Jay Van Bavel on The Power of Us
Jay Van Bavel is an Associate Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at New York University. Prior to joining NYU, Jay completed his PhD at the University of Toronto and a post-doctoral fellowship at the Ohio State University. From neurons to social networks, Jay’s research examines how collective concerns of identities, moral values, and political beliefs shape the mind, brain, and behavior. His work addresses issues of group identity, social motivation, cooperation, moral judgment, decision making, and social media. He’s a researcher at his core who’s highly curious, looking up the newest and best ways to gather great science and great data and great information. He’s published over 100 academic publications and co-authors a mentoring column. His work has appeared in academic papers in the US Supreme Court and the Senate. His research has been featured in a TedTalk, a TedEd, and a TedX. He’s consulted with the White House, United Nations, European Union, and the World Health Organization on issues related to his research.
Jay had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include:
“We have an enormous amount of resilience, more than we would have expected” (11:20).
“90% of success is just showing up. You show up and you do your best even if it’s not your best day” (12:45).
“We’re highly attuned to the social norms of any group we’re in” (15:00).
“People want to feel like the identities they have are positive and distinct from other groups” (16:45).
“We want to signal to ourselves and others that we’re part of valued identities” (18:15).
“If people reduce their social media use by 1 hour a day, they’re much happier” (20:35).
“Most every human has a need for affiliation” (24:15).
“We can identify with groups of people we’ve never even met” (25:00).
“People misrepresent themselves on social media” (28:40).
“People are tuned to whatever type of value generates engagement on different [social media] platforms” (29:15).
“The more you identify with a group, the more you want to start to embody the norms of the group” (31:55).
“If you’re in a group, you should be carefully thinking about what the norms are” (33:30).
“You can nudge and influence other people by changing your own behavior” (33:35).
“The most powerful form of identity that makes people feel fulfilled but also inclusive is what’s called the dual-identity model: When you feel part of something bigger than yourself, but you are still able to sustain and feel that your other identities are valued” (36:50).
“We’re wired to be group-ish” (39:40).
“The groups we belong to don’t necessarily need to discriminate” (40:35).
“One of the key predictors of cooperation is that you both benefit if it’s good” (45:45).
“I frame my criticisms as questions” (47:30).
“Organizations who add talent but don’t think about how groups will gel often times aren’t any more successful” (50:45).
“Even though polarization has gotten really bad, people still vastly overestimate it” (56:30).
“40-50% of our political ideologies is biological” (1:04:30).
“We all contain multitudes of identities” (1:10:00).
“Whatever situation we’re in activates an identity, and with it comes a way of seeing the world” (1:10:25).
Additionally, make sure to check out powerofus.online for more information on Jay’s book, and you can also find more info on Jay at JayVanBevel.com! Also, you can follow Jay on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter, and if you’d like to reach out to Jay his email is jay.vanbevel@nyu.edu.
Thank you so much to Jay for coming on the podcast!
Lastly, if you liked this episode and/or any others, please follow me on Twitter: @brianlevenson or Instagram: @Intentional_Performers.
Thanks for listening.
-Brian
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