This is the 1st lecture of [[Rob Henderson]]'s [[PA Psychology of Social Status]] course on [[Peterson Academy]] on the evolutionary and developmental routes of the desire for status. This can be seen as an extension of the [[Keith Campbell]]'s [[Motivation and Maslow]] lecture. --- ## Definitions - Abraham Maslow's definition of status is "reputation or prestige, defined as respect or esteem from other people, recognition, attention, importance, or appreciation. " - The philosopher Agnes Callard defines status as "how much value other people accord you." - Also known as respect, face, honor, esteem in different cultural or social contexts. --- Neuroscientist Michael Gazzaniga says: "When you get up in the morning, you think about status. You think about where you are in relation to your peers." This is related to a concept called default mode network, which is where our mind wanders to when we are not doing anything. Status seems to be one where our mind naturally wanders to. --- ## Evolutionary Psychology of Status [[Evolutionary Psychology|Evolutionary psychology]] is defined by Tania Reynolds as "examining how the mind has been shaped to solve recurring problems faced by human ancestors. It contends that natural selection has produced mental adaptations that enhanced our ancestors' ability to survive and reproduce." The environment that we are evolved for and adapted to is not this current environment but the ancestral environment, which is the small hunter-gatherer group environment before our transition to stationary agricultural lifestyle 10,000 years ago. ### Reproduction >[!quote] The currency of evolution is offspring. — Rob Henderson All our evolutionary traits are adapted to reproduction and bringing about of offspring, and not survival. Risk-taking is an example of a trait that is bad for survival, but good for our offsprings. Our emotions are also not evolved for individual happiness. --- ## Two Facets of Status They are: 1. Dominance (cost inflicting) 2. Prestige (benefit conferring) ### Dominance Evolutionarily older. Associated with narcissism, aggression, disagreeableness. Involves coercion, compulsion by force, threat of violence, humiliation, disfigurement, and intimidation. Unstable route for status, doesn't always end up well for the status pursuing individual. Operates on avoidance mechanism. Hierarchies keep peace as they provide a guideline for behavior, as members "know their place." Dominance as a strategy increases odds of reproduction for chimpanzees, but reduces their lifespan as they experienced increase stress. For humans, Jessica Tracy suggested that dominance comes at the cost of being disliked, and seen as arrogant, and that is too big a cost for most people. Hierarchy in the Forest Christopher Boehm on hunter gatherers. Transition away from dominance. Elimination of bullies. The introduction of weapon makes it easy. Richard Wrangham Goodness Paradox Self-Domestication Hypothesis that explains that transition away from dominance. What distinguishes humans from chimpanzees and bonobos and orangutans is coalitionary proactive aggression—the opposite of coalitionary reactive agrression that is associated with impulsivity and violence. The reactive types are the "bullies" being eliminated first. Proactive aggression involves calm, deliberate, calculated planning. Good for in-group—less violence, more docile—but bad for out-group. "a psychopath is someone who treats their in-group the way that ordinary people treat their out-group." ### Prestige Exclusively human. Associated with self-esteem, social acceptance, conscientiousness. Being associated with prestigious people also elevates one's status, making prestige something freely conferred. Operates on approach mechanism. Prestige is often conflated with knowledge. Sociologist Ashley Mears Very Important People "Free things are a clear marker of status in the VIP world. Free entry, drinks, and dinner signal recognition of a person's social worth. I always said, in nightlife, it's not what you can spend, it's what you get for free. That 's real power." Angelina effect where high status makes people more willing to listen to your opinions. --- ## Power Power in psychological research is defined as control over access to resources. It is different from status. Fairly new evolutionarily speaking. Hunter gatherers were largely egalitarian so power was not part of the equation. Mao Zedong "power grows from the barrel of a gun." Power relies on force or threat of force. Michael Phelps, or other top athletes, are high status but low power. Night club bouncers are low status, but high power—they get to decide who goes into the club. --- ### Fundamental Human Motives These are the four criteria that marks something as a fundamental human motivation: 1. Shapes health, adjustment and wellbeing 2. Induces a wide range of goal-directed behavior 3. Non-derivative: Pursued as an end in itself 4. Universal and observed in individuals across different cultural backgrounds Status, especially prestige, seems to hit the mark. --- ## Sociometric Status Respect and admiration from peers, what we call prestige here. Stronger predictor and happiness than socioeconomic status after a certain threshold. Studies in developed countries show people display envy towards high sociometric status individuals more than the high socioeconomic one. ### Sociometric Theory vs Hierometric Theory Hierometer is a measure of social status—one's standing in a social hierarchy. Sociometer is a measure of social acceptance. Sociometer monitors inclusion, and prevents exclusion. Hierometer is agentic, sociometer is communal. Hierometer sacrifices getting along for status. Sociometer sacrifices status for getting along. Status vs Belonging is another way of describing the two-axis model of human motivation, with status being the vertical axis and belonging being the horizontal axis. People's impressions of our traits status and belonging is related to competence and morality (how good we are and how good of a person we are). Competence and morality is also what insults are usually directed at. --- ## Other noteworthy points about status ### Sex differences Men want power more than women; women want status more than men. Men want status and power somewhat equally. ### Developmental Children seem to be able to understand social status, observed in their selective copying. Ancestral imitation tendencies often overextend beyond the person's expertise, mistaking domain-specific expertise for general expertise, which is what we call status today. This can be seen in 5 year olds in their copying of their teachers. They also understand that imitators are lower status than those being imitated. For babies, we use time studies to study their expectations. In absence of information, babies expect resources to be equally distributed. After learning about hierarchy, they expect higher status to receive more resources. ### Big Game Hunting Kristen Hawkes' research on hunter gatherer's big game hunting activity showed that big game hunting is actually less efficient than small game hunting, but brings about more status by displaying bravery, athleticism, power—all things attractive to a potential mate. ### Overconfidence Overconfidence, or what Keith called [[Understanding Self Esteem|enhancement]], is related to status too. The domain in which people overestimate their abilities corresponds to status signaling traits in that specific cultural and social context (ie. ability to lead in individualistic societies, being a good listener in collectivistic societies). ### Social Exclusion Cyberball is a research game that induces social exclusion. People who feel socially excluded also experience loss of self-esteem. Our psychology is not evolutionarily adapted to dealing with strangers, meaning even fleeting one-time interactions with strangers carry emotional weight, and is status-signaling. Social exclusion is a strong situation, which means all people react strongly despite individual differences. --- ## Reflections This lecture isn't the best in terms of structuring, so here is a high level summary of what I think is going on here: Social status is one of the fundamental human motivations. Status can be gained through either dominance or prestige, and prestige seems to be the strategy that works better long term. To gain status through prestige is to gain social recognition, and be value-providing in a way that makes people want to associate with you socially. That itself can come in two ways: either by means of being recognized for competence, or by means by being recognized for morality aka being a good person. Either way accords status specifically prestige. --- Back to: [[PA Psychology of Social Status]] Relevant Lectures: [[Motivation and Maslow]], [[Self in Society]], [[Understanding Self Esteem]] Next Lecture: [[Status Dynamics]]