Will Diversity Tear Us Apart? A Conversation with social psychologist Dr. Daniel A. Yudkin
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“Hell,” Jean-Paul Sartre once wrote, “is other people.”
The psychology literature on relationships confirms they can make life miserable.
Forget enemies – research out of UCLA shows that bad friendships can lead to stress, inflammation and even more serious illnesses. Those stuck in bad marriages are statistically unhappier than single people. Want to give up the “other people” game altogether? No luck: isolation is worst of all – twice as harmful to health as obesity, according to this study. Others can be hell even when they’re not there.
Sartre’s statement also echoes across the broader social landscape. Some studies find that diversity can erode shared values and trust. Social media brings envious social comparisons, and fuels an ever-accelerating culture war, where those on the “other side” are painted as literal enemies.
The flip side, of course, is that relationships can bring more happiness than virtually any other human good. This was one of the findings of the famous Harvard Grant study. Having high levels of “social capital” – trust and reciprocity in a given community – is associated with a wide range of benefits - from financial to health to overall well-being. The relationship between happiness and relationships also seems to be bidirectional: when we’re happy, we also tend to expand our circle and become more open to meeting strangers.
While we obsess over the latest trends and threats, understanding how to better cultivate positive relationships is likely to be far more useful. Even if it comes with risk: opportunity lies at the doorstep of otherness, precisely at the point where we risk entering the gates of hell.
Once in a while, a study comes along that fundamentally changes how we see society. The Hidden Tribes study by More in Common was one of those for me.
It finds that we’re split into seven distinct “tribes” – with three extreme ones (totalling 33% of the population) – or “wings” - loudly dominating political discourse, and four (the remaining 67%) comprising an “exhausted majority”.
The common ground is really surprising and completely absent in political talk today – for example, significant majorities (over 75%) agree that racism is a significant problem, that political correctness has gone too far, that the children of illegal immigrants should have a path to naturalization, and that race shouldn’t be a factor in college admissions. The study stands, at once, as a scathing indictment of the culture war, and as a reason for optimism. Most people really aren’t that extreme or unreasonable, and are willing to compromise to better live with others.
I had the chance to interview one of the lead researchers behind the study, social psychologist Dr. Daniel A. Yudkin.
Daniel uses quantitative methods to explore the intersection of morality and social bonds in modern society.
In the interview, we discuss the reasons he decided to leave academia (hint: it had something to do with the divisive nature of DEI policies …), how psychedelic experiences and secular festivals promote social bonds, why children tend to punish those closest to them the harshest, why Americans badly exaggerate the extremism of the other side, and much more.
His work pushes us to think beyond the “conflict entrepreneurship” that’s thriving today,
You can start with this clip on how research shows that the more you watch the news, the more inaccurate you are about your political opponents believe.
Or my summary of the Hidden Tribes study.
References:
The Hidden Tribes study: https://hiddentribes.us/
Daniel’s research: https://www.danielyudkin.com/research