THE WIT, THE WILL ... AND THE WALLET
Supporting Educational Innovation, Shaping our Global Futures

January 20-23, 2010
Washington, DC

OPENING NIGHT FORUM
Wednesday, January 20, 7:00-8:30 p.m.

HOW WE DECIDE: The New Science of Decision Making *

Jonah Lehrer

Jonah Lehrer, the acclaimed author of Proust Was a Neuroscientist (2008), takes a fascinating look at the new science of decision-making—and how it can help us make better choices. Since Plato, philosophers have described the decision-making process as either rational or emotional: we carefully deliberate or we "blink" and go with our gut. But as scientists break open the mind's black box with the latest tools of neuroscience, they're discovering that this is not how the mind works. Our best decisions are a finely tuned blend of both feeling and reason—and the precise mix depends on the situation.

Jonah Lehrer is an editor at large for Seed Magazine. He graduated from Columbia University and studied at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. He has written for The New Yorker, Nature, Wired, The Washington Post and The Boston Globe. He is also a contributing editor at Scientific American Mind and National Public Radio's Radio Lab.

We invite you to learn more about Jonah Lehrer at www.jonahlehrer.com. His blog—The Frontal Cortex—is at www.scienceblogs.com/cortex.

* How We Decide is available from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (2009)

AAC&U’s WELCOMING RECEPTION
Wednesday, January 20, 8:30-10:00 p.m.

Please join us as we greet old friends and welcome new ones to AAC&U's Annual Meeting.