Drunk Tank Pink: The Subconscious Forces that Shape How We Think, Feel, and Behave - Softcover

Adam Alter is marketing professor at New York University. His research focuses on decision making and social psychology, and has been published in leading psychology journals and featured in popular media across the world.

It’s commonly known that a lot of police departments and detention centers use a certain shade of pink in their cells because the color is believed to have a calming effect. But the color pink isn’t the only thing that affects how we behave; there are dozens of factors that influence our thoughts and beliefs. Consider the compass, for example: the earth’s surface is horizontal, and there’s no need for north to be above south, but the association of north with up and south with down has some very interesting repercussions (such as people’s tendency to prefer to travel south rather than north to go to a store, because north is uphill). Or consider this: people with names that begin with the letter K were responsible for 10 percent of donations for Hurricane Katrina relief efforts, but for only 4 percent of donations “to all disasters before Katrina.” An intelligent, often surprising exploration of the way cues of all varieties (sounds, colors, images, symbols, and more) shape the people we are, for better or worse. --David Pitt