This Is Your Brain on Sports

December 14, 2015
This collection of smart and witty essays by Sports Illustrated executive editor Wertheim (Scorecasting) and Tufts University experimental psychologist Sommers (Situations Matter) reveals the roles that human psychology, neuroscience, and cognitive tendencies play in sports—and in life. They ask several seemingly unrelated questions: Why do football players such as Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman spout nonsense in postgame interviews? How is running on a treadmill like running a business? And why do spectators fall over each other trying to grab a free T-shirt they probably will never wear? The authors, whose writing styles and backgrounds nicely complement each other, cite relevant research, specific studies and (absent available data) conduct their own experiments. The authors wonderfully weave in aspects of science, business (Ikea’s business model, expert Lego builders) and sports figures (Serena Williams, Brett Favre) to help readers better understand the games people play both on and off the court, the field, the ice, or—in the case of boxing champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. and his disrespect complex—the ring.

December 15, 2015
A strong case for the lunacy of sports as rooted in basic human neuroscience and cognitive tendency.With a light, anecdotal touch that belies its governance by hard science, Sports Illustrated executive editor Wertheim (Strokes of Genius: Federer, Nadal, and the Greatest Match Ever Played, 2009, etc.) and Sommers (Psychology/Tufts Univ.; Situations Matter: Understanding How Context Transforms Your World, 2011) throw considerable light on "all the batshit craziness that courses through the sports ecosystem." Though the material they rely on comes from peer-reviewed journals and the results of scientific experiments, the application of their findings is very human: "we found the quirkiness of sports taught us something deeper about who we are, what we care about, and the forces that shape our behavior." Each chapter begins with specific fan or player behaviors, which run from the curious to the comical to the sketchy--e.g., why are so many quarterbacks good looking? Try the halo effect, in which the projection of a positive impression--warmth, humor, mastery--casts their other characteristics, including physical attractiveness, in a similarly positive light. Also important are survival instincts (those who exude dominance get to mate), the ability to read subtle facial and nonverbal cues, and the unconscious wisdom of first impressions. We are, in a word, groomed. So why don't great players necessarily become great coaches? It comes down to the difficulty of explaining what comes naturally. "Non-experts," write the authors, "have to work through a rote checklist of procedures in order to accomplish a goal; experts figure out shortcuts," often subconsciously. Because sports reflects the human condition, there are many downsides, from the two-edged sword of praise, rivalries that "open the door for rule-bending and outright deceit," and the sad tendency "to excuse moral failures so long as they belong to members of our team." If sports bring out the kooky, spooky, and creepy in us, Wertheim and Sommers give us a chance to understand ourselves and perhaps get a grip before we totally lose it.

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January 1, 2016

In this breezy volume, Sports Illustrated editor Wertheim and Tufts University psychology professor Sommers (Situations Matter) examine how sports reveal behavioral norms. The authors employ a wide variety of behavioral science studies to address sports-related questions that have an impact on everyday life and reflect human nature, psychological truths, and cognitive tendencies. The book's entertaining and somewhat flippant style belies its function as a literature review that introduces scores of cleverly constructed studies of how humans think and react through the lens of sports. The inquiries engage topics such as why rivalry is important to both performance and competition, how a mental finish line helps us pace our energy and effort, and how imagined and constructed disrespect spurs us, as well as the appeal of underdogs, the attraction of celebrities, the odiousness of participation trophies, the drive of home field advantage, the pride we take in achievement attained via struggle, and the disconnect between international sports competition and world peace. VERDICT A fun book that will appeal to sports fans and students of human behavior alike.--John Maxymuk, Rutgers Univ. Lib., Camden, NJ

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2016
Submerged in a coma, the 23-year-old victim of an automobile accident could signal her residual neural activity in only one way: by firing synapses in the motor area of her brain when scientists asked her to think about playing tennis. In this episode, Wertheim and Sommers find a telling illustration of how sports penetrate to the deepest levels of human thought. With less-dramatic cases, the authors repeatedly show that, far from being a shallow distraction, sports offer revealing demonstrations of how humans think in all areas of life. Readers learn, for instance, why the same mental impulses that keep people rooting for a perennial loser in baseball or football may prompt them to eat unsafe sushi. Readers ponder evidence that intense rivalries bring out the best in competitors, while also making them more irrational and dishonestin both sports and business. Hard research even exposes the world-peace justification for the Olympics as an illusion, showing that athletics only intensifies off-the-field animosities. Sports will never again look like mere entertainment.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)