Leonard Mlodinow
Leonard Mlodinow
Leonard Mlodinowis an American popular science author and screenwriter...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPhysicist
CountryUnited States of America
attention members opposite paying people spend talking time voice
People spend a lot of time talking and thinking about how members of the opposite sex look, but very little time paying attention to how they sound. To our unconscious minds, however, voice is very important.
adjust amount communication forms function relative social spend surprising time
One of the most surprising forms of nonverbal communication is the way we automatically adjust the amount of time we spend looking into another's eyes as a function of our relative social position.
aware bonds connect conscious form grooming hours society spend touching
Non-human primates spend hours a day grooming each other. And with humans, touching is also important. It's a way to form bonds and connect in modern society. But you can also speed up the use of conscious purposes once you're aware of that, and it can be manipulated.
emotions hand imagine pain pull slam touch
We have emotions for a reason; for instance, imagine pain. You have pain so that if you touch something that's hot, or if you slam your hand with a hammer, you will pull your hand away and not do that again.
curious far loved mind natural physical science
I've always loved science, as far back as I can remember. I was very, very curious about how everything worked: the world, the physical universe, chemistry, law. So it was only natural to be curious about how our mind works.
culture food french great known
French culture is known for many great attributes, some of which probably have nothing to do with food, wine, and romance.
believe coin expertise obviously predicting
I believe there is true expertise in some endeavors, and not in others. There is obviously no such thing as expertise in predicting the results of coin tosses, but there is expertise in predicting the behavior of lasers.
affects experience feeds social
One thing that feeds into the way you experience the social world is your mood - and one thing that affects your mood is the weather.
affect best course effects emotional feelings occur whether
Of course our feelings matter. But emotional decisions are usually not the best ones. On the other hand, your emotions can affect your decisions whether you like it or not because the effects can occur on the unconscious level.
excitement expect readers subject
You have to have passion for a subject to write about it. You can't expect your readers to feel any excitement if it's nothing but a boring writing exercise for you.
chance few hit home less mathematics players runs usual
We all know that players will hit a few more home runs than usual in some years and a few less in others. But the mathematics of chance also predicts that some years they'll hit a lot more, and some years a lot less.
ignore looks matter social understand
We all know that looks matter. What most of us don't understand is just how much looks matter and how difficult it is for us to ignore a person's appearance when making a social judgment.
assumed both decided looks substance
We all know that looks matter, and modern politicians have always assumed that their battles are decided on both substance and image.
We routinely participate in elaborate nonverbal exchanges even when we are not consciously aware of doing so.