Synopses & Reviews
Every day we make predictions based on limited information, in business and at home. Will this companys stock performance continue? Will the job candidate I just interviewed be a good employee? What kind of adult will my child grow up to be? We tend to dismiss our predictive minds as prone to bias and mistakes, but in
The Tell, psychologist Matthew Hertenstein reveals that our intuition is surprisingly good at using small clues to make big predictions, and shows how we can make better decisions by homing in on the right details.
Just as expert poker players use their opponents tells to see through their bluffs, Hertenstein shows that we can likewise train ourselves to read physical cues to significantly increase our predictive acumen. By looking for certain clues, we can accurately call everything from election results to the likelihood of marital success, IQ scores to sexual orientationeven from flimsy evidence, such as an old yearbook photo or a silent one-minute video. Moreover, by understanding how people read our body language, we can adjust our own behavior so as to ace our next job interview or tip the dating scales in our favor.
Drawing on rigorous research in psychology and brain science, Hertenstein shows us how to hone our powers of observation to increase our predictive capacities. A charming testament to the power of the human mind, The Tell will, to paraphrase Sherlock Holmes, show us how to notice what we see.
Review
Prepare to be amazed. Psychologist Matthew Hertenstein reveals stunning discoveries of how mere glimpses of behaviorinfant reactivity, portrait smiles, physical energy, facial width and symmetry, height, nonverbal microbehaviors, and morecan foretell ones future personality, risk of divorce, sexual orientation, longevity, income, psychopathology, lies, and success. The grand result: a science of people prediction, or (dare I say) a scientific basis for some authentic fortune telling.”
David G. Myers, Professor of Psychology, Hope College, and author of Intuition: Its Powers and PerilsReview
"An enjoyable read, particularly for nonspecialists; researchers who aspire to write for a popular audience can learn from the authors confident and informative writing style.”
CHOICE
[W]ritten in a style that could have appeared in an article in The New York Times Magazine.... The Tell is both entertaining and fascinating, full of interesting information about human beings and their behavior.”
PsycCRITIQUES
Verdict: Extremely relatable to the lay reader while still accessing an incredible amount of peer-reviewed scholarship, Hertenstein's work is perhaps the most comprehensive explanation of the correlation of nonverbal communication to genetics and behavior available today. Despite its nonacademic tone, this book has much to teach any reader.”
Library Journal Review (Starred Review)
An entertaining look at our oft-maligned intuitive capabilities, offering useful tips on how we may sharpen our powers of observation and increase the accuracy of our predictions.”
Kirkus Reviews
Fascinating.... The Tell succeeds as an engaging tour through current work in the science of behavior by a young psychologist who has the makings of a leading contributor to his field.”
Shelf Awareness
The Tell is highly recommended.”
Style Magazine
Entertaining…in the Malcolm Gladwell-ian tradition.”
Greater Good: The Science of a Meaningful Life
Those curious to learn about the powers of observation and the unconscious mind should definitely put this book on their to-read list.”
Quick Book Reviews
Lively and engaging.... Hertenstein offers much material to ponder and suggests that we embrace the power of these tools for helping us predict behavior.”
Publishers Weekly
The human brain, some have said, is a prediction machine. Sometimes our forecasts go awry, of course. But often our astonishing ability to predict helps us navigate our complex physical, social, and emotional environments. In this fascinating book, Matthew Hertenstein unpacks the secrets of our predictive abilities and shows how we can hone those abilities to become better judges of people and situations. The Tell is one of the years essential reads.”
Daniel H. Pink, author of To Sell Is Human, Drive, and A Whole New Mind
Some of the most important decisions you make in life could be improved by taking advantage of the information contained in the hidden clues that, unknown to you, surround you every day. In this lively and informative book, Matthew Hertenstein will show you how to find those clues and use them to improve your understanding of the world around you.”
Sam Gosling, author of Snoop: What Your Stuff Says About You
Prepare to be amazed. Psychologist Matthew Hertenstein reveals stunning discoveries of how mere glimpses of behaviorinfant reactivity, portrait smiles, physical energy, facial width and symmetry, height, nonverbal microbehaviors, and morecan foretell ones future personality, risk of divorce, sexual orientation, longevity, income, psychopathology, lies, and success. The grand result: a science of people prediction, or (dare I say) a scientific basis for some authentic fortune telling.”
David G. Myers, Professor of Psychology, Hope College, and author of Intuition: Its Powers and Perils
Synopsis
What does a yearbook photo have to do with future marital success? Can the CEOs appearance tell you anything about a companys quarterly earnings? In The Tell, psychologist Matthew Hertenstein reveals that our intuition is surprisingly good at using small clues to make big predictions, and shows how we can make better decisions by homing in on the right details. Drawing on rigorous research in psychology and brain science, Hertenstein explains how to hone our powers of observation to increase our predictive capacities. By training ourselves to read facial and bodily cues, we can accurately predict everything from divorce rates to sexual preferences, election results to the likelihood of corporate success. A charming testament to the power of the human mind, The Tell will, to paraphrase Sherlock Holmes, show us how to notice what we see.
Video
About the Author
Matthew Hertenstein is an associate professor of psychology at DePauw University in Indiana. He received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, and his work on non-verbal communication has been featured on national and international television and radio, including the
Today Show, ABC News, NPR, and the BBC, and in newspapers and magazines including the
New York Times,
San Francisco Chronicle,
Cosmopolitan,
Allure,
Esquire, Prevention,
The Economist,
Psychology Today,
Scientific American Mind, and
The Guardian (UK).
Table of Contents
I. IN THE BEGINNING1. Primitive Predictions
2. The Genes in All of Us
3. Strange Situations: Growing up in a Thin-Sliced World
II. HOW WE SIZE UP OTHERS
4. Who Are You Anyway?
5. The Targets of Our Attraction
III. LOVE AND LIES
6. From Dating to Mating
7. Detecting Deception
IV. MAKING THE GRADE: EDUCATION, BUSINESS, AND POLITICS
8. The Power of Enthusiasm
9. Catching the Cues of the Cash Cow
10. Political Punditry: Any Kid Can Do It
Conclusion: The Importance of Predictive Humility