Situations Matter
Understanding How Context Transforms Your World
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Narrated by:
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Joshua Swanson
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By:
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Sam Sommers
About this listen
An entertaining and engaging exploration of the invisible forces influencing your life - and how understanding them can improve everything you do.
The world around you is pulling your strings, shaping your innermost instincts and your most private thoughts. And you don't even realize it. Every day and in all walks of life, we overlook the enormous power of situations, of context in our lives. That's a mistake, says Sam Sommers in his provocative new book. Just as a museum visitor neglects to notice the frames around paintings, so do people miss the influence of ordinary situations on the way they think and act. But frames - situations - do matter. Your experience viewing the paintings wouldn't be the same without them. The same is true for human nature.
In Situations Matter, Sommers argues that by understanding the powerful influence that context has in our lives and using this knowledge to rethink how we see the world, we can be more effective at work, at home, and in daily interactions with others. He describes the pitfalls to avoid and offers insights into making better decisions and smarter observations about the world around us.
©2011 Sam Sommers (P)2011 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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- By A. Yoshida on 02-08-14
By: David McRaney
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Sway
- The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior
- By: Rom Brafman, Ori Brafman
- Narrated by: John Apicella
- Length: 4 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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A Harvard Business School student pays over $200 for a $20 bill. Washington, D.C., commuters ignore a free subway concert by a violin prodigy. A veteran airline pilot attempts to take off without control-tower clearance and collides with another plane on the runway. Why do we do the wildly irrational things we sometimes do?
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Disappointing book
- By Martin Proulx on 12-10-08
By: Rom Brafman, and others
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The Secret Life of Pronouns
- What Our Words Say About Us
- By: James W. Pennebaker
- Narrated by: Robert Fass
- Length: 9 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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We spend our lives communicating. In the last 50 years, we've zoomed through radically different forms of communication, from typewriters to tablet computers, text messages to tweets. We generate more and more words with each passing day. Hiding in that deluge of language are amazing insights into who we are, how we think, and what we feel.
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Sticks and Stones and Words Can Really Help You
- By Lynn on 09-24-12
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The Upside of Your Dark Side
- Why Being Your Whole Self - Not Just Your "Good" Self - Drives Success and Fulfillment
- By: Todd Kashdan, Robert Biswas-Diener
- Narrated by: Jeff Cummings
- Length: 8 hrs
- Unabridged
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In The Upside of Your Dark Side, two pioneering researchers in the field of psychology show that while mindfulness, kindness, and positivity can take us far, they cannot take us all the way. Sometimes, they can even hold us back. Emotions like anger, anxiety, or doubt might be uncomfortable, but it turns out that they are also incredibly useful.
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Boring and learned nothing
- By Taryn on 07-25-16
By: Todd Kashdan, and others
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Whistling Vivaldi
- How Stereotypes Affect Us and What We Can Do
- By: Claude M. Steele
- Narrated by: DeMario Clarke
- Length: 6 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Claude M. Steele, who has been called “one of the few great social psychologists,” offers a vivid first-person account of the research that supports his groundbreaking conclusions on stereotypes and identity. He sheds new light on American social phenomena from racial and gender gaps in test scores to the belief in the superior athletic prowess of black men, and lays out a plan for mitigating these “stereotype threats” and reshaping American identities.
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Surprising, in a good way
- By Michael on 09-25-20
By: Claude M. Steele
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The Upside of Irrationality
- The Unexpected Benefits of Defying Logic at Work and at Home
- By: Dan Ariely
- Narrated by: Simon Jones
- Length: 8 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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In his groundbreaking book Predictably Irrational, social scientist Dan Ariely revealed the multiple biases that lead us into making unwise decisions. Now, in The Upside of Irrationality, he exposes the surprising negative and positive effects irrationality can have on our lives. Focusing on our behaviors at work and in relationships, he offers new insights and eye-opening truths about what really motivates us on the job.
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Not as good as the first
- By Stephen on 06-20-10
By: Dan Ariely
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The 7 Laws of Magical Thinking
- How Irrational Beliefs Keep Us Happy, Healthy, and Sane
- By: Matthew Hutson
- Narrated by: Matthew Hutson, Don Hagen
- Length: 9 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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In this witty and perceptive debut, a former editor at Psychology Today shows us how magical thinking makes life worth living. Psychologists have documented a litany of cognitive biases and explained their positive functions. Now, Matthew Hutson shows us that even the most hardcore skeptic indulges in magical thinking all the time - and it's crucial to our survival. Drawing on evolution, cognitive science, and neuroscience, Hutson shows us that magical thinking has been so useful to us that it's hardwired into our brains.
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Highly enjoyable
- By David R Pinsof on 05-01-12
By: Matthew Hutson
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Friend and Foe
- When to Cooperate, When to Compete, and How to Succeed at Both
- By: Adam D. Galinsky, Maurice E. Schweitzer
- Narrated by: Tom Perkins
- Length: 9 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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In Friend and Foe, researchers Galinsky and Schweitzer explain why this debate misses the mark. Rather than being hardwired to compete or cooperate, humans have evolved to do both. It is only by learning how to strike the right balance between these two forces that we can improve our long-term relationships and get more of what we want.
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Unexpected
- By Garron Rose on 01-05-16
By: Adam D. Galinsky, and others
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Ha!
- The Science of When We Laugh and Why
- By: Scott Weems
- Narrated by: Kalen Allmandinger
- Length: 7 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Humor, like pornography, is famously difficult to define. We know it when we see it, but is there a way to figure out what we really find funnyand why? In this fascinating investigation into the science of humor and laughter, cognitive neuroscientist Scott Weems uncovers what’s happening in our heads when we giggle, guffaw, or double over with laughter. While we typically think of humor in terms of jokes or comic timing, in Ha! Weems proposes a provocative new model.
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Good place to start in the study of humor
- By Amazon Customer on 05-26-17
By: Scott Weems
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The Science of Happily Ever After
- What Really Matters in the Quest for Enduring Love
- By: Ty Tashiro
- Narrated by: Chris Chappell
- Length: 7 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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In this playful and informative exploration of the science behind how to choose a great mate, acclaimed relationship psychologist Dr. Ty Tashiro explores how to find enduring love. Dr. Tashiro translates reams of scientific studies and research data into the first audiobook to revolutionize the way we search for love. His research pinpoints why our decision-making abilities seem to fail when it comes to choosing mates and how we can make smarter choices.
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Simplistic advice...
- By R. Steiner on 02-14-17
By: Ty Tashiro
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Bozo Sapiens
- Why to Err Is Human
- By: Michael Kaplan, Ellen Kaplan
- Narrated by: Victor Bevine
- Length: 9 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Our species, it appears, is hardwired to get things wrong in myriad different ways. Why did recipients of a loan offer accept a higher rate of interest when a pretty woman's face was printed on the flyer? Why did one poll on immigration find the most despised aliens were ones from a group that did not exist? What made four of the Air Force's best pilots fly their planes, in formation, straight into the ground?
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A tour de force
- By Ivan on 07-05-11
By: Michael Kaplan, and others
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Oddly Normal
- One Family's Struggle to Help Their Teenage Son Come to Terms with His Sexuality
- By: John Schwartz
- Narrated by: John Schwartz, Joseph Schwartz
- Length: 6 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Three years ago, John Schwartz, a national correspondent for the New York Times, got the call that every parent hopes never to receive: His 13-year-old son, Joe, was in the hospital following a suicide attempt. Mustering the courage to come out to his classmates, Joe had delivered a tirade about homophobic and sexist attitudes that was greeted with unease and confusion by his fellow students. Hours later, he took an overdose of pills.
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The Effect of Parental Caring
- By Wiliam on 01-16-13
By: John Schwartz
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High Price
- A Neuroscientist's Journey of Self-Discovery That Challenges Everything You Know About Drugs and Society
- By: Carl Hart
- Narrated by: J.D. Jackson
- Length: 11 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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A pioneering neuroscientist shares his story of growing up in one of Miami's toughest neighborhoods and how it led him to his groundbreaking work in drug addiction. As a youth, Carl Hart didn't realize the value of school; he studied just enough to stay on the basketball team. At the same time, he was immersed in street life. Today he is a cutting-edge neuroscientist - Columbia University's first tenured African American professor in the sciences.
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Outstanding!
- By DaWoolf on 04-01-14
By: Carl Hart
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The Attachment Effect
- Exploring the Powerful Ways Our Earliest Bond Shapes Our Relationships and Lives
- By: Peter Lovenheim
- Narrated by: Graham Winton
- Length: 8 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Attachment theory is having a moment. Recently covered in the New York Times Magazine, New York magazine, and elsewhere, it's also the subject of popular relationship guides. Why is this 60-year-old theory, widely accepted in psychological circles, suddenly in vogue? Because people are discovering how powerfully it sheds light on who we love - and how. Fascinated by the subject, award-winning journalist and author Peter Lovenheim went on a years-long journey to understand it from the inside out.
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Failed to Attach
- By Danielle SeCheverell on 07-21-20
By: Peter Lovenheim
What listeners say about Situations Matter
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- ryan balisacan
- 02-10-17
insightful and enjoyable.
lots of case studies and applications. the author's tone is accessible and not very academic.
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- Joshua Kim
- 05-01-12
Operationalizing 'Situations Matter'
Good on Sam Sommers, Tufts University psychology professor and blogger for the Huffington Post and Psychology Today.
Sam has written a terrific book in Situations Matter, one that will make you re-think how you think about your colleagues, your students, and even perhaps airline employees. His main theme, that people's behavior is always context dependent and that we overemphasize innate personality, seems blindingly obvious. But as with many things, when our actual behaviors are closely examined (as opposed to how we report how we behave), it become clear that our true actions are wildly divergent from our self-perceptions.
Turns out, we predictably and consistently make the mistake of overvaluing personality based explanations and underestimating situational reasons for behaviors. This flaw in our thinking is known as the fundamental attribution error, and none of us are immune.
Situations Matter takes us on a tour of the social psychology literature around this fundamental attribution error, with Dr. Sommers guiding us through the academic literature via some amusing storytelling (which often hinge on Dr. Sommers' own mistakes). This is definitely in the genre of pop-academic writing, accessible to a wide and general audience. But Situations Matter is also a book that undergrad psych students would learn a great deal from. One gets the sense that Sam Sommers is a wonderful teacher, in addition to being an engaging writer and an accomplished researcher - the sort of professor that we'd all like to have at our institutions.
Where Situations Matter was immediately helpful to me has been in thinking about job recruiting and project management. I am working hard to remember the lessons of Situations Matter and to think about the actions and behaviors of the people I work with (and might work with in the future) as explained by the context in which they work. In practice, this involves working to withhold initial judgements and being willing to ask many questions (and really listen) to understand the environment and constraints in which my colleagues (and job applicants) navigate.
Reading Situations Matter helped me understand not only the degree to which we make the error of discounting context, but the reasons behind our errors in judgment. This knowledge is very helpful in my own efforts to evolve my behaviors. This book has real practical value.
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5 people found this helpful
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- Shauna
- 01-28-13
Food for thought . . .
What made the experience of listening to Situations Matter the most enjoyable?
The actual content is remarkable. The more I listened the more I learned about things that I don't ever pay attention to, but should. The narrator did a great job, reading clearly, with great range of tone. Excellent!
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- Lord Emsworth
- 05-27-16
Fascinating, butoversold
Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?
I enjoyed it. I have always been interested in the Fundamental Attribution Error - or put differently, how people behave in given situations.
If you’ve listened to books by Sam Sommers before, how does this one compare?
NA
What does Joshua Swanson bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
NA
Do you think Situations Matter needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?
NA
Any additional comments?
While fascinating, I think he goes overboard on his theme. For example, his analysis of the Katie Genovese murder is based on the initial, incorrect press reports. It doesnt undercut the bystander effect, but does show he's focused on his thesis to the exclusion of other explanations.
A similar example of his explanations of gender differences. I have no doubt that stereotype threat is a significant issue for women. But his insistence that toys and color preferences are the result of socialization and preferences is an annoyingly grinding chapter where he tries to force his round peg into a square hole.
The analysis of race relations, bystander effects, feedback loops, expectations, etc., on the other hand, were fascinating. I was familiar with many of the studies from other audible books I have listened to. But he brought interesting insights into familiar contexts.
The final chapter - how his road rage changes when he understands what is going on with the other driver - is wonderful.
To me, it just shows he has plenty of interesting material to share. He should prune back those instances where he stretches his thesis to breaking point.
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- Lynn
- 07-15-12
Light Informative Read
In ‘Situations Matter: Understanding How Context Transforms Your World,’ Sam Sommers reveals how circumstance alters our perceptions and decision-making. For example, we tend to naively accept what we see and experience without critical thought (WYSIWYG). Crowds influence how we approach issues and gender makes a difference in how we see the world. We tend to marry those we date – geographic proximity is an important determinant of who we like. Some of what Sommers tells us is routine and obvious. Other insights are not so predictable. Every chapter, however, will cause the reader to stop and think about situational factors in day-to-day living. The narration of Joshua Swanson is good.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Silver cat
- 05-20-12
Enjoyed Listening
I would listen to this again. It gives insight into why things happen and makes you realize that other people are not always be as problematic as they appear. You just need to pay attention to your surroundings and offer a little understanding.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Juan Cadavid
- 09-03-17
Insightful.
Clear perspectives to daily and obvios matters to pay far more attention to.
Very grateful for having found and listened to it.
Congratulations to Sam Sommers for his work and Joshua Swanson for making it so entertaining.
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- ZeteticNoodle
- 03-09-12
Unbearably pedantic and smug
What would have made Situations Matter better?
I'm sure the content in this book is valuable. I just wish an entirely different person had written it. The author's writing style makes Situations Matter unlistenable.
Sommers's plodding logic leads the reader to infer and understand his point long, Long before he gets around to delivering it.
There are books that take their time in getting to the point that are listenable with a bit of patience, but not this one. Situations Matter's delivery of content is chock full admonitions to the reader like
Has Situations Matter turned you off from other books in this genre?
No. There are fine books in this genre from people who address their subject matter without turning it into 'comedy hour for the intellectually slow.'
If you have read social science pop literature, this is covering familiar ground while treating it like difficult to explain, shocking revelation. Patronizing. Pedantic.
Would you listen to another book narrated by Joshua Swanson?
I find his delivery grating, but I honestly think he's doing a decent job given what he has to work with. You sound like smug and irritating if that's what is on the page. I would not avoid books narrated by him in the future.
What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?
Frustration. I really, really wanted to like this book. I thoroughly enjoy books in this genre, but this was a disappointment.
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10 people found this helpful