Book Report

 The Influential Mind: What the Brain Reveals About Our Power to Change Others by Tali Sharot

The book dives into how our brains shape the way we are influenced and persuaded by others. Sharot, the author of the book, is a neuroscientist. She explains that many of our common methods to change minds don’t often work. Instead, the book reveals that by influencing others, it is about connecting with their emotions, giving them choices, or even understanding about connecting with them. Each chapter shows different ways and reasons on why it is difficult to change people’s minds.

The main theme includes that the power of prior beliefs, the role of emotions in the decisions we make, and the importance of giving people control, can shape behavior. The author makes these concepts easy for us to understand, by using these stories from our daily lives. I feel as the book offers good advice for anyone who wants to be more persuasive.

My favorite part of this book was, “ how positive incentives motivate people far more than threats or punishments.” Sharot explains that our brains are wired to move towards rewards and positive outcomes, rather than avoid the negative ones. She also shows that giving people small rewards, and celebrating progress can be much more effective for motivating people rather than focusing on what could go wrong.

I liked this because it connects to what we have learned in class about motivation and how motivation is about setting goals and feeling rewarded by setting a purpose. Sharot;s research shows that motivation grows when people feel more hopeful about something to look forward to.

A creative way to extend our report and solve our problems would be good to talk about on a podcast because we can talk about how these ideas change the way that myself and others can encourage others, especially with staying motivated. We should be rewarded for our task instead of worrying about it.

In conclusion, this novel taught and showed me a different perspective on motivation and these lessons connect to what we have learned in class.