Understanding Overstories and Their Impact on Behavior

• Consider the "overstory," the unwritten rules of a community, when analyzing individual and group actions.
• Recognize that seemingly personal choices can be heavily influenced by the prevailing culture or narrative of a specific location.
• Understand that "overstories" can have a powerful, often unconscious, effect on behavior, even leading individuals down unexpected paths.
• When trying to explain unusual or extreme behaviors, look beyond individual motivations and consider the surrounding social environment and its established norms.