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The Social Brain

The Psychology of Successful Groups

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The Social Brain

Written by: Tracey Camilleri, Samantha Rockey, Robin Dunbar
Narrated by: Anna Wilson-Jones
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

How many people does the ideal team contain? How do groups bond, earn trust and forge shared identities? How can leaders build environments adaptable enough to respond to shocks and still enable people to thrive together? How can you feel close to people if your only point of contact is a phone or a computer?

In The Social Brain leading experts from the worlds of evolutionary psychology and business management come together to offer a primer on great team working. They explain what size groups work and how to shape them according to the nature of the task at hand. They offer practical hints on how to diffuse tensions and encourage cooperation. And they demonstrate the vital importance of balancing unity and the need for different views and outlooks. By explaining precisely how the 'social brain' works, they show how human groups function and how to create great, high-performing teams.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2023 Robin Dunbar (P)2023 Penguin Audio Management & Leadership Personal Success Psychology Psychology & Mental Health Workplace & Organizational Behaviour Business Management Human Brain Leadership

What the critics say

"Ever since the Industrial Revolution, an engineering mindset has dominated management thinking, making it easy for managers to forget that, ultimately, productive work is human. This wonderful book reminds us that businesses are also biological and social: created by living beings who can - and want to - transcend individual capacity with collective intelligence. It could not be more timely, wise and useful." (Margaret Heffernan, author of Wilful Blindness)
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I originally bought this book because I thought it was about complex systems analysis. I suppose it sort of was. This book is full of interesting tidbits on the topics of human social nature and how our social dynamics vary at different scales. I was pleased to find that the authors provided lots of case studies and advice on how to apply their theoretical findings into real-world situations (mostly focusing on the social dynamics in companies/organizations and a brilliant chapter on Leadership).

Also, the narrator was a wonderful to listen to.

This was way more interesting than I expected

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