The Power of Surprise: How Your Brain Secretly Changes Your Beliefs

Surprise evolved as a mechanism to instantly change our beliefs. Here, Michael Rousell shows how surprising events produce invisible influence because they open a window to spontaneous belief change with no warning or conscious awareness. He explores and illustrates how we can use these changes to strategically enrich our lives.

Michael A. Rousell, PhD, is a psychologist and associate professor at of education at Southern Oregon University. His most notable work is his 2007 book Sudden Influence: How SpontaneousEvents Shape Our LivesRousell’s career spans a broad background in private counseling, public school education, and his current position in higher education.