Leveraging the Collective Mind

Issue 25: The 20 statements task; a week of news about The Power of Us; a review in Science Magazine; and an audio teaser

The Power of Us launched seven days ago and we had an exciting first week of interviews, podcasts, and stories about the book. In the event you don’t know what The Power of Us is all about, Lehigh News ran a fantastic in-depth article overviewing the book. Here’s how it begins:

If you completed the sentence, “I am ________” 20 times, what would you say? Would you describe your hair color, gender, frame of mind? Where you earned a degree? What sports team you’re a fan of? Your race, health status, role in your family, or a musical instrument you play?

Social psychologists use this “20 statements” technique to gain insight into various components of people’s identities. Most people’s responses can be sorted into categories: individual levels of the self, like stable personality traits or temporary states of being or feeling; relational levels, defined by your relationship to others; and collective levels that describe the self as a member of a category you feel is important to who you are.