Continuing Education for Psychologists

HOW WOMEN DECIDE
What's True, What's Not, and What Strategies Spark the Best Choices

So, you've earned a seat at the table.

What happens next?

We all face hard decisions every day and the choices we make, and how others perceive them, can be life-changing. There are countless books on how to make those tough calls, but How Women Decide is the first to examine a much overlooked truth: men and women approach decisions differently, and often in surprising ways. Stress? It makes women more focused. Confidence? Caution can lead to stronger decisions. And despite popular misconceptions, women are just as decisive as men–though they may pay for it. Pulling from the latest science on decision-making, as well as lively stories of real women and their experiences, cognitive scientist Therese Huston teaches us how we can best shape our habits, perceptions, and strategies, not just to make the most of our own opportunities, but to reshape the culture and bring out the best decisions–regardless of who's making them.

Therese Huston was awarded a prestigious post-doctoral fellowships with the Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition at the University of Pittsburgh. She is the Founding Director for the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at Seattle University. She has written for The New York Times and Harvard Business Review

"I thought I had read everything I needed to read on gender differences, but, as a CEO, this book showed me a new and critically important area in which we need to be very aware of our biases and take the steps Huston recommends to address them."
--Anne-Marie Slaughter, author of Unfinished Business: Women Men Work Family and president and CEO of New America

"One could imagine it becoming required reading on Wall Street."
--New York Times Book Review

"Using a wealth of economic and social science research, Huston–a cognitive psychologist [...]–documents these stereotypes and shows how women are often trapped in situations where they can't come out ahead, no matter what they do. [How Women Decide] will resonate with any women trying to navigate treacherous career waters as well as with managers wondering how to increase diversity and get the best out of all their employees. One could also imagine it becoming required reading on Wall Street, where male-dominated thinking has caused so many problems."
--New York Times Book Review

"An authoritative guide to help women navigate the workplace and their everyday life with greater success and impact."
--Forbes

"Huston, writing in a cheerful, classroom voice, wants to give readers tools to take apart the frequently hostile response to women's decisions. In clear, declarative prose, [How Women Decide] dips readers' toes into stereotype threat and confirmation bias, role congruity theory, cortisol and stress studies and prospect theory."
--Seattle Times

"Huston shows us convincingly and compellingly that women's decisions are viewed and judged differently than men's. I thought I had read everything I needed to read on gender differences, but, as a CEO, this book showed me a new and critically important area in which we need to be very aware of our biases and take the steps Huston recommends to address them."
--Anne-Marie Slaughter, author of Unfinished Business: Women Men Work Family and President and CEO of New America

"Contains advice for everyone."
--Financial Times

"If you're a woman, read it. If you're a man, read it. Sometimes a book tells you something you really needed to know, whether you realised it or not, and How Women Decide is one of those books–[Huston] throws a bright laboratory light on familiar territory–women's experiences at work–and then pins down with scientific precision the subtle and not-so-subtle stereotyping women encounter, explaining how these societal expectations impact on women's decision-making."
--The National

"A journey to break down barriers and open the conversation on how to shape habits, perceptions, and strategies to transform our society as a whole, regardless of who's making the decisions."
--Savoir Flair

"If you want to get deep into the ways we are swayed to make decisions that favor what someone else wants, I recommend [How Women Decide]. Huston gives a persuasive argument that intuition isn't an exclusive tool of women."
--MsCareerGirl.com

"How Women Decide blows up several myths about female decision-making that everyone believes, women included. Through thoughtful analysis and lively, entertaining anecdotes, it teaches us what's really happening–how bias works. Every woman needs to read this well-researched and wonderfully reported book. She'll gain confidence through useful tactics for even better decision-making. Men should read it, too; they'll learn tactics that make women great leaders!"
--Joanna Barsh, bestselling author of How Remarkable Women Lead and Centered Leadership

"Ever wonder whether women's instinct' is a real thing? Ever consider multiple points of view, only to be called wishy-washy'? In this brilliantly researched and entertaining book, Therese Huston reveals the ways in which understanding ourselves and thinking critically about gender biases can help us all make better choices. I'm already using it to strategize at work, and I predict that every reader will learn something new and useful in its pages."
--Jessica Bacal, editor of Mistakes I Made at Work: 25 Influential Women Reflect on What They Got Out of Getting It Wrong and Director of the Wurtele Center for Work & Life at Smith College