The Search for Why: A Revolutionary New Model for Understanding Others, Improving Communication, and Healing Division

by Bob Raleigh

A groundbreaking new behavioral model that explains what drives us, and why.

From tireless marketers to pandering politicians, the forces of modernity have lulled us into lazy categorizations of people, erasing the natural nuances of being human. We are all now accustomed to being reduced to a demographic—man, woman, black, white, old, young. But while these factors may inform our lived experience, what if there is something more fundamentally important that determines our behavior?

Bob Raleigh, founder of PathSight Predictive Science, argues that biological instincts are the most foundational determinants of our behavior. PathSight has pioneered a new model that draws on the latest findings in neuroscience, data science, and behavioral science to classify people in five distinct groups, depending on what they instinctively care about most: nurturing, fairness, loyalty, authority, or purity. Their data, drawn from large-scale studies with over 50,000 participants, show that people who share the same instinctual patterns will engage the world in extremely predictable ways, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, lifestyle, income, and education.

Knowing the impact that instinct has on behavior has all kinds of advantages. You can tailor any communication to make it maximally effective for a particular audience. You can strive to empathize with a person you’ve always found mystifying. And of course, understanding what truly makes you tick is an invaluable step on your journey to self-discovery. In The Search for Why, Bob Raleigh offers the missing link that all the big data in the world can’t deliver.

Genres: Self Help, Nonfiction, Psychology

303 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 19, 2021

Reviews

[Christine · Rating 2 out of 5]

I won a copy of this book through Goodreads Giveaways and am voluntarily leaving a review.

This book has a really great premise, and I bet it’s even been very successful for this company, PathSight, and could be really useful for future use in a lot of sectors, but I didn’t find it to be particularly accessible as written. There was a lot of data, but not enough about how to use it to help bridge some of the divides that we see; I think more practical applications would have pushed this higher for me.

[voiceofmadness · Rating 5 out of 5]

I struggled between 4 stars or 5. Ultimately, I went with five because, if nothing else, I haven’t read a book like this before. The concepts were relatively easy to grasp but ai felt that it could have been shorter, without loosing anything.

The reasons WHY aka normal drives and desires are the ideas that are explored. The whole question of what drives us is, of course, an odd thing to discuss. And while this not a fantastic novel, nor would I reread it; it does have multiple points of interest which kept me reading.

My 2 cents: This is one of those books that can make you think and reflect on yourself—and others. This isn’t actually an instruction manual, although there were times a reader could wonder.

Overall, it’s an okay read. Applicable for various people and situations. Nothing life changing but readable.

[Donna Leach · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book deals primarily with the way people's values affect their worldviews. I had a hard time with this book at first, as it seemed more oriented toward marketing--not a subject I'm interested in. However, he got more into the psychological and sociological ramifications as the book progressed. I'm so glad I stuck with it because the book really helped me to understand people whose worldviews are different from my own. Highly recommended in this age of polarization.

[ffi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was very interesting, but a little too business-focused for my liking. While I did enjoy reading it, I wished it pertained to the psychological aspects of human behavior and why we do what we do. It covered more of the marketing and professional sides of trying to better human connections rather than bettering them through an emotional or psychological connection. However, I did learn from it, which I liked.

[Ron Frampton · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book that explains what drives us and why.