The Power of Us is here!

Today is publication day. Help us spread the word, read an excerpt in Behavioral Scientist, and send us your thoughts!

The Power of Us begins with two quotations.

The first reads, “We are all a sort of chameleons, that still take a tincture from things near us.” When people quote John Locke’s line from 1693, they often update the archaic phrasing to “we take our hue and the color of our moral character from those around us.” Indeed, this is how we first heard it.

The second epigraph is from Zadie Smith’s 2020 book of essays, ‘Intimations’. “Identity as area of interest, as the form in which you have chosen to expend your love—and your commitment.”

We love these quotations because together they capture two fundamental principles about how humans work—and form two of the key themes of our book.

First, human identities are multifaceted and shifting. We contain multitudes—and as different identities come to the forefront of our minds, it changes how we perceive and make sense of the world, how we relate to others, and what we’re trying to achieve. As Locke had it, we are like chameleons.

Second, the social ide…