The Expectation Effect

How Your Mindset Can Transform Your Life

David Robson

The Expectation Effect by David Robson (Paperback ISBN 9781838853303) book cover

Available as Paperback, Hardback, eBook, Downloadable audio

WINNER OF THE BRITISH PSYCHOLOGICAL SOCIETY AWARD 2022
A SUNDAY TIMES BEST PAPERBACK OF 2023 
A BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK
A FINANCIAL TIMES BEST BOOK OF 2022: HEALTH AND WELLBEING
A WATERSTONES BEST BOOK OF 2022: POPULAR SCIENCE

The scientific solution to influencing your life positively, from the award-winning author of The Intelligence Trap

WINNER OF THE BRITISH PSYCHOLOGICAL SOCIETY AWARD 2022
A SUNDAY TIMES BEST PAPERBACK OF 2023 
A BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK
A FINANCIAL TIMES BEST BOOK OF 2022: HEALTH AND WELLBEING
A WATERSTONES BEST BOOK OF 2022: POPULAR SCIENCE



People who believe ageing brings wisdom live longer.
Lucky charms really do improve an athlete’s performance.
Taking a placebo, even when you know it is a placebo, can still improve your health.
Welcome to The Expectation Effect.

David Robson takes us on a tour of the cutting-edge research happening right now that suggests our expectations shape our experience. Of course, you can’t just think yourself thinner, happier or fitter, but using this book you can reframe many different facets of your life. These easy-to-use skills will help you on your way to becoming the person you want to be, living the life you want to live.


“This book is entertaining, eye-opening, extremely useful and best of all, evidence-based”
Claudia Hammond

See more reviews

“As David Robson makes plain in this compelling book, the way we think about the world can profoundly shape how we navigate it. Based in science and packed with smart advice, The Expectation Effect will expand your mind – and maybe even extend your life”
Daniel H. Pink

“Mind-changing science … One of Robson’s many strengths as a chronicler of science is to take what might seem familiar and show – to his own evident excitement, as well – just how much deeper the rabbit hole goes … Compelling”
Oliver Burkeman
guardian

“This is an utterly riveting and transformative book. You can’t afford not to read it!”
Nigella Lawson

“A revelatory pop-science book on the idea that it’s not so much what happens to us as what we expect to happen that determines our health and wellbeing”
guardian


David Robson

David Robson is an award-winning science journalist. His first book, The Intelligence Trap, has been translated into 15 languages. Previously an editor and senior journalist at BBC Future, Robson is now a freelance journalist; his writing has appeared in The Times, Telegraph, Guardian, Atlantic, Washington Post and more.

@d_a_robson | davidrobson.me | #ExpectationEffect