The Psychology of Secrets: My Adventures with Murderers, Cults and Influencers

Journalist Gold debuts with a revealing if unfocused study of how secrets shape human experience. Among other topics, he covers how keeping secrets can signal that children are developing a sense of self, and how people who join cults are often drawn to the “in-group mentality, secrecy, and sense of community” but experience ill effects to their physical and mental health as they try to hide their lives from friends and family. The act of disclosing secrets can foster or manufacture intimacy, Gold writes, describing how “sharenters,” or parents who post curated images of their children’s lives on social media, sometimes seek to “bond” with their followers by posting more authentic videos or photos behind paywalls. Unfortunately, Gold weakens the account with hazy examples of how secrets function in broader historical contexts, including how Hitler and the Nazi government framed Jews as “conspiratorial secret-keepers whose only goal was to bring down the German economy.” More trenchant are his analyses, often bolstered with interviews, of how secrets shape the interior worlds of those keeping them. This is a mixed bag. (Sept.)