Mindwise

November 25, 2013
In this occasionally lively, but often tedious psychological study, behavioral scientist Epley draws deeply on various experiments and surveys, deftly exploring the ways that we get into the heads of those around us to navigate various social landscapes. Our abilities to read the minds of others, he states, “allow us to cooperate with those we should trust and avoid those we shouldn’t.” Moreover, this reading of minds “allows us to track our reputation in the eyes of others... and enables understanding between friends, forgiveness among enemies, empathy between strangers.” According to Epley, we often remain unaware of others because we fail to engage our capacity to understand their minds, often dehumanizing others and, in the worst case, stereotyping them. Epley suggests that we can behave more intelligently toward others by being smarter fighters, smarter leaders, and smarter neighbors. He encourages us to look beyond an individual’s behavior to the broader context in which certain behaviors occur, for actions reveal less about a person’s mind than they seem to. Epley forcefully, though unremarkably, concludes that “the secret to understanding each other comes through the hard relational work of putting people in a position where they can tell you their minds openly and honestly.”

January 1, 2014
Animals and humans think, but only humans can understand what others are thinking. Without this ability, cooperative society is unimaginable. It's a sixth sense, akin to mind reading, writes Epley (Behavioral Science/Univ. of Chicago School of Business) in this clever psychology primer. "[M]y goal is to describe your brain's predictable malfunctions that keep you from understanding the minds of others as well as you could," writes the author, who quickly points out how we get it wrong. At worst, we neglect our mind-reading ability on the grounds that another has no mind--i.e., dehumanization. German Jews and Native Americans were once viewed, and even legally labeled, as subhuman. Readers will nod sadly and agree that all men are brothers--except terrorists, of course, who are mindless psychopaths. We also do the opposite, writes Epley. We attribute minds to mindless entities that behave in unpredictable ways: hurricanes, the stock market, computers, cars, etc. Our mental tools provide imperfect insights: We know our own minds intimately, so egocentricity exerts too much influence. We label others as stereotypes. Although politically incorrect, stereotyping is not entirely inaccurate but emphasizes differences over similarities. We assume that a person's actions reflect his or her thoughts, but this is surprisingly undependable. The best way to determine what another person is thinking--proven by scientific studies--is to ask. Epley presents a steady stream of imaginative studies. Although readers will learn a great deal, they must remember that the author is a teacher and scientist, not a media guru, so his advice for improving mind reading emphasizes avoiding the usual mistakes. Oprah would not perk up. Epley ably explores many entertaining and entirely convincing mistakes, so readers will have a thoroughly satisfying experience.

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February 1, 2014
Despite its brand-name-sounding title (used only in the four-page afterword), Epley hasn't created a slick, marketable method. And this book isn't pop psychology but popularly written, genuine behavioral psychology, based on the findings of carefully constructed experiments. Its subject is the so-called sixth sense, by which humans descry what others feel, think, and know, and which we variously call intuition, sympathy, and mind reading. The experiments Epley describes verify its reality and, more important, that it isn't nearly as reliable as we assume; indeed, it's only modestly better than chance at rightly ascertaining particulars (e.g., opinions, preferences, details), even those of spouses, family members, and bosom friends. A number of attitudes get in the way of accurate mind reading, including egocentrism, anthropomorphism, and dehumanization. Proceeding from research findings, Epley analyzes those impediments before turning to the means for improving the sixth sense, which turns out to be asking questions of those we are trying to read. Furthermore, Epley enjoins, the right kind of questions will ask what rather than why. Unexciting? Useful!(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)