True Believer, Virtue Meets Terror, Troubled Reviews

My talk at Cornell + links and recommendations

You can now watch my recent talk at Cornell University:

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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 concludes 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

Without Belief in a God, But Never Without Belief in a Devil

A review of one of my favorite nonfiction books of all time:

Without Belief in a God, But Never Without Belief in a Devil

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Links and recommendations

• Where Virtue Meets Terror: A Brief History of Proto-Communism by Sean McMeekin

• Are Your Morals Too Good to Be True? by Manvir Singh

• The focusing illusion by

  Lionel Page

• How our culture treats boys by

  Joseph Heath

• Misinformation researchers are wrong: There can't be a science of misleading content. by

  Dan Williams

• Advice for a Happy Life by Charles Murray

• 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 new reviews of Troubled

• The Trouble with Childhood Trauma by

  Aaron M. Renn

  • Excerpt: “Rob Henderson’s Troubled is a great companion to economist Melissa Kearney’s book on the two-parent privilege, one that brings the human side of the statistics to life. Highly recommended.”

• Troubled – A Memoir book review by Chuck Pezeshki

  • “The beauty of the book is its low level dysthymic tone and structure. Not everything is bad all the time, and that gives a far more accurate view of poverty in the United States than others. I recently attempted to get through, for example, Barbara Kingsolver’s recent novel, Demon Copperhead, but could not, because it turned into a classic Misery Olympics tome..Henderson does a much better job of capturing the grinding sadness of loss of faith in stability of adults in kids’ lives, as well as the actual violence that people in poorer communities across the US experience. The short version is simple — it may be more stimulating, and glamorous if the violence is upped a couple of clicks. But then you usually don’t survive it. You get killed, or you kill someone and end up in jail. Henderson’s journey is one of the actual lower classes, and not nearly so dramatic. And that is the reason to read it.”

• Review: A Former Foster Child Lambasts the 'Luxury Beliefs' of Wealthy Elites by Emma Camp

  • “Henderson's theory of luxury beliefs has some value as an examination of how people signal their membership in the educated elite. He's less convincing when he argues that many working-class people take this elite rhetoric seriously—or that the chaos and dysfunction in many working-class communities could be ameliorated if only society's most educated members talked a different talk.”

    • Personally, I continue to be amazed at how little weight people place on the power of elite attitudes. There is a large body of empirical evidence indicating how much social influence is enjoyed by prominent members of society. Suppose tomorrow our elites began endorsing littering. Every time you turn on Netflix, open a glossy magazine, click on an op-ed, etc. you see attractive or educated/affluent people tossing garbage on the sidewalk or writing thinkpieces like “In defense of tossing your wrappers and napkins wherever you want.” Would anyone be surprised if littering skyrocketed? If elites didn’t believe they wielded unique influence, they wouldn’t spend so much time and effort deciding which stories to tell, which books to publish, which opinions to spotlight, and which behaviors and choices to exalt.

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Three interesting findings

1. A quarter of all lies are told by just 1 percent of the population. You might think that is comfortingly low and probably manageable. However, that 1 percent can, if left uncontrolled, quickly take over the population. (source: The Social Brain: The Psychology of Successful Groups by Robin Dunbar, Tracey Camilleri, and Samantha Rockey)

2. Liberals are significantly more likely than others to be depressed, anxious, and high on neuroticism. Liberals are also much more likely than conservatives to be diagnosed with mental illnesses. These trends hold across genders and across age groups. (source).

3. Percentage of women and men who say being able to support a family financially is important for a man to be a good husband/partner (source):

• Women: 71%

• Men: 72%

Percentage of women and men who say being able to support a family financially is important for a woman to be a good wife/partner

• Women: 39%

• Men: 25%