How Your Group Identity Shapes Who You Become with NYU Professor Jay Van Bavel | POP 1339

Collective identity, Group behavior, Group identity, Moral psychology, Social identity, Social psychology, The Power of Us

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How much of who you are is shaped by the groups you belong to? What if your identity is less individual and more collective than you think? Are the groups you’ve joined bringing out your best self, or pulling you off course?

In this podcast episode, Joe Sanok discusses why your group identity determines so much with NYU Professor Jay Van Bavel, PhD.

Podcast Sponsor: Alma

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Meet Professor Jay Van Bavel

A photo of Jay Van Bavel is captured. He is a Professor of Psychology and Neural Science at New York University, affiliated with the Stern School of Business and Director of the Social Identity & Morality Lab. Jay is featured on the Practice of the Practice, a therapist podcast.

Jay Van Bavel is a Professor of Psychology and Neural Science at New York University, affiliated with the Stern School of Business and Director of the Social Identity & Morality Lab. He studies how group identities, moral values, and beliefs shape the mind, brain, and behavior, combining methods from neuroscience, social psychology, and computational science. Jay is co-author of The Power of Us, has published extensively in top journals, and writes a mentoring column for Science Magazine. His research has been featured in outlets like The New York Times, BBC, and Scientific American, and he has spoken at academic and public forums worldwide.

Visit Jay Van Bavel’s website and connect on Instagram and LinkedIn.

In This Podcast

The problem being tackled by the book The Power of Us
Consider the groups that you join
Fear, anger, and the tendency for misinformation
Dr. Van Bavel’s advice to private practitioners

The problem being tackled by the book The Power of Us

I think the biggest problem I want to tackle … is getting people to understand how group identities operate. Everybody has an understanding about their own [individual identities] … But from the very first moment we started writing this book, our goal was to get people to realize that a huge part of their identity is their membership in groups. (Dr. Jay Van Bavel)

While everyone has a strong sense of who they are as individuals, people often forget that they also operate within group dynamics as well.

You are an individual person, but you may also be someone’s parent, another person’s long-term partner, and another person’s boss, and so forth.

Even though all these identities are smaller than your inner sense of self, they do influence who that inner sense of self is – and beyond that, these identities can and do play an important role in the social groups that you are part of.

Throughout our day, we can shift through five or six [or more] different identities that are all really important and central to who we are, yet are all fundamental to the groups that we belong to, and not really about us as individuals. (Dr. Jay Van Bavel)

Consider the groups that you join

Another important consideration that Dr. Van Bavel wants you to remember is that it matters which groups you do join.

You should think very carefully about what groups you join, because that will shape your whole identity and how you think, behave, and what you care about. (Dr. Jay Van Bavel)

The best way to make sure that you join social groups that resonate with you is to allow your values and principles to guide you.

Ask yourself:

Do you see your values being represented and practiced by these people?
Are they in alignment with you, and in the type of life you want to be leading?
Will joining this group help push you to become the person you want to be?

That’s why being very thoughtful [is crucial]. Who are those core groups or core people that you hang out with? Because if it’s the right people, they’ll bring out the best in you in all these different ways, or if it brings out your dark side, then it’s going to do that to you. So, you have to be thoughtful about, “How am I acting around different groups, different friends? And, “Is that helping me be the best person I can be?” Or, “Is that pulling me away from the person I want to be?” (Dr. Jay Van Bavel)

Fear, anger, and the tendency for misinformation

There is a destructive cycle that can happen with disinformation and heightened emotions: content on social media (or any media, including newspapers and radio) that triggers moral outrage makes a person far more likely to spread misinformation.

There’s new research showing that when you’re in an emotioanl state of moral outrage, you’re more likely to spread misinformation. You become susceptible to believeing things that fit your feelings of moral outrage. So, even smart, well-meaning people can be manipulated and triggered in various ways that make them do something that is counterproductive to society and to themselves. (Dr. Jay Van Bavel)

Powerful emotions like anger and fear, which are often stirred up alongside moral outrage, can make a person more likely to spread misinformation, and social media in general can manipulate people into these heightened emotional states.

Once you notice the cycle, you can break it. Pull yourself out and back from the social media cycles that try to get you heightened, because it ultimately serves those companies far more than you.

That’s how social media works, that’s how TikTok’s algorithm works. It just tracking what you’re paying attention to, and it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s something you like. It can often be something that’s designed to trigger your outrage or surprise, but as long as it grabs your attention, they’re going to feed you more and more and more of it, because that’s how they make their money. (Dr. Jay Van Bavel)

Dr. Van Bavel’s advice to private practitioners

Your identity matters, including all the smaller parts of your identity that are supported by the social groups that you are part of.

Books mentioned in this episode:

Dominic J. Packer and Dr. Jay J. Van Bavel – The Power of Us: Harnessing Our Shared Identities to Improve Performance, Increase Cooperation, and Promote Social Harmony

Yuval Noah Harari – Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI

Sponsors Mentioned in this Episode:

Learn more about how Alma could support you in building a thriving private practice at helloalma.com/joe.

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Resources mentioned in this episode:

Visit Jay Van Bavel’s website and connect on Instagram and LinkedIn.

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Meet Joe Sanok

A photo of Joe Sanok is displayed. Joe, private practice consultant, offers helpful advice for group practice owners to grow their private practice. His therapist podcast, Practice of the Practice, offers this advice.

Joe Sanok helps counselors to create thriving practices that are the envy of other counselors. He has helped counselors to grow their businesses by 50-500% and is proud of all the private practice owners who are growing their income, influence, and impact on the world. Click here to explore consulting with Joe.

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