The Fear Knot: How Science, History, and Culture Shape Our Fears with Natashia Swalve, PhD
Schedule
Thu, 12 Feb, 2026 at 06:30 pm
UTC-05:00Location
Schuler Books (Grand Rapids) | Grand Rapids, MI
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Join psychologist and author Natashia Swalve in our Grand Rapids event studio to discuss how shared culture, media consumption, and even our own brains can help drive incorrect beliefs about risk and danger.Combining psychology and journalism in short, light-hearted chapters, The Fear Knot gives readers a fresh look at Americans’ perceptions of risk and danger, with an emphasis on how to recognize misinformation or biases, updated to include the most recent fears that Americans face in the 21st century— and the real dangers that we may be ignoring.
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About the Book:
Why do we fear Halloween candy but not vending machines? Why do “witch hunts” recur so often in history? How dangerous are serial killers, really?
The Fear Knot examines our most common deeply held fears, unpacking which are valid and which are misguided, explaining the history of how our irrational fears developed, and how we can unlearn them. We live in a world seemingly rife with danger, a villainous stranger or new deadly bacteria lurking around every corner. So how do we sort through these fears, determining which are well-founded and which have been manufactured? How can our biases and psychology allow these fears to overtake us, and how can we learn to think logically in a world driven by sensationalism?
In this lively and timely tour, psychologist Natashia Swalve and journalism professor Ruth DeFoster lead readers through the history and psychology behind our most visible and sensational cultural fears, beginning with the most personal—fear within our bodies—and moving outward to the home, our country, and finally to our broadest society-level fears. From micro fears, like how our fear of vaccines has led to measles epidemics, to the broad existential dread associated with climate change and gun violence, The Fear Knot examines the toll our fears take on us, on an individual and societal level. Exploring how shared culture, media consumption, and even our own brain can help drive incorrect beliefs about risk, Swalve and DeFoster help readers to make informed, evidence-based decisions about fear and risk— and along the way, to learn how to think critically, examine your own beliefs, and become confident consumers of media and popular culture.
Combining psychology and journalism in short, light-hearted chapters, The Fear Knot gives readers a fresh look at Americans’ perceptions of risk and danger, with an emphasis on how to recognize misinformation or biases, updated to include the most recent fears that Americans face in the 21st century— and the real dangers that we may be ignoring.
About the Author:
Natashia Swalve, PhD, is a neuroscientist, homesteader, and professor. Her first book, The Fear Knot, co-authored with a journalism professor, takes an interdisciplinary look at our common misguided fears, explaining how to not be swayed by misinformation. As an academic, she has published over two dozen papers on topics including drug addiction, gun violence, and mental illness, giving her expert status in ruining cocktail parties. She teaches neuroscience and psychology classes at Grand Valley State University in Michigan and has won five awards for her teaching and research. As a human, she’s an avid baker, greyhound foster, and solver of murder mysteries.
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Where is it happening?
Schuler Books (Grand Rapids), 2660 28th St SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49512-1619, United StatesEvent Location & Nearby Stays:
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