Hivemind: Thinking Alike in a Divided World

At the crossroads between THE SHALLOWS and NUDGE, HIVEMIND is a provocative exploration of our ultrasocial selves during a challenging era. We have always been a remarkably social species - our moods, ideas, and even our perceptions of reality effortlessly synchronize. The advent of social media and smartphones has amplified these tendencies in ways that spell both promise and peril. Tribes can coalesce around any topic, belief structure, or shared experience. This in-group bonding can be positive, as in the case of crowd funded campaigns to support natural disaster victims, but it can also send us down a path of echo chambers and political polarization and conspiracy theories. Leading a narrative journey from a New England apiary to Charlottesville, from zombies to casinos to the boardrooms of Facebook, Cavanagh leaves no stone unturned in her quest to understand how social technology is reshaping our collective selves - and what we can do to come back from the polarized brink. Our emotions and decisions are tremendously influenced by the stories told by our self-selected communities, the narratives that shape our reality. Cavanagh's fascinating book samples work from as divergent fields as neuroscience and speculative fiction to find ways to cut through our online tribalism and move us back to the larger world. With compelling storytelling and shocking research, Hivemind is a must read for anyone struggling to make sense of the dissonance around us.

“"Cavanagh is a natural teacher whose enthusiasm for psychology shines through on every page."”

-- "Kelly McGonigal, bestselling author of The Willpower Instinct"

Dr. Sarah Rose Cavanagh is a psychologist, professor, writer, and Associate Director for grants and research for of the Center for Teaching Excellence at Assumption College. Her research focuses on affective science, specifically emotion regulation and mood and anxiety disorders. Dr. Cavanagh is the author of The Spark of Learning: Energizing the College Classroom with the Science of Emotion, and she's been contributed to publications like Motherboard and Darling Magazine. She lives in Massachusetts. Tavia Gilbert is an Audie Award nominee and winner of numerous Earphones Awards, a Voice Arts Award, and a Listen-Up Award.

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