Why subscribe?
This is a newsletter for people who want to get smarter about groups and make groups smarter. Our goal is to help people harness their shared identities to improve performance, increase cooperation, and promote social harmony by sharing cutting-edge science and practical advice. We will also share videos and educational materials for people who want to use and teach these ideas.
Join our community of over 3,000 subscribers, as we discuss the role of social identity, group dynamics, and collective behavior in organizations and society, highlight new research and books by experts on collective behavior, and update you about our award-winning book “Power of Us: Harnessing Our Shared Identities to Improve Performance, Increase Cooperation, and Promote Social Harmony.”
Our newsletter goes well beyond our book, applying lessons of identity to new topics, sharing cutting-edge studies, and connecting members of our community. To give you a sample of what you’ll be reading, past newsletters have explained:
Why people are obsessed with dubious personality tests
Key lessons for avoiding groupthink in teams
The science of building solidarity across difference
What motivates bystanders to intervene in an attack
A free course syllabus on the power of shared identity
Join Us!
We are building a community of people interested in group psychology and collective behavior, and will seek your ideas, insights, and input as we explore the world through the lens of identity.
And if you enjoy the letter, please share it with at least one friend or colleague who might be interested or post it on social media.
About Us
Jay Van Bavel is a Professor of Psychology and Neural Science at New York University.
Dominic Packer is a Professor of Psychology and Associate Vice Provost for Research at Lehigh University.
The two of us have been conducting award-winning research on the science of group identity, team performance, cooperation, bias, solidarity, health, and leadership for over 20 years and published several hundred academic articles. We have written for the New York Times, Atlantic Monthly, Wall Street Journal, Scientific American, BBC, Guardian, and other outlets. We both received our PhDs from the University of Toronto, where we bonded in a shared sub-basement office.
Yvonne Phan is a science communicator who contributes to the writing and editing of this newsletter.
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