Social Status: The Key to the Matrix Part I

This episode features:


-How do people behave differently when they are high vs low
status?


-How did human social status evolve?


-Should you try to dampen your desire for status?


-Are EAs too credential-focused?


-Is publishing in academic journals overrated?


-Can you get more done by working alone than by starting an
organization?


-What causes groups to splinter?


-How has effective altruism “professionalized?” What are the
upsides and downsides of this trend?


 


Full transcript


 


-References-


Apply Psychology:


Anderson, C., Hildreth, J. A. D., & Howland, L. (2015). Is
the desire for status a fundamental human motive? A review of the
empirical literature. Psychological Bulletin, 141(3), 574.


Cheng, J. T., Tracy, J. L., & Anderson, C. (Eds.). (2014).
The psychology of social status. New York, NY: Springer.


Puts, D. A. (2010). Beauty and the beast: Mechanisms of sexual
selection in humans. Evolution and human behavior, 31(3),
157-175. 


Solnick, S. J., & Hemenway, D. (1998). Is more always
better?: A survey on positional concerns. Journal of Economic
Behavior & Organization, 37(3), 373-383.


Celebrating failed projects


Estimating readership of different EA/LW writings (EA Forum
comment)


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