Infinite Loops, The Economist, Gut Feelings

Podcast appearance + links and recommendations

Here is my conversation with my friend Jim O’Shaughnessy on the Infinite Loops podcast. Jim asked some tough questions here. I’ve been on Infinite Loops a few times before, but this is my favorite one so far.

Links for Spotify and Apple Podcast.

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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:

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From the archives:

“No one deserves to be praised for kindness if he does not have the strength to be bad."

“No one deserves to be praised for kindness if he does not have the strength to be bad."

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Links and recommendations:

• The Economist selects my book Troubled: A Memoir of Foster Care, Family, and Social Class, as one of the best books of the year

  • Another shoutout to The Economist for their investigation earlier this year regarding why Troubled was not placed on the New York Times bestseller list despite outselling other titles on their list

  • I wrote about the various bestseller lists here

• How to Accelerate Science by

  Byrne Hobart
  and Tobias Huber

• Gut feelings: Social connections change our microbiomes by Mike Cummings

• Women’s gossip disguised as concern harms reputations while protecting the gossiper by Mane Kara-Yakoubian

• Voters’ diploma divide widens even as college gets cheaper by Alexandra Byrne

• Are you serious? by

  visakan veerasamy

• Cope springs eternal by

  Alex Kaschuta

• 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

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Three interesting findings:

1. Men who spend rather than save, and especially those who spend more money than they make, have significantly more sex partners than those who are more frugal. (source).

2. In a study on married couples, people were 1.8 times more likely to report being very happy when they were with their spouse than when they were not. In addition, activities with a spouse were considered to be 1.5 times as meaningful relative to activities spent apart. (source).

3. People who prefer dogs over cats reported higher levels of conscientiousness, agreeableness, and extraversion, while people who prefer cats showed higher openness to experience and neuroticism. This pattern held even after controlling for participant gender, and the pattern was similar in men and women. (source).