How Do I Get Out of This Game?

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Caule: Playing a game is a great way to think about psychological concepts and models of reality. Caule says he started thinking about people who become hermits, or who become recluses. He believes that the better you play at life, the higher youyou climb in status. Too often, ad we go down,. we feel terrible, feel dreadful, so, so s you know, life is a, you can literally go stp playing it.

In this episode we welcome back author Will Storr whose new book, The Status Game, feels like required reading for anyone confused, curious, or worried about how politics, cults, conspiracy theories communities, social media, religious fundamentalism, polarization, and extremism are affecting us - everywhere, on and offline, across cultures, and across the world.

What is The Status Game? It’s our primate propensity to perpetually pursue points that will provide a higher level of regard among the people who can (if we provoked such a response) take those points away. And deeper still, it’s the propensity to, once we find a group of people who regularly give us those points, care about what they think more than just about anything else.

In the interview, we discuss our inescapable obsession with reputation and why we are deeply motivated to avoid losing this game through the fear of shame, ostracism, embarrassment, and humiliation while also deeply motivated to win this game by earning what will provide pride, fame, adoration, respect, and status.