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    Collective Illusions by Todd Rose Summary

    Collective Illusions
    Todd Rose
    4.05 (990 Reviews)
    PsychologyBusinessLeadership
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    Overview of Collective Illusions

    Discover why 95% of us silently disagree with social norms yet conform anyway. Amazon's 2022 Business Book of the Year reveals the dangerous psychology behind groupthink, with insights Adam Grant calls "both provocative and right." Ready to see which illusions control your decisions?

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    “

    If people define situations as real, they are real in their consequences.

    ”
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    When Everyone's Wrong Together

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    Picture a small town where everyone privately enjoys card games and drinks, yet publicly condemns these activities as sinful-because they believe everyone else disapproves. This wasn't fiction. In 1928, researcher Richard Schanck discovered exactly this in "Elm Hollow," New York, where a wealthy widow named Mrs. Salt had convinced an entire community to live a lie. Residents sneaked around doing what they enjoyed, certain their neighbors would judge them, while those same neighbors were doing the exact same thing. This bizarre social dance reveals something profound about human nature: we're remarkably skilled at fooling ourselves into believing falsehoods simply because we think others believe them. These "collective illusions"-shared misperceptions where most people privately reject an opinion but conform because they incorrectly believe others accept it-shape everything from who we vote for to how we define success. They're the invisible architecture of modern life, and they're quietly ruining us.

    2

    The Electability Trap

    3

    The Copycat Catastrophe

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    The Price of Belonging

    5

    The Spiral of Silence

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    The Authenticity Crisis

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    Living Truth in a World of Lies