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Summary
Summary
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
From the bestselling author of Cultish and host of the podcast Sounds Like a Cult , a delicious blend of cultural criticism and personal narrative that explores our cognitive biases and the power, disadvantages, and highlights of magical thinking.
Utilizing the linguistic insights of her "witty and brilliant" (Blyth Roberson, author of America the Beautiful? ) first book Wordslut and the sociological explorations of her breakout hit Cultish , Amanda Montell now turns her erudite eye to the inner workings of the human mind and its biases in her most personal and electrifying work yet.
"Magical thinking" can be broadly defined as the belief that one's internal thoughts can affect unrelated events in the external world: Think of the conviction that one can manifest their way out of poverty, stave off cancer with positive vibes, thwart the apocalypse by learning to can their own peaches, or transform an unhealthy relationship to a glorious one with loyalty alone. In all its forms, magical thinking works in service of restoring agency amid chaos, but in The Age of Magical Overthinking , Montell argues that in the modern information age, our brain's coping mechanisms have been overloaded, and our irrationality turned up to an eleven.
In a series of razor sharp, deeply funny chapters, Montell delves into a cornucopia of the cognitive biases that run rampant in our brains, from how the "Halo effect" cultivates worship (and hatred) of larger than life celebrities, to how the "Sunk Cost Fallacy" can keep us in detrimental relationships long after we've realized they're not serving us. As she illuminates these concepts with her signature brilliance and wit, Montell's prevailing message is one of hope, empathy, and ultimately forgiveness for our anxiety-addled human selves. If you have all but lost faith in our ability to reason, Montell aims to make some sense of the senseless. To crack open a window in our minds, and let a warm breeze in. To help quiet the cacophony for a while, or even hear a melody in it.
Author Notes
Amanda Montell is a writer and linguist from Baltimore. She is the author of the acclaimed books Wordslut , Cultish , and The Age of Magical Overthinking . Along with hosting the podcast Sounds Like a Cult , her writing has also appeared in The New York Times , Marie Claire , Cosmopolitan , and more. She holds a degree in linguistics from NYU and lives in Los Angeles with her partner, plants, and pets. Find her on Instagram @Amanda_Montell.
Reviews (2)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Linguist Montell follows up Cultish with a ruminative examination of "self-deceptive thought patterns," which she contends are a powerful substratum of the modern psyche. While "magical thinking," or the belief that one's thoughts can affect the real world, may function as a necessary mental shield in certain situations (Joan Didion famously wrote about its importance for dealing with grief), Montell argues that "magical overthinking" is that same tendency set into irrational overdrive by the internet era's overabundance of information. To illuminate this phenomenon, she dissects pop culture oddities and contemporary relationship issues to show how they are symptomatic of otherwise anodyne "cognitive biases" run amok. One standout chapter posits that fans' "parasocial" relationships with celebrities, which rely on attributing to the celebrity an invented personality based on scant evidence, are an instance of the "halo effect" (the "unconscious tendency to make positive assumptions about a person's overall character"). Originally documented decades ago as characteristic of how people think about close associates, this cognitive bias is made irrational by "closeness" to celebrities via social media. Other chapters analyze the "sunk cost fallacy" in relationships and "confirmation bias" in astrology. Montell's arguments sometimes hinge on reductive generalizations (e.g., everyone believes they are a good person), but she makes more than enough astute connections to compensate for occasional glosses. It's an alluring diagnosis of what ails modern minds. (Apr.)
Booklist Review
This seamless tie-in to Montell's Cultish (2021) and her podcast, Sounds Like a Cult, examines the recent upsurge in cults, conspiracies, extreme fandom, and distorted nostalgia. Refreshingly entertaining and informative, Montell links research and social science with humorous and touching anecdotes. The book reviews some common cognitive biases and fallacies that may be magnified by online culture and rampantly spread. Montell attributes the contagion of astronomical levels of hopelessness and alienation to this phenomenon, especially in those inclined to mistrust institutions of power. Research reflects how relentless exposure to information without weight, context, or veracity perpetuates the overconsumption of its sources, she finds. Credibility increases when a concept is embedded in a repetitious narrative that elicits strong emotion, condensed into a simplified form that encourages immediate response. Montell aims to inspire online users to identify and counter ingrained tendencies toward superstition, groupthink, and mental shortcuts. She exemplifies the power of compelling stories by employing her own memorable metaphors and disclosures as an invitation to consider more deeply what we choose to consume and share.
Table of Contents
| Make It Make Sense: An intro to magical overthinking | 1 |
| 1 Are You My Mother, Taylor Swift?: A note on the halo effect | 9 |
| 2 I Swear I Manifested This: A note on proportionality bias | 29 |
| 3 A Toxic Relationship Is lust a Cult of One: A note on the sunk cost fallacy | 52 |
| 4 The Shit-Talking Hypothesis: A note on zero-sum bias | 70 |
| 5 What It's Like to Die Online: A note on survivorship bias | 90 |
| 6 Time to Spiral: A note on the recency illusion | 107 |
| 7 The Scammer Within: A note on overconfidence bias | 129 |
| 8 Haters Are My Motivators: A note on the illusory truth effect | 151 |
| 9 Sorry I'm Late, Must Be Mercury in Retrograde: A note on confirmation bias | 169 |
| 10 Nostalgia Porn: A note on declinism | 185 |
| 11 The Life-Changing Magic of Becoming a Mediocre Crafter: A note on the IKEA effect | 203 |
| Acknowledgments | 221 |
| Notes | 225 |
| Index | 245 |