How Our Unconscious Minds Elect Presidents, Control Markets, Wage Wars,
and Save Our Lives

A Washington Post science writer, Vedantam explores the findings of social
psychologists about unconscious bias. Recounting people.s stories, he grips
attention immediately. Introducing a rape victim whose mistake in identifying
her assailant was revealed by DNA evidence that exonerated him, Vedantam
establishes his theme of how people get things wrong (in the crime-and-
punishment category, he adds death-penalty cases involving possible
misidentification) or behave seemingly irrationally. After each individual
story, the author repairs to relevant psychological studies. To Vedantam,
the studies reveal that subtle biases unconsciously coexist alongside people.s
conscious convictions that they are free of prejudice. He cites examples such
as Senator George Allen, whose racial remark ended his career; the electorate.s
perception of candidate Barack Obama; and the sexual discrimination case of
Lilly Ledbetter. Branching into other arenas, such as crowd behavior during
crisis situations and the minds of suicide bombers, Vedantam highlights
a mental battle of which, he wants his readers to learn, they are largely
unaware. This work has strong appeal for the psychology audience.

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