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A User Guide to The Unconscious Mind
At every moment of our existence, emotions play an important social role, having perhaps the major influence on our perception of the world, and how we interact with it.
Successful communication, mutual understanding, and agreement are the keys to success in nearly all areas of life. For example...
How much are you aware of your emotional state and the non-verbal signals you send during a conversation? How much are you aware of the emotional state of others, and how constructively are you dealing with it? What is the impact cultural differences have on the course of a conversation? What other psychological aspects are able to distort your objective view of a situation?
Decades of psychological research has thorough answers to all of these questions, and A User Guide to The Unconscious Mind explains the latest science in simple terms and examples. It will be a fascinating journey, full of discoveries that will change your life for the better!
- GenresPsychologyNonfiction
141 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 7, 2019
1 person is currently reading
1525 people want to read
About the author
Tatiana Lukyanova
2 books19 followersTatiana Lukyanova was born in Leningrad, Soviet Union in 1978.
Since early childhood, her primary interest has been understanding how people think and feel and what drives their decisions and behavior. She dreamt of studying psychology, but destiny prepared a different path for her. She ended up focused on physics and mathematics, where through years of ups and downs she has sharpened her analytical skills.
After acquiring a Master of Science degree in Physics, she moved to the Netherlands to proceed with a scientific career. But once again, she realized that humans interest her way more than particles, molecules, electrons, and quarks. That led her away from science to the challenging and intriguing environment of e-commerce.
For many years, Tatiana was responsible for designing and creating solutions for customers of one of the biggest classifieds in the world, part of the eBay Classifieds Group. Successful at creating hyper-productive teams, she started investing more time into coaching for better communication, as well as working more with external partners to deliver crucial business integrations. Given all that experience and a great passion for human psychology, she decided finally to fulfill her dream and formalize her knowledge by earning a Master of Science degree in Communication, Behaviour and Credibility Analysis at Manchester Metropolitan University, which she concluded
with research on the correlation of emotional recognition and children’s performance at school.
Today, Tatiana is a mother of two grown-up kids, an entrepreneur, the founder of EQally - an emotional intelligence learning app, and a trainer in Emotional Awareness, Communication, Cultural Intelligence and Credibility Analysis.
Since early childhood, her primary interest has been understanding how people think and feel and what drives their decisions and behavior. She dreamt of studying psychology, but destiny prepared a different path for her. She ended up focused on physics and mathematics, where through years of ups and downs she has sharpened her analytical skills.
After acquiring a Master of Science degree in Physics, she moved to the Netherlands to proceed with a scientific career. But once again, she realized that humans interest her way more than particles, molecules, electrons, and quarks. That led her away from science to the challenging and intriguing environment of e-commerce.
For many years, Tatiana was responsible for designing and creating solutions for customers of one of the biggest classifieds in the world, part of the eBay Classifieds Group. Successful at creating hyper-productive teams, she started investing more time into coaching for better communication, as well as working more with external partners to deliver crucial business integrations. Given all that experience and a great passion for human psychology, she decided finally to fulfill her dream and formalize her knowledge by earning a Master of Science degree in Communication, Behaviour and Credibility Analysis at Manchester Metropolitan University, which she concluded
with research on the correlation of emotional recognition and children’s performance at school.
Today, Tatiana is a mother of two grown-up kids, an entrepreneur, the founder of EQally - an emotional intelligence learning app, and a trainer in Emotional Awareness, Communication, Cultural Intelligence and Credibility Analysis.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
August 2, 2019
“A User Guide to The Unconscious Mind” written by Tatiana Lukyanova has made a huge impression on me. Mostly thanks for the way that author takes us to the world of emotions showing the reader their influence on her/his life. The book confirms that we need emotions - without them our world would not be the same any more…
The big advantage of this position is language. Despite the fact that it does not concern simple topics, the book is easy to read. The descriptions are logical and transparent. In addition, in order to illustrate the information, author gives examples from everyday life and describes scientific research. This makes the book available even for a person who had no previous contact with psychology. In addition, the author offers us a lot of exercises that help us memorise new knowledge. Now I will try to observe more carefully how theories from the book function in my life.
I highly recommend the book to everyone who want to make a journey deep inside her/himself.
The big advantage of this position is language. Despite the fact that it does not concern simple topics, the book is easy to read. The descriptions are logical and transparent. In addition, in order to illustrate the information, author gives examples from everyday life and describes scientific research. This makes the book available even for a person who had no previous contact with psychology. In addition, the author offers us a lot of exercises that help us memorise new knowledge. Now I will try to observe more carefully how theories from the book function in my life.
I highly recommend the book to everyone who want to make a journey deep inside her/himself.
December 16, 2019
It would be easy to categorise this book as “self-help” and consequently dismiss it, since texts in that category are too often based on dubious claims and anecdotal evidence, rather than science. It’s not the case here.
Indeed, the book is quite well structured: it takes the reader from basic definitions of emotions, as currently accepted in neurology and psychology, to how emotions arise and the level of control we have on their outward appearance (insofar as we are aware of them), to how they are an integral part of all human communication and interactions, be it in person or conducted through digital means.
And sometimes emotions enter the scene from unexpected angles: for example, when triggered by cognitive biases which we are typically not aware of, or when they influence how we store (and retrieve!) information from our long-term memory.
There’s a wealth of (very relatable) personal experiences and examples, which helps immensely to contextualise the theory.
In the introduction, the author expresses hope that readers may pick up “kindness and empathy” from reading this book - that’s because one of the underlying themes is awareness: by making a conscious effort to look at emotions in other people (whether they’re there, how they’re displayed or controlled, etc) and -even more- in ourselves, we (as readers) may indeed become better at communicating, and even at dealing with stressful situations.
It’s not magic, it’s about building a mental model of how these processes work. There is no silver bullet on offer: this will require effort and practice.
On the other hand, this book is certainly not a comprehensive guide on emotions theory, or cognitive biases, or memory - then again, it doesn’t claim to be. Besides, the bibliography contains plenty of good sources to investigate, if one’s so inclined; I can’t recall any claim in the text which didn’t refer to empirical research, and when an hypothesis is mentioned as such (i.e. not yet scientifically validated) the author makes it very clear.
In short, I’ve found this a very good introduction to the study of emotions, and an invaluable source of insights into behaviours which we can see (or enact) on a daily basis, in the workplace and elsewhere: hopefully, I’ll manage to pay more attention at those behaviours, now, and maybe even improve their outcomes.
Indeed, the book is quite well structured: it takes the reader from basic definitions of emotions, as currently accepted in neurology and psychology, to how emotions arise and the level of control we have on their outward appearance (insofar as we are aware of them), to how they are an integral part of all human communication and interactions, be it in person or conducted through digital means.
And sometimes emotions enter the scene from unexpected angles: for example, when triggered by cognitive biases which we are typically not aware of, or when they influence how we store (and retrieve!) information from our long-term memory.
There’s a wealth of (very relatable) personal experiences and examples, which helps immensely to contextualise the theory.
In the introduction, the author expresses hope that readers may pick up “kindness and empathy” from reading this book - that’s because one of the underlying themes is awareness: by making a conscious effort to look at emotions in other people (whether they’re there, how they’re displayed or controlled, etc) and -even more- in ourselves, we (as readers) may indeed become better at communicating, and even at dealing with stressful situations.
It’s not magic, it’s about building a mental model of how these processes work. There is no silver bullet on offer: this will require effort and practice.
On the other hand, this book is certainly not a comprehensive guide on emotions theory, or cognitive biases, or memory - then again, it doesn’t claim to be. Besides, the bibliography contains plenty of good sources to investigate, if one’s so inclined; I can’t recall any claim in the text which didn’t refer to empirical research, and when an hypothesis is mentioned as such (i.e. not yet scientifically validated) the author makes it very clear.
In short, I’ve found this a very good introduction to the study of emotions, and an invaluable source of insights into behaviours which we can see (or enact) on a daily basis, in the workplace and elsewhere: hopefully, I’ll manage to pay more attention at those behaviours, now, and maybe even improve their outcomes.
January 9, 2020
The information is explained is an easy manner. The author provides examples of situations we may encounter daily, so it helps to understand and identify yourself in same situations. I wouldn’t say “I will never see the world the same way I used to “ but I have a better understanding about how we act under certain emotions and it explains how to explore more about your behavior and the behavior of the people around you.
From a personal perspective, I found very interesting the chapter about Happiness, even though I see myself as a joyful person, I now understand much better the importance of finding the balance. As well, the chapter about Biases, really appealed to me. Undeniably, I am prejudiced too, but luckily this is nothing that cannot be corrected… presumably, some things will not be the same for me from now on.
Chapter 14 is a great guide to be ready when we encounter emotionally charged conversations. Points as to be prepared and to have a clear idea of what you want to achieve; allow the other person to express her/his point of view; or things to avoid such as marathon questions and interrupting pauses.
From a personal perspective, I found very interesting the chapter about Happiness, even though I see myself as a joyful person, I now understand much better the importance of finding the balance. As well, the chapter about Biases, really appealed to me. Undeniably, I am prejudiced too, but luckily this is nothing that cannot be corrected… presumably, some things will not be the same for me from now on.
Chapter 14 is a great guide to be ready when we encounter emotionally charged conversations. Points as to be prepared and to have a clear idea of what you want to achieve; allow the other person to express her/his point of view; or things to avoid such as marathon questions and interrupting pauses.
June 5, 2019
This book is NOT the kind of book you read and let sit on a shelf for the rest of your life. It is a guide you can (and will love) coming back to. The incredibly valuable Information in this book is delivered in a conversational and easy to read manner, which makes it a very enjoyable read (and I am usually not a big reader!) For me personally, it helped me understand myself and others around me better. This led to a better understanding and a deeper connection with myself and my loved ones. This book can help you deal with situations better and prevent unnecessary arguments and episodes of anxiety and stress triggered by certain things by giving you the big picture. I would recommend this book to everyone since we all can use a little help when it comes to understanding ourselves and each other sometimes ;)
June 5, 2019
The author delivers hard scientific knowledge in amazingly easy and conversational way. This knowledge helped me to understand the evolutionary needs behind the emotions I experience and that self-awareness is what buys you time to take different course of action from one you would normally take and live a more emotionally balanced life. In my case knowledge of anger helped me to get through hard moments of my life, knowledge of shame vs guilt helped me to understand my upbringing and that, together with understanding sadness’ function, helps me to be more attentive in raising my child. There’s way more in this book that I discover daily helps me in understanding myself and others. It’s no esotheric knowledge. It’s plain and simple science of emotions and our physicial and psychological responses, self-awareness and attentiveness. This book is purely beautiful in its design. 5 stars and a must read.
September 6, 2019
A great overview of everything you should know about your and others' emotions.
There are many notions that we all have (because emotions is something we experience every day!) but we actually only have a fuzzy understanding of it. This book showed me all that in a precise, definite and fine light. This is what makes the book very accessible in the first place: everyone will be able to find examples in their life (a heated argument, an awkward conversation, that time your manager was an idiot, etc.) of the concepts discussed in the book.
I very much enjoyed the examples of the author from her life. It can be hard to open oneself for introspection and that she uncovered something about herself encouraged me to imitate her.
There are many notions that we all have (because emotions is something we experience every day!) but we actually only have a fuzzy understanding of it. This book showed me all that in a precise, definite and fine light. This is what makes the book very accessible in the first place: everyone will be able to find examples in their life (a heated argument, an awkward conversation, that time your manager was an idiot, etc.) of the concepts discussed in the book.
I very much enjoyed the examples of the author from her life. It can be hard to open oneself for introspection and that she uncovered something about herself encouraged me to imitate her.
December 15, 2023
This book is a great introduction to the fascinating world of the subconscious. Written in an easy-going style appropriate for beginner and laypersons, it provides an overview of different aspects of the mind and how it works, with a strong focus on understanding emotions. The book is interspersed with exercises for self-reflection and personal stories from the author, which take the theoretical models and methods and ground them in the real world. Although written for laypersons, it can be a useful tool for professionals to illustrate how to explain some relatively complicated concepts in an easily understandable way.
January 13, 2022
Emotions are things we come across every single day. How amazing to learn and read more about them! This is truly an amazing book! Very insightful and interesting to read. I absolutely loved the pictures inside the book. The book was easy and fun to read. Definitly recommend!!
January 18, 2022
For the most part, this is fluff disguised as science. That's not to say there's no interesting and informative information in here, but many parts of this book sound like it's a paper written by a first year college student.
It's thankfully pretty short.
Thanks to Goodreads for a free copy.
It's thankfully pretty short.
Thanks to Goodreads for a free copy.
February 16, 2022
This book was also a Goodreads win.
I loved it.
This is a type of book that you can practically start anywhere.
It was easy to use and quite frankly I’m still using it.
I would most definitely recommend it.
Thank you
I loved it.
This is a type of book that you can practically start anywhere.
It was easy to use and quite frankly I’m still using it.
I would most definitely recommend it.
Thank you
May 29, 2022
An easy to understand book about emotions and how our minds work.
Well laid out and designed to make you think about how the ideas apply to your own life.
My only gripe is I would have liked a bit more on how to change or better yourself, but this book is more aimed at the explanation.
Edited: this book compliments other self-help book perfectly.
Well laid out and designed to make you think about how the ideas apply to your own life.
Edited: this book compliments other self-help book perfectly.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews