Tali Sharot
Cognitive neuroscientist and author; professor of cognitive neuroscience at University College London and director of the Affective Brain Lab, known for research on decision-making, emotion, and the optimism bias, and for books such as The Optimism Bias and The Influential Mind.
Books
This list of books are ONLY the books that have been ranked on the lists that are aggregated on this site. This is not a comprehensive list of all books by this author.
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1. Look Again
A behavioral science exploration of how our minds quickly habituate to the familiar—dulling joy, attention, and judgment—and how to counter it by injecting novelty, surprise, pauses, and contrast. Blending research with examples, it offers practical strategies for individuals, workplaces, and policymakers to keep what matters salient: vary routines, rotate rewards, refresh warnings and communications, design resets and defaults, and space pleasures, thereby improving decisions, relationships, health, and satisfaction while avoiding the normalization of risks.
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2. Influential Mind
What the Brain Reveals About Our Power to Change Others
A science-based guide to persuasion that explains why facts alone rarely change minds and how influence works best when messages align with prior beliefs, evoke emotion, offer immediate incentives, and preserve a sense of agency. Drawing on behavioral and neuroscience research, it shows how fear can backfire, curiosity and uncertainty fuel learning, and social norms and trusted messengers shape decisions. With practical examples, it highlights how timing, framing, and storytelling help us communicate more effectively by working with the brain’s biases and motivations rather than against them.
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3. The Influential Mind
What the Brain Reveals About Our Power to Change Others
Combining insights from neuroscience and behavioral research, the book explains why facts alone rarely change minds and shows that influence depends on capturing attention, aligning with people’s motivations and identity, and engaging emotion and social cues. It describes cognitive biases that make people resistant to contrary information and argues that reducing threat, appealing to incentives, using narratives and social proof, and encouraging small, nonconfrontational steps are more effective ways to produce lasting change.
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