Drunk Tank Pink: And Other Unexpected Forces That Shape How We Think, Feel, and Behave

This book's intriguing and unusual title is a good indication of what's to come. In the book, Alter mixes unusual, amusing anecdotes with plenty of sound social science to help readers understand the unexpected ways in which our minds, relationships, and environments influence our perceptions and decisions--the topics covered are as diverse as how people's names influence their lives, how the weather influences everything from our investment decisions to our love lives, and what factors make us more or less likely to come to the aid of others. The book is very well-written--understandable to the lay reader but with a firm foundation in psychological literature. It's by turns humorous and insightful, two very different tones which Alter pulls off with equal skill. I particularly liked the way the book was structured, with its three sections detailing the different types of influences Alter wanted to focus on (internal, interpersonal, and environmental) and good setups for the next chapter or section at the end of each chapter. I think this book would be a particularly interesting read given the overwhelming emphasis in modern Western culture on individuality, fulfilling your own individual desires, and the like. We're trained to think that, to paraphrase David Foster Wallace we're all "lords of our own skull-sized kingdoms," but this book clearly illustrates that our dictatorship is not as complete as we might think, because of the myriad subtle ways in which we can be unconsciously swayed by factors within and outside of ourselves. However, the book puts a positive spin on this potentially upsetting news, mostly focusing on what these various (sometimes very surprising) influences can teach us about how the mind works. And I think that's a worthwhile endeavor, even (and perhaps especially) if it disabuses us of some of our comfortable notions about how in control of our decisions we really are.

Whatever this universal slogan means (from clothing apparel, musical group, or anti breast cancer movement), it can be applied also to this delightful book by NYU Psychologyst Adam Alter. Basically cognitive psychology tells us that the content of our thoughts is important yes, but not as important as the way we live and perceive this content. Alter turns the question around and shows us with many examples, more or less scientific, how contexts, colors, images, (he calls them forces and divides them in those present the world inside us, in the world between us, and in the world around us) influence our actions. To say it more clearly actions in themselves, the content of our behavior, are influenced in such a way by external situations that we should ask ourselves if our decisions are really “ours”. Few examples for all: pink paint on walls sedates drunkards and criminals, summer months witness more revolutions and crimes due to greater aggressiveness, behaving like someone makes you actually believe you are that someone, situations of disfluency generate better concentration and results. But aside from these well known truths Alter puts together a plethora of information that barely escape quirkology, but that is very entertaining to read and he also romps through the recent story of psychology to extract characters and episodes that give strength to his message. We get to know Maslow’s hierarchy, Lorenz’s butterfly effect and many others.The book has a solid scientific approach, even though methodology is not specifically addressed and some case studies are a little bit too stretched to demonstrate what is actually affirmed. Another observation that comes from reading is that the Author is young and he is lacking still a cultural context that could guarantee a wider credibility and many cross cultural ties. At one point he gives an interpretation of Christianity which is completely out of focus demonstrating he does not know the cultural basis on which our civilization is founded.Every book has light and shadows, like every human being. This book is fun to read, instructive, gives a true outlook at what psychology is studying today and how our mind and actions are deeply influenced by contexts and frameworks. Only a word of caution, not all deductions are always true.Anyway probably if we think pink, the world will go better and we will be happier, by reflex!

In "Drunk Tank Pink", Mr. Alter describes a world where each day, we participate in a multitude of tiny interactions with unexpected forces that influence how we act and how we are perceived. In one of my favorite examples from the book, he describes an experiment where participants watched a video of a series of car accidents. Following each video, the viewers were asked to estimate how fast the cars were traveling before the accident. Each person viewed the same video, but were asked about the speed of the cars using slightly different language: some were asked how fast the cars were going when they "smashed" each other while others were asked how fast the cars were going when they "collided", "bumped", "hit" or "contacted" each other. The study showed that viewers estimated the cars' speed to be 40.5 mph when they "smashed" vs. 31.8 mph when they "contacted" (with other responses varying in between).The book is filled with descriptions of experiments like this that show over and over again how we are unaware of the different forces that influence our behaviors. The first success of the book is that the author draws from such a vast breadth of knowledge that he is able to describe so many experiments so clearly, and organize them in such an interesting framework. The second success of the book is that it's not afraid to discuss the implications of these results. If "unexpected forces" influence our behavior in so many aspects of our lives, what is our core identity that exists outside of these influences? How much do these forces and our reactions to them determine what we think of as the differences between "you" and "me"? While reading the book, I got the sense that the evidence presented is only the tip of the iceberg in beginning to understand these problems.I will continue to revisit Drunk Tank Pink, not only for the fascinating experiments it describes but for the thought-provoking (and somewhat insidious) implications of those experiments.

If you enjoy books into everyday psychology like thinking fast and slow you will enjoy this book too. The author moves from idea to idea but also sticks to science. There is an array of amazingly well conceived experiments detailed in the book.Our mental framework, our surroundings, the colours we see do not determine everything but they are cues to our minds which do impact our everyday behavior in subtle but fascinating ways.

La carátula del libro venía un poco maltratada y sucia y era para un regalo, tuve que entregarlo así :(

I really loved reading this book. It was very interesting and informative.The only problem I had is memorizing everything, so I'm going to read it again. :)Very good structure through out the book and definitley a lot of interesting stuff!

There are an increasing number of books dealing with the unconscious side of the human mind. Freud was wrong about the details, but his emphasis on the importance of the unconscious was not. Books like  Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking  or  Thinking, Fast and Slow  have detailed how the human mind is deeply influenced by unconscious processes. Drunk Tank Pink continues this trend as it focuses on how environmental cues influence and shape our behavior. There are three main sections to the book: symbols, social, and environment. Symbols focuses on how symbols influence our behavior (e.g., the power of the Swastika to evoke emotional responses) as well as how names can shape our destiny (e.g., familiar names or European names trump complex or African names in the job market). Social focuses on how we are influenced by culture and by social groups (e.g., Asch's studies on conformity). Environment focuses on how our physical environment influences us, including colors (e.g., black can help and hurt athletes in competitive sports). Of course, the book also discusses how a certain color of pink is believed to reduce aggression.The book is easy to read and accessible to researchers as well as to the average reader. For those familiar with the area, much of it will be familiar territory but there's still enough here to probably surprise even jaded researchers. I was quite surprised about the name data personally, as well as how dramatic the effects of seeing a park outside a hospital window can be (vs. a brick wall). Increasingly, psychology is revealing that not only do we have great and powerful conscious minds, but he also have a vast array of unconscious thoughts, drives, and influences that have the potential to shape our behavior as much or sometimes even more than our conscious minds. Ultimately, I hope that one day kids are taught some of these facts as part of basic curriculum because it's important to learn how we can be influenced unconsciously (e.g., in political campaigns). I think it would be really cool if one day we could have an "owner's manual" for the human brain that reveals not just what we're good at, but what we are vulnerable too, as well as how to maximize our potential thinking power and happiness. Drunk Tank Pink is not that book, but it's a good step in that direction. Five stars. Blink: The Power of Thinking Without ThinkingThinking, Fast and Slow

Comment notre cerveau se fait-il manipuler ? Comment notre environnement, les couleurs, les bruits, les noms, les mots modifient-ils notre manière de penser ? Des expériences simples et rigoureusement menées permettent de briser certaines idées bien ancrées. Fascinant.