Dr. Tali Sharot
About Dr. Tali Sharot
“Everything went very well, especially considering the quick pivot to virtual. The team enjoyed Tali's keynote and breaking into groups to discuss the takeaways from her slides. ”
Speech topics
Mental Time Travel: optimism, imagination, and how thinking about the future alters the present
As our world is rapidly changing, companies and governments are occupied with the question of what the future holds. Imagining the future is a marvellous ability that can foster creativity and innovation. But our capacity to think about the future is also constrained - by the past, by what we hope will be true and by our current beliefs. In this talk, Sharot shares what science tells us about the human ability for “mental time travel”; how we can use this skill to our advantage avoiding poor planning and systematic mispredictions. Sharot builds on her pioneering discoveries in this area, described in her book ‘The Optimism Bias’, to explain how we can better prepare for, and shape, the future, today.
Speaking videos
Books by Dr. Tali Sharot
“The Influential Mind: What the Brain Reveals About Our Power to Change Others” (2017)
A cutting-edge, research-based inquiry into how we influence those around us and how understanding the brain can help us change minds for the better.In The Influential Mind, neuroscientist Tali Sharot takes us on a thrilling exploration of the nature of influence. We all have a duty to affect others―from the classroom to the boardroom to social media. But how skilled are we at this role, and can we become better? It turns out that many of our instincts―from relying on facts and figures to shape opinions, to insisting others are wrong or attempting to exert control―are ineffective, because they are incompatible with how people’s minds operate. Sharot shows us how to avoid these pitfalls, and how an attempt to change beliefs and actions is successful when it is well-matched with the core elements that govern the human brain. Sharot reveals the critical role of emotion in influence, the weakness of data and the power of curiosity. Relying on the latest research in neuroscience, behavioral economics and psychology, the book provides fascinating insight into the complex power of influence, good and bad.
“The Science of Optimism: Why We're Hard-Wired for Hope” (2012)
We all like to think of ourselves as rational creatures who smartly prepare for the worst. We watch our backs, weigh the odds, and pack an umbrella when the skies look threatening. But although we take such sensible precautions, we generally expect things to turn out pretty well — often better than they usually do. This belief that the future will probably be much better than the past and present is known as the optimism bias, and most of us have it. Why? Tali Sharot's 'The Science of Optimism' delves into the biological reaction as to why we are hard-wired for hope, exploring the advantages (and disadvantages) of our optimistic nature, as well as what makes people content and why. She delves into fresh research that explores the part of the brain where optimism lives, providing fresh and surprising biological and cultural reasons as to why we all generally expect sunny skies ahead.
“The Optimism Bias: A Tour of the Irrationally Positive Brain” (2012)
Psychologists have long been aware that most people maintain an irrationally positive outlook on life—but why? Turns out, we might be hardwired that way. In this absorbing exploration, Tali Sharot—one of the most innovative neuroscientists at work today—demonstrates that optimism may be crucial to human existence. The Optimism Bias explores how the brain generates hope and what happens when it fails; how the brains of optimists and pessimists differ; why we are terrible at predicting what will make us happy; how emotions strengthen our ability to recollect; how anticipation and dread affect us; how our optimistic illusions affect our financial, professional, and emotional decisions; and more. Drawing on cutting-edge science, The Optimism Bias provides us with startling new insight into the workings of the brain and the major role that optimism plays in determining how we live our lives.
At a glanceDr. Tali Sharot
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