Summarizing key lessons from THE POWER OF US

Issue 114: This week we share summaries of our entire book in 10 slides (subscribers can download these summaries as a PDF)

One of our biggest regrets from writing our book is that we didn’t create simple chapter summaries to underscore the key lessons for navigating groups. Therefore, we have distilled the book to it’s essence and created simple summaries of every chapter of our book. This includes the key lessons from the book, such as:

• Groups–even of the most arbitrary kind–are often central to a person's sense of self and influence prosocial and antisocial behaviors.

• The norms associated with an individual’s group identities are often powerful drivers of behavior, and can be manipulated in different social situations.

• Though we can readily see how other people’s perceptions are fallible, we struggle to recognize our own bias–which is known as the “bias blind spot”.

• Factors such as initial commitment to the belief and receiving social support from like-minded individuals play roles in individuals' reluctance to let go of false beliefs.

• When you are talking to people across the aisle, try to understand that their identity and motives might be getting in the way of them seeing your perspective. It may be helpful to remove symbols of identity.

• Taking on a social identity can lead to a shift in motivation, causing individuals to become interested in outcomes beyond their own self-interest, fostering trust and cooperation.

These are a special perk for our paid subscribers—please subscribe if you want to receive all the summaries. You can print these summaries and keep them handy when you are trying to remember the basic principles of social identity. Or you can share them with people who might be interested in picking up a copy of the book and reading the whole thing. Here is a preview of the first two chapter summaries:

We want to thank Yvonne Phan, our newsletter editor, for reading the entire book and drafting these summaries (which Jay and Dom reviewed and edited for accuracy and clarity). Here is a link to the summaries from all 10 chapters: