The Invisible Gorilla: And Other Ways Our Intuition Deceives Us - Hardcover

Chabris, Christopher; Simons, Daniel

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0007317298 ISBN 13: 9780007317295

Publisher: HarperCollins, 2010

Synopsis

If a gorilla walked out into the middle of a basketball pitch, you’d notice it. Wouldn’t you? If a serious violent crime took place just next to you, you’d remember it, right? The Invisible Gorilla is a fascinating look at the unbelievable, yet routine tricks that your brain plays on you.

In an award-winning and groundbreaking study, psychologists Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons asked volunteers to watch a 60-second film of a group of students playing basketball and told them to count the number of passes made. About halfway through, a woman dressed head to toe in a gorilla outfit slowly moved to centre screen, beat her chest at the camera, and casually strolled away. Unbelievably, almost half of the volunteers missed the gorilla.

As this astonishing and utterly unique new book demonstrates, exactly the same kind of mental illusion that causes people to miss the gorilla can also explain why many other things, including why:

· honest eyewitness testimony can convict innocent defendants

· expert money managers suddenly lose billions

· Homer Simpson has much to teach you about clear thinking

Insightful, witty, and fascinating, The Invisible Gorilla closely examines the false impressions that most profoundly influence our lives and gives practical advice on how we can minimize their negative impact.

About this title

Review:

"Entertaining and illuminating"
Dan Ariely, New York Times bestselling author of Predictably Irrational

"A riveting romp across the landscape of our psychological misperceptions."
Nicholas A. Christakis, Professor, Harvard Medical School

"This book will delight all who seek depth and insight into the wonder and complexities of cognition"
Jerome Groopman, Recanati Professor, Harvard Medical School

"breathtaking and insightful"
Richard Wiseman, author of Quirkology

"Like its authors, the book is both funny and smart"
Joseph T. Hallinan, Pulitzer Prize winning author of Why We Make Mistakes

"incredibly engaging...a must-read"
Elizabeth Loftus, author of Memory and Eyewitness Testimony

"engaging, accurate and packed with real-world examples - some of which made me laugh out loud"
Sandra Aamodt, co-author of Welcome To Your Brain

"not just witty and engaging, but also insightful"
Thomas W. Malone, author of The Future of Work and founder of the MIT Center for Collective Intelligence

"The Invisible Gorilla should be required reading by every judge and jury member in our criminal justice system, along with every battlefield commander, corporate CEO, and, well, you and I"
Michael Shermer, Publisher of Skeptic magazine and author of Why People Believe Weird Things

"Clever, illuminating, by turns shocking and delightful, this book will change a lot of your bad habits and could even save your life"
Margaret Heffernan, CEO and author of Women on Top

About the Author:

Christopher F. Chabris and Daniel J. Simons won the 2004 Ig Nobel Prize in Psychology for Gorillas in Our Midst. Chabris is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at Union College in New York. He was formerly a Lecturer and Research Associate in the Psychology Department at Harvard. Simons is a Professor Department of Psychology and the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at the University of Illinois. Both authors have had research published in top scientific journals with extensive media coverage worldwide.

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0007317298
• ISBN 13: 9780007317295
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 320