii", e quindi continuiamo a sperare che coccolare un gatto ci renda piú gentili, senza crederci peró.....

[Alexandr Blokhin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Очень примитивная книга, информация в которой опирается на весьма сомнительные исследования. На исследования, где принимает участие, например, 40 студентов. Мало того, что взята всего одна социальная группа, так ещё и 40 человек. И таких примеров исследований на 20-60 человек в книге туча.

Читать можно по диагонали, ничего не пропустите.

[Inga Narijauskienė · Rating 3 out of 5]

Knyga, aprašanti keistus mokslo darbus :) Knygos autorė – mokslininkė, organizuojanti brangius tyrimus ir skirianti daugybę laiko, resursų ir pastangų įrodyti tai, kas daugeliui atrodo intuityviai aišku, pavyzdžiui:
- ant storo popieriaus atspausdintas CV atrodo rimčiau
- glostant švelnų daiktą tampame švelnesni, o liečiant šiurkštų – šiurkštesni
- raudonos detalės žmogaus aprangoje reiškia dominavimą, seksualumą
- balta spalva labiau siejama su pozityvumu, o juoda – su negatyvumu
- fizinis atstumas tarp žmonių įtakoja ir emocinį artumą tarp jų
- aukštis ir fizinis patrauklumas susijęs su tuo, kiek galios priskiriame tam žmogui
- rankų nuprausimas arba nusiprausimas po dušu sumažina kaltės jausmą
- žmonėms atrodo, kad saldumynų mėgėjai yra minkštesni, malonesni, sukalbamesni
- mėtų ar cinamono kvapas padeda maloniau bendrauti, geriau atlikti užduotis, žuvies kvapas sukelia įtarumą, o valiklio kvapas sukelia norą švarintis
- padarius fizinių pratimų, pajudėjus, geriau atliekamos loginės ir kūrybinės užduotys
- laikydami šilto gėrimo puodelį tampame draugiškesni
- jeigu teste moterims reikia nurodyti savo lytį arba afroamerikiečiams – rasę, jeigu teste yra raudonos spalvos – pavadinimas, viršelis, dalyvio numeris – testas bus atliktas prasčiau, negu be bet kurio iš šitų požymių
-...
Beje, iš aprašymų galima suprasti, kad autorės eksperimentai dažniausiai atliekami su gana nedideliu (moksliniams tyrimams) žmonių skaičiumi ir tie žmonės būna būtent studentai, taigi, tokių tyrimų rezultatai tikriausiai negalėtų būti vertinami rimtai.

[Elena Ya · Rating 2 out of 5]

Книга обещает, что «Из этой книги вы узнаете:
ч��о такое физический интеллект;
как правильно реагировать на внешние раздражители;
как мелочи, не привлекающие внимания, действуют на наше подсознание;
как можно влиять на поведение других людей, воздействуя на их ощущения.»
Но, и эта книга не научила меня «как управлять миром, не привлекая внимания санитаров».
Потому что полна избитых истин и теорий, которые «могут увеличить вероятность», но ясен-бубен ничего не гарантируют.
Если вкратце, то победить на переговорах вам будет проще, если оппонент будет пить теплый напиток (размягчает), сидя на мягком кресле (расслабляет), ниже вашего уровня ( принижает, подчиняет) и лучше с чем нить сладким ( делает податливым).
Гладкие ощущения (одежда, белье) дарят комфорт и проч, поэтому для сглаживания углов в семейной жизни неплохо спать на гладком/ шелковом белье, в шелком белье, а также (!) побрить ноги и морду и лица.
И еще 6 часов таких же премудростей на скорости 1,25.

[Tom Larkin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Generally I accept the premise that sensed, environmental factors influence behaviour, often unconsciously and have an interest in this. So I was well-disposed to this book beforehand. The author cites a lot of social psychology experiments as if it were a literature review for a thesis, much too many for me and, in my view, without making any conclusions of depth. In addition, there were glaring ommissions of major importance particularly in the field of social psychology e.g. when discussing the effects of the colour black, no mention was made at all of skin colour. Neither when discussing spatial metaphors was there any mention of "walling off". The subject matter and and the listed experiments had the potential for important insights and conclusions. It would appear that despite her years of study and her experiences of living on either side of the Atlantice the author, for whatever reasons, chose not to engage in any kind of depth with the subject of embodied cognition.

[Vincie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Onwijs interessant boek, maar soms worden sommige voorbeelden wat vaker herhaald terwijl ik dan denk: "Ja, dit heb ik net ook gelezen, nu weet ik het wel".

De informatie is interessant, maar ook veel. Daardoor is het soms wat lastiger om door de hoofdstukken heen te komen, het is soms wat taaie stof. Neemt niet weg dat het boek zeker een aanrader is en dat je zintuigen meer effect hebben op je gedachten, gevoelens en keuzes dan je zou verwachten!

Mensen maken zich zorgen over robots en andere vormen van kunstmatige intelligentie die de mensheid zou overnemen, maar zolang deze robots geen zintuigelijke sensaties ervaren, lijkt mij die kans heel klein. Het is veel lastiger om zintuigen na te bootsen dan denkprocessen, wat ook benoemd wordt in het epiloog.

Je leert ook wat interessante trucjes om mensen onbewust te beïnvloeden. Je gaat je ook meer verdiepen in je eigen gedrag en waar dat nu uit voortkomt.

[Irene Gracesiana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite an interesting book. How the sensation has so much influence on our behavior, emotions and feelings. Theory of EMBODIED COGNITION - that explains how the body UNCONSCIOUSLY affects our everyday decisions and choices.

we will unconsciously more open up and show warm attitude toward new people we met, if we hold hot drink.

If we still using hard copy for CV and professional resume, use heavier paper to show our seriousness on vacant position we apply.

From color to texture will create different effect. NICE!!!

a bit boring ... but understandable cos the writer - the psychology professor at Tel Aviv university , provide so many research and studies for this new science of physical intelligence!

[Ogi Ogas · Rating 2 out of 5]

My ratings of books on Goodreads are solely a crude ranking of their utility to me, and not an evaluation of literary merit, entertainment value, social importance, humor, insightfulness, scientific accuracy, creative vigor, suspensefulness of plot, depth of characters, vitality of theme, excitement of climax, satisfaction of ending, or any other combination of dimensions of value which we are expected to boil down through some fabulous alchemy into a single digit.

[Melanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brought this book back to the library before I finished it. The facts were interesting but I feel like the chapters were written way too long. Too long to keep my interests 🤷‍♀️ maybe it's me. I don't think it is a bad book I feel like if you are not super into reading a 3 page paragraph about only one study, this is not your book

[Thomson Kneeland · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was hoping for more depth and deeper revelations; I think one would be better served by reading Barbara Tversky and listening to some podcasts she has done regarding embodied cognition and physical intelligence <-> mental models.

[yamiyoghurt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Useful information, not exactly gripping.

[Stasy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Познавательно, но для меня это одноразовая книга. Желания перечитать ее нет.

[Tracy Brower · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent and fascinating chock full of terrific research. Thanks to Jen for this recommendation.

[Thea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Отличная книга. Читать.

[Leo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hartstikke interessant onderwerp, maar een beetje ondermaats geschreven. Ik neem me voor een beter boek te vinden die deze materie behandeld.

[Ksenia Roksett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Понравилась. Да, все довольно просто, но в то же время лишнее напоминание о том, как сделать себе лучше, не помешает.

[Annapaola · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un libro davvero interessante sulla cognizione incarnata, nuovo campo di studio della psicologia. Il linguaggio utilizzato è semplice, chiaro e comprensibile.

[Alona · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of the experiments were new (to me) and interesting, some of them were a known fact. (I must be the happiest person in the world according to the book…)

[Rossdavidh · Rating 3 out of 5]

We all know that when we say someone is "sweet", we don't mean they are literally sweet, or even that they like sweet things. We know that it is a sort of analogy between a person whose personality makes them pleasant to be around, and something which tastes especially pleasant. Thalma Lobel knows this as well. She is, however, asserting that these two different meanings of the word "sweet" are a lot more closely tied together in our mind than we might think. So much so that activating one concept (e.g. by learning that the person has a "sweet tooth") makes the other concept more likely to spring to mind (and cause us to think they are pleasant to be around, i.e. a "sweet person").

Ditto for things that are hard and being a hard bargainer, being physically close together and being emotionally close, being physically higher up and being more powerful (aka "high up in the organization"). Lobel's basic thesis here is that our more abstract concepts do not form in the brain out of nothing; they form out of analogies to things that we learned in early life, and most of that was physical sensations.

The book is divided into chapters on temperature, texture, weight, color (two chapters, one on performance and one on sexual attraction), contrast, distance, height, cleanliness (lots of associations between moral and physical disgust here), and smells. Whatever one thinks of the basic thesis, Lobel does not stint in providing us with the scientific research to back up her claims. People are more likely to think highly of a resume for an important job, if they are reading it while it is attached to a heavy clipboard rather than a light one. If you use computers to change the jersey color of athletes in a video clip and show it to referees, they are more likely to assign points to the side wearing red than the side wearing blue. Every chapter has multiple different research teams, at different institutions in different countries, demonstrating that the human brain is influence by a lot of things that probably ought to be irrelevant.

If you want the other person in a negotiation to be more open to your suggestions, serve them a warm drink. If you want to keep yourself from being too easily swayed by a desire to be agreeable, pick an iced drink. Yikes. I ought not to have to think about what color tie I'm wearing, what temperature drink I'm drinking, and how close I'm sitting to the other person, when I'm having a business meeting. Of course, I am totally free to ignore these things, at least consciously. What Lobel is saying, though, is that just because I am ignoring them, doesn't mean they don't affect how I think and behave.

So, was the fact that this book's dustcover was smooth on the front, but rough on the back, influencing my opinion of it in some subtle way? Was I being manipulated somehow?

How you feel about this book, probably depends on whether you delight in hearing all the ways that humans are less rational than they like to think they are, or if you find it depressing. For myself, I find it good to be forewarned, although I probably won't be trying to use most of what it says, because if I tried I would probably just forget about the actual main points I was trying to keep in mind. When you're trying to make things scrupulously fair, though, as for example when interviewing multiple candidates for the same job or picking jersey colors for Olympic contestants (research shows that the ones assigned red in the real Olympics win more often), it might be worth going back to this book to remind yourself of all the ways you could be unknowingly screwing with your brain's ability to make a logical decision.

[Toya Munera · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely an interesting piece, as a designer I found it very useful

[Kate Gardner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lobel is a psychologist who is interested in how our senses affect the way we think and links that to the way that we think metaphorically – a new area of psychology called “embodied cognition”. Sounds a bit complicated? Here are some examples to show how straightforward an idea it is: holding something warm makes us friendlier; the colour red makes us anxious; the smell of fish makes us feel suspicion. Yes, really.

The examples explored in the book vary quite a lot. Some of them seemed obvious to me (we equate weight and value, for instance), while others were surprising (touching something cold or hard makes us act more sternly). For me, Lobel certainly achieved her stated goal, which is to make readers question whether their senses are affecting their judgement. Am I agreeing to take on extra work because I’m holding a warm cup of tea? Am I choosing not to give money to that homeless person because they’re wearing black? Is that person genuinely good at their job or is it just that they’re tall?

Which is all very interesting, and Lobel quotes a lot of studies rather than just making assertions. The training instilled in me by Ben Goldacre’s Bad Science blog meant I couldn’t help noticing that they’re mostly very small studies, but then it is a fairly new area of research and Lobel is careful to say when further studies back up the findings or when they are still needed.

- See my full review: http://www.noseinabook.co.uk/2014/09/...

[GA Reville · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sensation, is not unlike many books in popular psychology. However it stands apart from other books on the subject in being able to avoid the inevitable trap of becoming 'self-help'. As a result, we have a book that cites studies and their possible implications in a fairly terse manner. I therefore can't recommend this to anyone whose highly familiar with psychology because it's unlikely to relay facts they didn't know.

In brief, the author brings the reader through a series of experiments and the occasional anecdote, on the human senses. The author contents that The results of the experiments are evidence for a hypothesis known as embodied cognition. The theory states that cognition (mental function) is shaped through aspects of the body. Therefore it comes as no surprise to see that warmth makes us more agreeable, cold the reverse, the scent of fish causes suspicious behaviour etc. the book is also interesting in that she does explain the set up of the experiments and doesn't do what many authors do in simply telling the results.

The brevity might be an irritation to people who want more in depth information. But I don't think that's what the author is aiming to do. She merely wishes to inform the reader of the growing research in this area.
Nevertheless, for anyone whose just interested in the more recent research in this area, I can recommend this book.