Situations Matter: Understanding How Context Transforms Your World

A “thought-provoking and entertaining” (The Washington Post) exploration of the invisible forces that influence your life—and how understanding them improves everything you do.

The world around you is pulling your strings, shaping your private thoughts and innermost instincts. And you don’t even realize it. 

Every day we overlook the enormous power of situations in our lives. We fail to appreciate that life’s basic details—where we are, whom we’re with, and even whether we’re in a hurry—affect how we think and act. Sommers argues that understanding the powerful influence of context forces us to rethink how we see ourselves and makes us more effective at work, at home, and in our daily lives. He describes the pitfalls that we should avoid and offers compelling suggestions on how we can make better decisions and smarter observations about the world around us. Insightful, engaging, and readable, Situations Matter is a primer on the importance of context in our lives and on what really makes people tick.

Sam Sommers is an award-winning psychology professor at Tufts University. His research has been covered by Good Morning America, NPR, Harper’s, the Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times. He lives near Boston with his wife and two daughters.