040: The Psychology of Marketing to Groups with Jay Van Bavel

In this episode of The Remarkable Project Jay speaks with psychology scholar, identity expert and esteemed author, Jay Van Bavel, about why great businesses don’t need to micromanage their people, how our need to belong and to be distinct can co-exist within groups, and the power of identity symbols in aligning people with your brand.

 Jay Van Bavel is an Associate Professor of Psychology & Neural Science at New York University, an affiliate at the Stern School of Business in Management and Organizations, Director of the Social Identity & Morality Lab, and co-author of ‘The Power of Us: Harnessing Our Shared Identities to Improve Performance, Increase Cooperation, and Promote Social Harmony’. Prior to joining NYU, Jay completed his PhD at the University of Toronto and a Postdoctoral Fellowship at The Ohio State University.
 
 From neurons to social networks, Jay’s award-winning research examines how collective concerns – group identities, moral values, and political beliefs – shape the mind, brain, and behaviour. His work addresses issues of group identity, social motivation, cooperation, implicit bias, moral judgment, decision-making, and social media. He studies these issues using neuroimaging, lesion patients, social cognitive tasks, economic tasks, cross-cultural surveys, and computational social science.
 
 Jay has published over 100 academic publications and co-authors a mentoring column, called Letters to Young Scientists, for Science Magazine. He has written about his research for the New York Times, BBC, Scientific American, Wall Street Journal, LA Times, and the Washington Post, and his work has appeared in academic papers as well as in the US Supreme Court and Senate. His research was also featured in TEDx and TED-Ed videos and he has consulted with the White House, United Nations, European Union, and World Health Organization on issues related to his research.
 
 Jay has given talks at dozens of the Psychology Departments and Business Schools, as well as academic conferences, professional events, and non-academic organisations (including the World Science Festival, TEDx, New York Times).

Remarkable Takeaways

• Why creating a virtuous cycle, driven by evangelists, means great businesses don’t need to micromanage or spy on their people.
•  How groups not only scratch the human itch to belong, but can also serve our desire to differentiate when they’re optimally distinct.
• The power of identity symbols in aligning people with your brand.

Connect with Jay 

Learn more about his book ‘The Power of Us’ here

Find him on Linkedin