Fear, Underdogs, Hard Work and Sacrifice
Links and recommendations + best books I read in 2024
A tweet for the new year. Stay focused on your goals.
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:
Underdogs and overlords: Social status and the hero's journey.
Links and recommendations:
On blankfaces by Scott Aaronson
What I Learned About Luxury at the Rolls-Royce School for Chauffeurs by Hannah Elliott
The One Hundred Pages Strategy by Matthew Walther
Why Fear Governs So Many of the Choices Single Young Women Make by
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Three interesting findings:
1. The more we see someone as competent, the less we see them as warm (and vice versa). As a result, people who are highly successful can seem cold and people who are warm and friendly can seem incompetent, even when they’re not. (source: The Social Paradox by William von Hippel).
2. People in satisfied relationships are happier, feel more positive, and more likely to state their life has meaning. The importance of romantic relationship satisfaction cannot be overstated, given that it is a major contributor to overall life satisfaction. (source).
3. When a baby is fighting an illness or infection, signals from the baby's spit enter the mother’s breast, triggering her immune system to produce agents in her milk that help the baby combat the infection. (source: Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution by Cat Bohannon).
My Reading List is Still Available
I spent several months compiling a list of the most interesting and impactful books I’ve ever read.
The list contains my mini-reviews summarizing each book and explaining its importance.
If you are interested in getting it, just follow these two steps:
1. Order a copy of my book Troubled: A Memoir of Foster Care, Family, and Social Class in whatever format you want (print, ebook, or audiobook)
2. Send a screenshot or photo of your receipt or proof of purchase to the email address troubledmemoir@gmail.com and use the subject line SECRET READING LIST
Already purchased a copy? Just send a screenshot of your receipt to troubledmemoir@gmail.com with the subject line SECRET READING LIST and you’ll get the secret reading list right away.
That's it!
And if you don’t receive it within 24 hours, please check your spam/junk.
Best books I read in 2024:
Just a note that these books weren’t all necessarily published this year (though some were).
Father Time: A Natural History of Men and Babies by Sarah Blaffer Hrdy
Just as Deadly: The Psychology of Female Serial Killers by Marissa A. Harrison
Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution by Cat Bohannon
This Is Your Brain on Birth Control: The Surprising Science of Women, Hormones, and the Law of Unintended Consequences by Sarah Hill
The Return of the Primitive by Ayn Rand
How Men Age: What Evolution Reveals about Male Health and Mortality by Richard Bribiescas
33 Strategies of War by Robert Greene
The Person: A New Introduction to Personality Psychology, 6th Edition by Dan P. McAdams and William L. Dunlop
The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt
The Hall of Uselessness by Simon Leys
The Mind of the Artist: Personality and the Drive to Create by William Todd Schultz
All Art is Propaganda: Critical Essays by George Orwell
The Social Paradox by William von Hippel
Private Equity: A Memoir by Carrie Sun
The Best Minds: A Story of Friendship, Madness, and the Tragedy of Good Intentions by Jonathan Rosen
Hard Lessons From The Hurt Business by Ed Latimore
Late Admissions: Confessions of a Black Conservative by Glenn Loury
The Expat: A Novel by Hansen Shi
Feliz Año Nuevo, Dr. Henderson.
How can we get access to the lectures