What We Value

by Emily Falk

A neuroscientist reveals the hidden calculations that shape our daily decisions―and how to make more fulfilling, impactful choices in our work, relationships, and lives.

Amid the many competing priorities of our busy lives, it can feel difficult to make the right decisions―ones that feel aligned with the things we care about. Change can feel almost impossible. In this book, award-winning researcher Emily Falk reveals how we can transform our relationship with the daily choices that define our lives by thinking like a neuroscientist about what we value.

Introducing us to three brain systems responsible for computing our everyday decisions in a process known as the value calculation, Falk shows how we can work more strategically with our brains to make more fulfilling choices. Whether deciding on lunch or a career, changing our routines or other people’s minds, we learn how changing what we think about can change what we think, connecting with our core values can make us less defensive, and broadening our curiosity about different perspectives can seed innovation. Based on cutting-edge research, What We Value is a groundbreaking guide to finding new possibilities in our choices―and the lives we ultimately make with them.

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction, Science, Self Help, Mental Health, Audiobook, Neuroscience

Audible Audio

Published April 8, 2025

About the author

Emily Falk is a professor of communication, psychology, and marketing at the University of Pennsylvania and the vice dean of the Annenberg School for Communication, where she directs the Communication Neuroscience Lab and the Climate Communication Division of the Annenberg Public Policy Center. She lives in Philadelphia.

Reviews

[Cav · Rating 3 out of 5]

"With every choice we make, the value system’s job is to weigh disparate elements against each other in what my colleagues and I call the value calculation..."

What We Value was a mixed bag for me. The topic of how people make choices is a fascinating one. I love reading about psychology and social psychology, so naturally I put this one on my list when I came across it. I'll cover both the "good" as well as the "bad" below.

Author Emily B. Falk is an American psychologist and neuroscientist, and professor of communication at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania, holding secondary appointments in psychology and marketing.

Emily Falk :


The author gets the book started on a good foot with a well-written intro. She's got a decent style, for the most part, and this one shouldn't struggle to hold the finicky reader's attention. The book is mainly a science-driven look into the topic. There are lots of interesting data about the subject matter covered here. She mentions early on that the material in the book is backed up by fMRI studies.

She drops the quote at the start of this review early on, and it continues:

"...These elements indeed include things like moral values and the economic value of an option, but they also include the consequences of your past choices, your mood, the opinions of the people around you, and so much more. A reward can be money, but it can also be friendship. It can be seeing something good happen in the world for others, achieving a small goal, or having enough energy and strength to finally run a marathon. There are many things that our brains value, many ways our brains can find reward—but as we find ourselves making the same choices again and again, it doesn’t always feel that way. Getting takeout trumps saving for retirement; hitting deadlines trumps professional development; the Internet vortex trumps spending time with the people we love. In this way, the choices the brain hands down don’t always align with what we might explicitly think of as the thing we value most."

Falk talks about people's value systems and how they influence choice and behaviours:

"We found that if parts of a person’s value system, like a region known as the medial prefrontal cortex, ramped up their activity when they saw a message about sunscreen or smoking or exercise, they were more likely to change their behavior to conform to the message—regardless of whether
they said they consciously thought the message was effective. This offered our first glimpse of how the value system was linked to relatively highstakes, real-life choices outside the lab. A plethora of other studies, by my team and others, have shown similar findings when people are deciding what to eat, what to buy, how much to save for retirement, and more.
At first we were only looking to see if activity in the brain correlated with the choices people made outside the lab. Once we saw that it did, we asked: How can we use this to help facilitate change? I believed that the answer was to somehow ramp up activity in the system, but it would take more than a decade of research to understand how.
During that time, in experiments ranging from giving people feedback about their peers’ experiences, to helping them connect with their core values as a way of becoming more open to change, to comparing how the value system responds to immediate rewards versus those that lie in the more distant future, my team and others saw how simple interventions could dial value system activity up or down, which could ultimately help someone change their behavior. We discovered how changing where people put their attention—on different past experiences, current needs, or dreams for the future—changes the value calculation. This research also made it clear that activity in the value system captures something that goes beyond people’s initial instincts about what they’ll do next and can sometimes help explain the discrepancy we observed between what people say they will do and what they actually do."

Despite producing a good intro and first chapter that set an effective hook, I found the rest of the book began to struggle to keep its initial pace. She blends the narrative of the writing between anecdotes and case studies, combined with the relevant science. I found a lot of her stories overly wordy and rambling (sorry).

Even more problematic, the author unveils her tankie sympathies ~midway through, and unleashes an increasing torrent of woke leftist nonsense and jargon as the book goes on. Her writing is liberally peppered with ideological newspeak, like "Latinx," "straight cis white men," "white privilege," "structural racism, " "marginalized groups," and other assorted mindless terminology that firmly asserts her tribal affiliation.

She's got a completely ridiculous blurb about "structural racism" and "marginalized groups" in universities. What exactly this "structural" racism is, or who is "marginalizing" these groups is not discussed. The premise is ridiculous, on its face. Modern Western universities are some of the most ideologically homogenous institutions in the modern era. IIRC, something like ~90% of Professors and faculty at some of these places and positions self-identify as left-leaning, left-wing, or even outright Marxist. To assert prima facie that there is some shadowy conspiracy to "marginalize" a group of people that sit atop the victimology hierarchy in the most "progressive" places in our entire society is completely laughable.

And while I'm here, how specifically do universities "marginalize" black students? What are the mechanisms of action of this oppression?? They are nebulous, unclear, and never properly defined. The specific culprits: never named. It is the eternal shadowy boogeyman of Schrodinger's "systemic" racism. So commonplace that it's ubiquitous, yet paradoxically so elusive that specific examples of it are hard to find. Defining, qualifying, and quantifying this "systemic racism" is an ever-moving target. It's never properly pinned down, or manages to uncover any of the people involved in this ever-present nefarious conspiracy.

FWIW, there has been a lot of discrimination and "marginalization" going on over at the admissions of major Western universities and colleges for decades, but not the kind she thinks. The recent scandal of universities penalizing high-scoring groups, such as Asians and Whites, by favouring admitting "marginalized" groups like blacks into spots they were not qualified for shows just how corrupted these places have become. A 2023 Supreme Court ruling ended the decades long race-based admissions, so hopefully some sanity and meritocracy can be brought back to these institutions.

All this is especially ironic, considering that she's got a chapter in the latter part of the book detailing how what media and information you consume affects your worldview. How the environment you're in, the people around you, and the broader culture affect your perspective, opinions, and biases. Apparently she lacks the requisite level of introspection to recognize her own NPC-tier, culture-fed woke ideation. She's got a garden-variety dialogue tree of "THE MESSAGE™" on endless loop here, without even realizing how she got these "opinions." How funny. The irony is always lost on these types, IMHO... She likely wouldn't even get the joke if you explained it to her.

********************

The book was still a decent read for the most part, minus my criticisms above. There's a lot of great information discussed, and the book is decently readable.
It's too bad that the author had to cram in her shit-tier political opinions where they had no business being...
2.5 stars.

[Kat's Bookshelf · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you're looking for a self-help book that lays out a step-by-step plan, this isn't the book for you. This book is so much more than that. Using neuroscience research, Emily Falk lays out why we think about things the way we do and how our interactions with others influence our own choices as well as theirs.

I'm a brain science nerd. If I were to go back and do it all again, this might actually be the path I'd take. I appreciate Falk's ability to discuss dozens of studies while making them approachable and interesting. She then ties the studies to real life situations while profiling a variety of people who (often unknowingly) used the ideas and principles in their own careers and lives. Falk even ties in stories from her own family and makes it personal. The story of how her brother met and got to know his future wife is utterly adorable and a little swoon-worthy, in fact!

While Falk doesn't spell out clear plans of action, she does provide a ton of ideas and information that you can use. I borrowed my copy of the book from the library, but will eventually grab my own copy so that I can do a deeper dive with pen and highlighter at the ready. While I wish that she did do just a little planning for me, I respect that she expects her readers to be smart enough to think it through for themselves.

[Justine 🦊🍂 · Rating 4 out of 5]

What We Value surprised me with how deeply it made me reconsider my own decision-making patterns. The neuroscience behind our choices turns out to be far more fascinating than I expected, and the book manages to explain complex brain processes without drowning readers in academic jargon.

The "value calculation" concept became my favourite lens for understanding why I make certain decisions. It's essentially how our brains automatically weigh options based on our core identity—and once you start recognising this process, you see it everywhere. The LeBron James case study about his Cleveland Cavaliers decision was particularly interesting, showing how even career-defining choices follow these predictable neural pathways.The research feels thorough and credible, but it's presented in such an accessible way that I never felt overwhelmed by the science. The case studies range from student groups to public figures, each one illuminating different aspects of how we navigate complex decisions.

Some sections repeat key concepts more than necessary, and a few case studies could have been trimmed without losing their impact. I feel the central ideas are strong enough to carry the book without quite so much reinforcement. Despite this, the book did shift how I think about thinking ( that seems weird to write). It's intellectually satisfying while remaining immediately practical

[Eglė P · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good chapters but also way too many examples from author’s personal life - this trying to appear perfect wife, mother, colleague, friend and boss is off putting to me.

[Olivia]

I can't give the book a rating since the author is a dear friend of mine. That said, I am so proud of the research she has done and the new ground she has broken. Emily is endlessly curious and I love how her brain works. This book is a thoughtful and scientific examination of how our values influence (or don't influence) our decisions. It gives deep insight into what is going on "behind the scenes" in the brain, and tells some sweet stories along the way. Recommended for those who want to learn more about our inner-workings!

[Carolyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really interesting combination of personal stories, pop culture, and thinking about how we connect with friends, family, community, and strangers. My favorite chapter was about why we get defensive, and why we always hold on to random mugs we find/buy/receive. A great intro to neuroscience that felt easily accessible.

[Keenan Bartlett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Worthwhile read if you’re interested in understanding decision-making, values, and neuroscience. It gives you a nice framework, nudges you to reflect on your “value systems”, and helps you see that change may depend less on willpower and more on recalibrating what your brain already treats as valuable. But if you were expecting a detailed behaviour-change manual, or if you prefer less repetition and more razor-sharp application, you might come away wanting a bit more.

[Paul Botterill · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good book about an interesting subject, I think it could be useful

[Arun Philips · Rating 4 out of 5]

What we value by Emily Faulk shares a neuroscientist’s view of why and how we value what we value - the self relevance and social relevance sections of our brains, and how our own actions and the actions of the people around us have a ripple effect on a huge part of society.

[Deanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Somewhat pop-psych ish, simplified ideas at times but interesting read.

[Lee Nettles · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book could have been super compelling, but rather, reads as just a list of research findings. In each chapter, it wanders too much, and tries to do a bit too much. I struggled to really get the "so what" of each of these points that the author made.

I think the author is quite a skilled researcher, knows a lot about neuroscience, and she has a large runway for being able to write a compelling book. As a first attempt, I applaud her efforts, and think the next one will be better.

[Juan Fernando · Rating 5 out of 5]

Este es un libro de divulgación científica de neurociencias sociales que vale muchísimo la pena. Emily Falk, profesora de comunicación, psicología y marketing en la University of Pennsylvania, logra conectar las neurociencias con la cotidianidad de las cosas que valoramos, lo que nos mueve y por qué terminamos eligiendo unas cosas sobre otras.

Lo que más me gustó es cómo aterriza la idea de "valor" en el sistema de recompensas del cerebro, que está en conversación constante con la cultura, con nuestra historia personal, con el contexto social en el que estamos. Desarrolla la interacción entre el sistema de “self relevance” y el de “social relevance”, y cómo ese diálogo interno dinamizado por ciclos de errores de predicción positivos y negativos, va moldeando nuestros juicios, decisiones, preferencias, valores y disposición al cambio.

Algo que había leído en alguno de sus artículos y aquí explica de manera sencilla, es la sincronía neural. Como lo ha investigado, no es una metáfora, es literal: hay estudios donde se ve que cuando conectamos con otros (conversando o trabajando) nuestros cerebros se sincronizan. Y eso parece ser una de las claves de por qué aprendemos mejor en grupo o por qué ciertos mensajes logran ser persuasivos. Ahí hay una pista poderosa para entender la persuasión y el cambio de comportamiento.

Emily Falk tiene una trayectoria impresionante en un campo que me apasiona: estudia cómo cambian las personas, cómo se propaga la información y qué hace que un mensaje sea más influyente que otro.

Es un libro de fácil acceso. Lo recomiendo un montón para los interesados en temas de #comunicación, #comportamiento y #neurociencia. Después de leerlo, es difícil no volverse seguidor de Falk y de su laboratorio de Comunicación & Neurociencias.

[EdTheZeroth · Rating 4 out of 5]

What We Value differs from most books about psychological biases by citing studies that scanned participants’ brain activity to explain why we have these biases. The author shares examples from her personal life or people she has interviewed to make the study findings more relatable and easier to understand. Overall, the studies suggest we choose the option that we value the most made based on what it means to who we think we are right now and how it fits in our beliefs of society’s expectations of us.

The book also contains practical advice for readers to use in their lives, such as focusing on price nudges decisions to place more emphasis on practicality whereas focusing on features nudges decisions to be made based on enjoyment. Another example is to reframe the question “what should I do for myself?” to “what should I do for ?” This helps us overcome our tendency to subjectively undervalue options that feel like threats to our current identity and thus consider the pros and cons more objectively to make a better decision.

I rate the book 4 stars for anyone interested in psychological biases and why we have them. For general readers, probably 3 stars.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book sets out to explore how neuroscience can explain human morality and decision-making, but in my opinion it falls short of offering any truly meaningful conclusions. While the author’s attempt to connect brain activity with complex human values is ambitious, the book often feels more like a showcase of modern neuroscience tools than a genuine inquiry into what drives our ethical choices.

These days, it seems almost standard practice to put people in a functional MRI just to see which parts of the brain “light up,” but what does that really tell us? Correlating neural activity with moral thought may sound impressive, yet it rarely gets us closer to understanding why we value what we do. The book is well-researched and written with enthusiasm, but it leans too heavily on brain imaging as a substitute for deeper philosophical reflection. Ultimately, What We Value raises important questions but doesn’t dig far enough to answer them.

[Noureen · Rating 5 out of 5]

just finished Emily Falk's What We Value: The Neuroscience of Choice and Change, and oh my god, it's a five-star read for me. Like, I devoured this thing. You know how sometimes science books can feel a little... dense? Not this one. Emily Falk has this incredible way of explaining all these fascinating experiments that show how our brains actually work when we're making decisions and trying to change.

What truly sets this book apart is its use of relatable analogies. One moment, she's walking you through a scientific study, and the next, she's using a story like "The Emperor's New Clothes" to perfectly illustrate the psychological concept. This approach makes the science stick in a way that traditional explanations simply can't. I did wish that she went more into the scientific aspects of it, but because she didn't I started look up the science which reading the book.

[Luca Nicoletti · Rating 3 out of 5]

What We Value: The Neuroscience of Choice and Change by Emily Falk is a clear, readable dive into how the brain decides what matters to us and how those value judgments drive our choices. Falk explains complex neuroscience in plain language, weaving in stories and examples to show how identity, self-relevance, and social context shape behaviour more than sheer willpower does. The book is strongest when it highlights how change happens, not by forcing discipline but by shifting what the brain perceives as valuable. Where it falls short is in its tendency to drift into anecdote, gloss over methodological limits, and offer advice that’s more conceptual than actionable. It’s not a manual for behaviour change, but it does give a compelling framework for understanding why we do what we do and how to nudge values in a direction that sticks.

[Chris Aylott · Rating 3 out of 5]

A neuroscientist explores the ways we place value on relationships, choices, and ideas -- in particular, the balance between what is relevant to one's idea of the self and one's ideas of the social relevance of whatever is being evaluated.

There's nothing really surprising here, since it tracks closely with what we've learned from behavioral economics, but it's interesting to see the likely physiological basis of our ways of modeling values and relationships. There's also a strong implied argument that a lot of our vaunted "intelligence" is just the broad application of various predictive models used in hunting and gathering behaviors.

[Ell · Rating 4 out of 5]

It can be feel difficult to make decisions that are aligned with what we care about most with all the "noise" and 'busyness" of today's world. This book explores ways in which we can transform our relationship with decisions, which in turn transforms our lives. This is an interesting book. It's well written. It provides a nice balance of neuroscience research, fresh perspectives, and entertaining anecdotes.

[Heidi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like neuroscience quite a bit. I am always seeking out new aspects of neuroscience and greatly enjoy learning all about it. This book had some good parts and illustrations. However, the author did a lot of name-dropping- which makes me wonder if that is what she values the most, her connections with the people she mentions.

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I have to admit that much of this book was probably over my head, there were some great nuggets that I gleaned - including the knowledge of Ernie Grunfeld, an NBA player I loved as a kid. A book about his life and family is next on my list!

[Ada · Rating 3 out of 5]

Falk explains how much of our decision making is influenced by how we see ourselves and others. She suggests a certain hopefulness in understanding the neuroscience of what we value to create a richer life for ourselves and in so doing make a better world for all of us.

[Erik Nelson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Emily Falk’s work shows that your updates constantly based on who you think you are, who you think others think you are, what you’re focusing on, and what you’re choosing to care about right now.

[Nick Salenga · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book that will help you better understand how to make decisions & equip you to make them more wisely.

[Josh · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.1

[LauraEllen A · Rating 5 out of 5]

A nice popular science book. I enjoyed it for what it was. A good way to help prompt my thinking in a different way.

[Herbert Toler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rev to come