Almost ready!
In order to save audiobooks to your Wish List you must be signed in to your account.
Log in Create accountShop Small Sale
Shop our limited-time sale on bestselling audiobooks. Don’t miss out—purchases support local bookstores.
Shop the saleLimited-time offer
Get two free audiobooks!
Now’s a great time to shop indie. When you start a new one credit per month membership supporting local bookstores with promo code SWITCH, we’ll give you two bonus audiobook credits at sign-up.
Sign up todayWhy We Act
This audiobook uses AI narration.
We’re taking steps to make sure AI narration is transparent.
Learn more
In the face of wrongdoing, why do good people so often do nothing? Pioneering psychologist Catherine A. Sanderson explains why moral courage is so rare – and how we can all learn to be brave.
We are bombarded every day by reports of bad behaviour: from sexual harassment to political corruption, from bullying to corporate greed. We believe these things are wrong or even evil, but in practice few of us choose to intercede.
Why We Act draws on the latest developments in psychology and neuroscience to explain why we act differently in groups than when we are alone; how slippery slopes begin and prosper; and where the dissonance lies between good intentions and real action.
Sanderson answers the question of why otherwise good people can become bystanders to evil of any scale, and gives practical strategies for how to resist pressures and make change in our own lives.
Courage, this book shows, is not a virtue we’re born with or without. A bystander can learn to be brave.
Catherine A. Sanderson is the Manwell Family Professor in Life Sciences at Amherst College. Her research examines how social norms and their misperception influence health-related behaviour on campus, including safe sex and disordered eating. An experienced speaker, Dr. Sanderson gives talks on the science of happiness and the psychology of good and evil to groups and businesses around the country. She has been chosen by Princeton Review as one of America’s Best Professors and is the author of The Positive Shift: Mastering Mindset to Improve Happiness, Health, and Longevity. She has published dozens of articles and written widely read high school and college text books, including Psychology in Action and Real World Psychology. Her work has been featured in the Atlantic and Washington Post and on CBS and CNN.
Catherine A. Sanderson is the Manwell Family Professor in Life Sciences at Amherst College. Her research examines how social norms and their misperception influence health-related behaviour on campus, including safe sex and disordered eating. An experienced speaker, Dr. Sanderson gives talks on the science of happiness and the psychology of good and evil to groups and businesses around the country. She has been chosen by Princeton Review as one of America’s Best Professors and is the author of The Positive Shift: Mastering Mindset to Improve Happiness, Health, and Longevity. She has published dozens of articles and written widely read high school and college text books, including Psychology in Action and Real World Psychology. Her work has been featured in the Atlantic and Washington Post and on CBS and CNN.