BBC, Dangerous Women, Self-Awareness
TV appearance + links and recommendations
You can now watch my recent appearance on BBC Politics Live:
Miami/Palm Beach:
I’ll be in the Miami/Palm Beach area from December 26 to January 2.
If you’re in the area during this time and want to host something/hang out, respond to this email.
The Psychology of Social Status:
My new lecture series “The Psychology of Social Status” is now available exclusively at Peterson Academy.
I delivered six lectures in front of a live studio audience, exploring the psychology of social status, examining its evolutionary roots, developmental origins, and the fundamental role it plays in shaping human behavior. We examine individual differences in status-seeking, the evolutionary reasons behind status pursuit, and the complex relationships between status, envy, emotions, and intrasexual competition for romantic partners. We also investigate the dynamics of social status in relation to stories, plot lines, and arenas of competition, and conclude by discussing the concept of luxury beliefs and their impact on society.
Enroll here for immediate access.
Here’s the trailer:
From the archives:
Costly Cures: Harsh Treatments Appear to Uphold Social Trust
Links and recommendations:
The Perils of Group-Living by Robin Dunbar
Dangerous Women by Piotr Pachota
Culture Drift Predicts Decadence by Robin Hanson
Americans Are Hoarding Their Friends by Faith Hill
Does Getting Married Really Make You Happier? by Lyman Stone
Don’t Judge a Book by Its Advance by Louis Cheslaw
Follow me on Instagram here. The platform is less volatile and more chill than Twitter/X, so I post some spicier excerpts from my readings on my IG stories
You can follow me on TikTok here
Three interesting findings:
1. Women who were on hormonal contraceptives were 50 percent more likely to be diagnosed with depression 6 months later. Women who were on hormonal contraceptives were 40 percent more likely to be prescribed an antidepressant. (source: This Is Your Brain on Birth Control by Sarah E. Hill).
2. Even though most people believe they are self-aware, self-awareness is a rare quality. One of the most surprising findings of the research is that people who introspect are less self-aware than average. (source).
3. Education and science literacy correlate with stronger views on controversial topics (source). Intelligence alone is far from being a defense against ideological dogma. Students, in particular, have traditionally been a reservoir of extremism. The Nazis won the German students before they won the German State.
In 1960, William Shirer, the American journalist and author of The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, described his experiences as a war correspondent in Nazi Germany:
“Often in a German home or office or sometimes in a casual conversation with a stranger in a restaurant, beer hall, or café, I would meet with outlandish assertions from seemingly educated and intelligent persons. It was obvious they were parroting nonsense they heard on the radio or read in the newspapers. Sometimes one was tempted to say as much, but one was met with such incredulity, as if one had blasphemed the Almighty.”
And further:
“On the evening of May 10, 1933, some four and a half months after Hitler became Chancellor, there occurred in Berlin a scene which had not been witnessed in the Western world since the late Middle Ages. At about midnight a torchlight parade of thousands of students ended at a square on Unter den Linden opposite the University of Berlin. Torches were put to a huge pile of books that had been gathered there, and as the flames enveloped them more books were thrown on the fire until some twenty thousand had been consumed. Similar scenes took place in several other cities. The book burning had begun.”
The self-awareness article is a gem for me. Thank you.
"For example, one study found that more-experienced managers were less accurate in assessing their leadership effectiveness compared with less experienced managers."
I see this as a ubiquitous behavior for almost all people. As people develop skills mastery of of discipline they naturally move from being a student open to and eager for development feedback, to become more defensive of criticism... or just don't seek nor listen to feedback that can be constructive.
"Similarly, the more power a leader holds, the more likely they are to overestimate their skills and abilities. One study of more than 3,600 leaders across a variety of roles and industries found that, relative to lower-level leaders, higher-level leaders more significantly overvalued their skills (compared with others’ perceptions). In fact, this pattern existed for 19 out of the 20 competencies the researchers measured, including emotional self-awareness, accurate self-assessment, empathy, trustworthiness, and leadership performance."
This is another trap... power can cause the same switching off.
These two things I know so as a CEO I am constantly combatting them... trying to have the self awareness that I will gravitate toward being less self-aware and thus risk more mistakes or less productive behavior.
Students will always be easily enticed to extremism. I think this is , in part, for two reasons. First, at college , we are all attempting to create our selves, public and private. Extreme stances are easier to demonstrate and more exciting . Second, at college, most of us (not all) have rarely suffered any difficulties based on our stances.