Sensation The New Science of Physical Intelligence

By the world’s leading expert on the psychology of physical intelligence comes this exciting, new view of human behavior that explains how the body profoundly and unconsciously affects our everyday decisions and choices, and will appeal to readers of Predictably Irrational and Emotional Intelligence.

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.

Dr. Lobel takes readers on a systematic tour of the senses, revealing how our sensory experience of the world colors the rational beings we believe ourselves to be. Warm temperatures make us temporarily friendlier. The color red causes us to perform poorly on tests. We take questionnaires that are attached to heavy clipboards more seriously and we believe people who like sweets to be nicer. Clean smells promote moral behavior.

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.

Thalma Lobel, PhD, is an internationally recognized psychologist and a professor at the School of Psychological Science at Tel Aviv University, where she is director of the child development center. She was the chairperson of the school of psychological sciences and a member of the executive board of the university. She has been a visiting professor at Harvard, Tufts, the University of California San Diego, and New York University. She divides her time between Tel Aviv and Southern California.