June Read/3

Title: The Tell: The Little Clues That Reveal Big Truths About Who We Are

Author: Hertenstein, Matthew

Call Number: 153.69 H573T 2013

Subjects: Human Behavior; Body Language; Forecasting-Psychological Aspects

Number of Pages: 268

ISBN: 9780465031658

Book Description (from the flap):

            Every day we make predictions based on limited information, in business and at home. Will this company’s 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 mistake, 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 orientation-even 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 homes, show us how to notice what we see.

My Read:           

     I found chapter 10: Political Punditry: Any Kid Can Do It to be the most interesting chapter in the book. In this chapter not only did I read, the first time, the letter written to A B Lincoln by the little eleven-year-old Grace Bedell but also the reply to this little girl by the 16^th president, Abraham Lincoln. There might not be any conclusive evidence to reveal if the change of his appearance did have influence or impact on his electoral victory. But the effect and dramatic transformation of the facial change were pretty obvious to the public.

          

            There are some interesting and/or helpful points and concepts made by the author. Here are some I could recall:

- Chapter six: From Dating to Mating:

Seeing men: Both men and women prefer symmetrical faces and bodies over their lopsided counterparts for two reasons: good genes and good health-page 88 Women prefer the smell of T-shirts worn by symmetrical men-page 109

Seeing women: Many women widely deemed beautiful have waist-to-hip ratios hovering around 0.7 or less.

Relationship: Emotional and verbal expressions of contempt are particularly corrosive to relationship-page 104. The golden ratio for marital bliss seems to be 5:1-five positive statements to every negative one-whereas the toxic ratio for marital dissolution is about 1:1-page 105

-Chapter Four: Who Are You Anyway:

Three clues not only drive people’s perceptions of intelligence but provide clues to our actual mental chops: eye gaze, vocal qualities, and level of attractiveness-page 57

-Chapter Eight: The Power of Enthusiasm

By merely behaving more enthusiastically, a professor can not only raise student evaluations of his teaching but also improve the quality of the course textbook-page 140 This is good news to me for it seems being enthusiastic is contagious.

Chapter Seven: Detecting Deception

The clues to use: microexpressions, reliable muscles(surrounding the eyes), squelched expressions(the expressions are less complete meaning they last longer than microexpressions therefore making them more identifiable), lopsided facial display(asymmetrical smile or expression), timing of the emotional display, the eyes, the voice, and the relationship between facial displays and other behaviors-page 111-126

Chapter Two: The Genes in All of Us

The amygdala held the key to the difference between timid and bold children-page 23

The brain is much more malleable than once thought, and intervening to prevent the onset of autism or socializing an anxious child to handle the world more adaptively may have a powerful effect on how an individual turns out-page 25

The last point reinforces the points I have learned from another book about the brain and its growing capability in a lifetime. The brain is an ever growing organism which implies that everyone has every chance and opportunity to develop and grow into his/her greatness in this life. Failure once or many times doesn’t mean one can’t live to his/her fullness; there is always next try and next handy happier and more successful life waits at the end of the tunnel.

Go, and never give up too soon!

Reference:

Truth Wizard-http://www.eyesforlies.com/

The letter from Grace Bedell to the 16^th president, Hon A B Lincoln

NY
Westfield Chatauque CO
Oct. 15, 1860
Hon A B Lincoln
Dear Sir:
My father has just home from the fair and brought home your picture and Mr. Hamlin's. I am a little girl only eleven years old, but what you should be President of the United States very much so I hope you won't think me very bold to write to, such a great man as you are. Have you any little girls about as large as I am if so give them my love and tell her to write to me if you cannot answer this letter I have got 4 brothers and part of them will vote for you any way, and if you will let your whiskers grow I will try and get the rest of them to vote for you you would look a great deal better for you face is so thin All the ladies like whiskers and they would tease their husbands to vote for you and then you would be President. My father is going to vote for you and if I was a man I would vote for you you to but I will try and get every one to vote for you that i can I think that rail fence around your picture makes it look very pretty I have got a little baby sister she is nine weeks old and is just as cunning as can be When you direct your letter direct to Grace Bedell westfield Chatauqaue county Net York
I must not write any more answer this letter right off Good bye
Grace Bedell

The letter from the 16^th president, Hon A B Lincoln to the little girl, Grace Bedell

Springfield, Ill, Oct. 19, 1860

Miss Grace Bedell

My dear little Miss

Your very agreeable letter of the 15th is received.

I regret the necessity of saying I have no daughters. I have three sons-one seventeen, one nine, and one seven, years of age. They,

with their mother, constitute my whole family.

As to the whiskers, having never worn any, do you not think people would call it a piece of silly affection if I were to begin it now?

Your very sincere well wisher

A. Lincoln