The Psychology of Silicon Valley

Ethical Threats and Emotional Unintelligence in the Tech Industry 
By Katy Cook
16th November 2019
Open Access (freely available to download here)
$23 | £15 | 21 € 
Softcover | 978-3-030-27363-7

Silicon Valley is the world’s powerhouse of innovation, big tech and social media, but given its growing influence there is a pressing need to scrutinize what is driving the people behind it. 

In her book, Katy Cook questions the psychology behind the creation of technology itself. Through looking at its identity, culture, myths, and motivations, she investigates how the mindsets and behaviors found in Silicon Valley are defining the world that is being built up around us. 

It’s increasingly clear that digital technologies such as social media platforms, big data, mobile technolo-gy and artificial intelligence exert more influence on our economic, political and social lives than ever before. By tracing through some of the social impacts of increasingly pervasive technology – misinfor-mation, the decline of democracy, reduced cognition – this book explores how the “psychology of tech” is contributing to or even enabling such phenomena. 

Silicon Valley has undergone a profound shift from the psychological tenets on which it was founded, resulting in both an industry-wide identity crisis and the range of social impacts with which we are now grappling. However, Cook doesn’t simply demonize the industry, but rather sheds light on the potential harm that its unethical behavioral norms could be having on society, and offers concrete recommenda-tions on how to get it back on an ethical track.

“The myths of making the world a better place, of the virtue of moving fast and breaking things, and of the benevolent, socially responsible tech company, have survived because we have not sufficiently questioned them,” says Cook. “We have collectively allowed and set a precedent that needs to be re-versed as soon as possible and replaced with a better, healthier, and more mature narrative based on awareness, fact, and more sophisticated thinking about cultural health.”

The Psychology of Silicon Valley takes a deep look at the “why” behind the societal impacts of technology, offering a different way of thinking about how we might address the unique and urgent issues that Silicon Valley’s mindset has created. The tech industry might present one of contemporary society’s most prevalent challenges, but Cook argues that we have plenty of opportunities to shape the kind of future we imagine: a future grounded in awareness, responsible motivations, sound social values, and more ethical technology.

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Katy Cook is Founder and Director of the Centre for Technology Awareness. She is an expert on the intersection of technology, ethics, and psychology and holds a PhD and two MAs in psychology and modern culture studies.
 

For more information or to get in touch with the author please contact:
Rebecca Krahenbuhl – Communications Manager, Palgrave Macmillan
rebecca.krahenbuhl@palgrave.com, +44 020 7014 6634