How the Cultural Instincts that Divide Us Can Help Bring Us Together
Event Details
Join us for a Think Better series with Michael Morris and Bernd Wittenbrink.
Three basic instincts for culture enable humans to live in tribes. First, the peer instinct to conform to what most people do. Second, the hero instinct to contribute what the group values. And third, the ancestor instinct to perpetuate the ways of prior generations. These psychological systems create cultures and determine their activation and evolution. Rather than deriding tribal instincts for their irrationality, we can recognize them as levers for collective action and cultural change. The cultures of nations, religions, professions and organizations are powerful forces in human behavior, but through understanding tribal instincts we can see that they are manageable and malleable.