Professor Sanderson has written trade books on parenting as well as how mindset influences happiness, health, and even how long we live (The Positive Shift). Her latest trade book, published in North America as Why We Act: Turning Bystanders Into Moral Rebels (Harvard University Press) and internationally as The Bystander Effect: The Psychology of Courage and Inaction (HarperCollins), examines why good people so often stay silent or do nothing in the face of wrongdoing. For a preview of the topics addressed in this book, watch Catherine’s TEDx talk on the Psychology of Inaction, which describes the factors that contribute to inaction and provides strategies we all can use to help people act, even when those around them don’t.
In her writing and speaking, Dr. Sanderson uses empirical research from psychology, biology, neuroscience, and economics to examine the factors that lead most of us to stay silent in the face of bad behavior, and how the tendency to stay silent allows such acts to continue. She applies this analysis to the full array of bad behavior, from sexual harassment in the workplace to racist attacks on public transportation to bullying in schools. Her focus is not on the perpetrators, but the silence of passive bystanders. Quoting the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King: “History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.”
Professor Sanderson speaks regularly for public and corporate audiences on topics such as the science of happiness, the power of emotional intelligence and growth mindset, the art of aging well, and the psychology of courage and inaction. Her work has been featured in numerous mainstream media outlets, including The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, USA Today, The Atlantic, CNN, NPR, The Wall Street Journal, and CBS Sunday Morning with Jane Pauley.
Dr. Sanderson’s full bio is available at https//sandersonspeaking.com.
