--- description: In the age of big data, it's easy to assume that cold, hard facts can drive change. Not so fast, argues cognitive scientist Tali Sharot,... title: Emotion, the Great Manipulator image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaa016ce69bc82676/6988de9fbc6cfc2c1d3e32aa/emotion-the-great-manipulator.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Ideas](/section/ideas/) ## Ideas Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Books](/tag/books/) ## Books Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Emotion, the Great Manipulator by [Sarah Begley](/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 21, 2017 9:43 AM CUT  Courtesy of Henry Holt & Co Inc by [Sarah Begley](/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 21, 2017 9:43 AM CUT In the age of big data, it’s easy to assume that cold, hard facts can drive change. Not so fast, argues cognitive scientist Tali Sharot, whose new book, _The Influential Mind_, explores how emotion tends to overpower reason when it comes to human decision-making. Consider a study that found that people were more likely to donate to a medical fundraiser when it had a photo of a young woman smiling in the sunlight, rather than a picture of a person suffering in a hospital bed. Although the sick-looking patient may need more help, it’s hard for people to imagine that patient having a happy ending; the smiling picture evoked hope, which is a greater motivator. “If we want to affect the behaviors and beliefs of the person in front of us,” Sharot concludes, “we need to … go along with how their brain works.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4951201/the-influential-mind-tali-sharot-review/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4951201/the-influential-mind-tali-sharot-review/"},"headline":"Emotion, the Great Manipulator","datePublished":"2017-09-21T09:43:35.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T17:31:58.787Z","description":"In the age of big data, it's easy to assume that cold, hard facts can drive change. Not so fast, argues cognitive scientist Tali Sharot,...","url":"https://time.com/4951201/the-influential-mind-tali-sharot-review/","keywords":["Books"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaa016ce69bc82676/6988de9fbc6cfc2c1d3e32aa/emotion-the-great-manipulator.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaa016ce69bc82676/6988de9fbc6cfc2c1d3e32aa/emotion-the-great-manipulator.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Emotion-the-great-manipulator","caption":"","creditText":"Courtesy of Henry Holt & Co Inc","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/books/","name":"Books"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4951201/the-influential-mind-tali-sharot-review/","name":"Emotion, the Great Manipulator"}}]}] ```