Publishers Weekly
07/04/2022
In Cohen’s mixed debut, the Stanford psychology professor lays out a blueprint for cultivating a sense of community. Cohen argues that lacking a sense of belonging drives such social ills as chronic loneliness and toxic partisanship, and suggests that by “creating situations that foster belonging and bring out our individual and collective best” one can increase one’s sense of camaraderie. Cohen draws from social science research to lay out “interventions that nurture people’s belonging and self-worth” and details studies that found asking young people to work toward common goals with those from other backgrounds reduced prejudice more than instruction alone. The author explains how to address “belonging uncertainty” in education and discusses research he conducted that concluded that supplying students with statistics about how common some of their struggles are and pairing students with mentors increased students’ sense of belonging, especially for students of color. This is thoroughly researched, but the study summaries sometimes confuse and feel strung together, repeatedly making the same points. The ideas are provocative and humane, though the execution sometimes comes up short. (Sept.)
Sonja Lyubomirsky
"Belonging combines rich science, compelling stories, and beautiful prose to illuminate the social psychological principles behind the need to belong and how to foster belonging and connection in a fractured world. Reading this book will yield insights into your own motivation and behavior and will help you understand the source of many pressing problems of our time."
Peter Salovey
"No one before Geoffrey L. Cohen has pulled together all the research relevant to diversity and inclusion in a single volume, helping us to understand belonging through a social psychological lens. The book is masterful, showcasing highly effective interventions. An inspiration!"
Robert B. Cialdini
"This book shines piercing illumination on one of today’s most timely topics—the causes and consequences of belonging to modern social groups. Importantly, it maps scientifically grounded routes to minimizing the harmful consequences while optimizing the positive ones. The world needs this book."
Beverly Daniel Tatum
"Belonging is a masterpiece of social psychology—well-researched, highly engaging, and fundamentally useful to anyone who wants to bring out the best in themselves and in others, whether at school, at home, or in the workplace. At a time of so much social disruption and disconnection, Geoffrey L. Cohen has provided a very helpful and profoundly hopeful guide, rooted in well-tested psychological principles, that we urgently need. Everyone should read this book!"
Science Magazine - Matthew Lieberman
"Cohen alternates between telling the deep history of successful social psychological interventions and focusing on modern interventions that are being used to astounding effect...If we want more people to have the chance to maximize their abilities and their contributions to society, reading Belonging is the right place to start."
Dacher Keltner
"An exhilarating book, filled with actionable insights about making the world around you better."
Adam Grant
"This book is a beacon of hope for our fractured times. A leading expert on belonging offers an engaging analysis of the science and practice of breaking down the barriers between people and building bridges to a more respectful world."
Claude Steele
"This is perhaps the richest book on belonging you’ll ever read. It’s absolutely fresh—bringing together sometimes unexpected evidence and ideas to yield a transformative understanding of human belonging. And then, from its depth—fascinatingly revealed--it surfaces state-of-the-art practical advice about how to achieve and sustain belonging—in our lives, in our most important walks of life. The inspiration one draws from every page of this book is an enhanced sense of what is possible. It revives the very thing we need most in these times: hope."
Kirkus Reviews
2022-07-13
An intriguing investigation of our need to belong and how to make that process easier for the bashful among us.
Stanford psychology and business professor Cohen offers a learned tour of experimental and social psychology, connecting science to real life in meaningful ways. On the issue of the pitched politics of our time, he observes that there’s an evolutionary reason for not deviating from group beliefs, no matter how ridiculous or dangerous: “Being outcast from our tribe,” he writes, “would once have presented a physical threat to survival, and our brains still seem to see it that way. To venture dissent is to risk expulsion.” The tribe element is important, for being a member of a group is an essential part of identity, and being outside of a group is, writes Cohen, as bad for one’s health as a pack-a-day smoking habit. Throw race into the mix, and things get more complicated. Drawing on a variety of disciplines, the author observes that White people are often visibly stressed when in the company of Black people, fearing that they may be called out for racism. “The accumulation of mortifications can put people in a constant state of alert, ready for the possibility of demeaning treatment,” he adds, and while those mortifications apply to oppressed minorities more often than to the dominant majority, everyone has plenty of shame-inducing incidents. The ticket out? Cohen suggests that it’s as simple as kindness, judging less and listening more, and being polite: “Not interrupting; saying ‘please’ and ‘thank you’; apologizing when we do harm, whether intended or not, and even if others seem oversensitive about the harm caused, are signs that we see other selves as belonging in the circle of those to whom we should show respect.” Cohen is to the point and unsentimental even as he points the way to a nicer way to live.
A well-written, inviting treatise to be a better person.
