The Secret Life of Social Norms | Michele Gelfand, PhD | TEDxPaloAltoSalon

Summary

El guion explora el enigma de la cultura, una fuerza omnipresente y a la vez invisible que influye en todo, desde la política hasta la crianza. La autora, tras experimentar el choque cultural, posgraduó en psicología intercultural y descubrió que las normas sociales varían en su rigidez, clasificando a grupos como 'estrictos' o 'permeables'. Estas diferencias están ligadas a amenazas y son clave para el entendimiento del comportamiento. La cultura no es destino fijo; podemos ajustar nuestras normas sociales para mejorar el mundo, enfatizando la importancia de un equilibrio entre estrictitud y flexibilidad.

Takeaways

• 🧩 La cultura es un puzle fascinante, omnipresente pero invisible, que afecta todo, desde la política hasta la crianza de los hijos.
• 🌐 La diferencia cultural es significativa y puede ser analizada a través de la psicología intercultural para entender las diferencias profundas entre grupos humanos.
• 👨‍🏫 El autor cambió su carrera por la curiosidad cultural, optando por una doctorado en psicología intercultural para desentrañar los códigos culturales.
• 🌍 Diferencias culturales como las leyes en Singapur o las costumbres en Nueva Zelanda muestran la influencia de la cultura en la vida diaria.
• 🚦 La adherencia a las normas sociales es fundamental en la vida humana, y su fortaleza varía entre diferentes grupos culturales.
• 🔑 La distinción entre 'cultures tight' (fuertes) y 'cultures loose' (suaves) es crucial para entender el comportamiento en todo el mundo.
• 🏛 Los grupos 'tight' tienen más orden, leyes y seguridad, y menos delitos, mientras que los grupos 'loose' son más abiertos y creativos.
• 🌪 Las amenazas, ya sean naturales o humanas, influyen en la rigidez o flexibilidad de las normas culturales.
• 🏞️ La comparación entre Singapur y Nueva Zelanda ilustra cómo las condiciones geográficas y demográficas moldean la cultura.
• 🏢 La clase social también se ve influenciada por la cultura, con diferencias en la percepción y el seguimiento de las reglas.
• 🌐 La polarización política y el surgimiento del populismo pueden ser entendidos mejor a través de la percepción de amenaza y la respuesta cultural.
• ⚖️ La importancia de encontrar un equilibrio entre 'tightness' y 'looseness' para lograr la felicidad y el bienestar en la vida cotidiana y en las organizaciones.

Q & A

¿Qué es el misterio fascinante que ha estado estudiando durante 30 años el narrador?

El misterio fascinante que ha estado estudiando es la cultura, una fuerza poderosa que está omnipresente pero invisible, y que afecta todo, desde la política hasta la crianza, y que es distintivamente humana.

¿Por qué decidió el narrador cambiar sus planes de ser médico y optar por una doctorado en psicología intercultural?

Después de experimentar un fuerte choque cultural durante un semestre en el Reino Unido, el narrador se dio cuenta de lo poderosa que es la cultura y de lo poco que sabía sobre ella y sobre sí mismo, lo que lo llevó a abandonar sus planes de ser médico y buscar entender estas 'códigos culturales' más profundas a través de la psicología intercultural.

¿Qué es un ejemplo de una diferencia cultural que el narrador encontró en Singapur?

En Singapur, el narrador menciona que las personas pueden ser multadas por cosas como masticar chicle, no vaciar el inodoro o caminar desnudos en sus casas con las cortinas abiertas.

¿Cómo describe el narrador la cultura de Nueva Zelanda en contraste con la de Singapur?

El narrador describe a Nueva Zelanda como un lugar mucho más relajado y abierto, donde las personas pueden caminar descalzas en bancos, decorar sus vallas con gran cantidad de brasieres y tener un mago nacional, en lugar de castigar a alguien como un desviado, el Primero Ministro le pidió que fuera el mago oficial del país.

¿Qué es un 'thought experiment' y cómo se utiliza en la presentación para ilustrar la importancia de las normas sociales?

Un 'thought experiment' es un ejercicio mental que se utiliza para explorar hipotéticas situaciones o conceptos. En la presentación, el narrador utiliza un 'thought experiment' para ilustrar cómo sería un mundo sin normas sociales, con el fin de mostrar la importancia de estas normas para predecir y coordinar el comportamiento de los demás.

¿Qué descubrimiento hizo el narrador en un estudio sobre la relación entre la cultura y el cumplimiento de normas sociales?

El narrador descubrió que, al igual que con las personalidades de las personas, también se pueden clasificar a los grupos en términos de la fuerza de sus normas sociales, identificando un continuo que va desde los grupos 'tibios' con normas fuertes y castigos para la desviación, hasta los grupos 'sucios' con normas más débiles y permisivos.

¿Cuáles son algunas de las ventajas y desventajas de las culturas 'tibias' y 'sucias' según el estudio mencionado por el narrador?

Las culturas 'tibias' tienen ventajas como el orden, la seguridad, menos crimen, uniformidad y mayor autocontrol, pero también pueden ser más opresivas. Por otro lado, las culturas 'sucias' son más abiertas a diferentes tipos de personas e ideas, son más creativas y receptivas al cambio, pero pueden ser más desorganizadas y tener más problemas de autoregulación.

¿Qué relación encontró el narrador entre la cultura 'tibio' y el sentido de amenaza en un grupo?

El narrador encontró que las culturas 'tibias' suelen surgir en entornos con un alto sentido de amenaza, ya sea por desastres naturales, invasión humana, enfermedades o alta densidad de población, lo que requiere reglas estrictas para coordinar y sobrevivir.

¿Cómo explica el narrador el aumento de la tolerancia a las normas sociales en los Estados Unidos entre los estados costeros y los estados del sur?

El narrador explica que los estados costeros tienden a ser más 'sucios' y abiertos, mientras que algunos estados del sur y partes del Medio Oeste son más 'tibios'. Esta diferencia se debe a que los estados 'tibios' enfrentan más amenazas, lo que promueve un mayor orden y estabilidad a través de normas estrictas.

¿Cómo se relaciona el nivel de 'tightness' o 'looseness' de una cultura con la creatividad y la tolerancia según el estudio del narrador?

Según el estudio, las culturas 'sucias' tienden a ser más creativas y tolerantes hacia las personas y las ideas diferentes, mientras que las culturas 'tibias', aunque pueden ser más seguras y ordenadas, suelen ser menos creativas y menos abiertas a los cambios y nuevas ideas.

¿Qué es el principio de 'Goldilocks' de 'tightness' y 'looseness' y cómo se aplica en la vida cotidiana según el narrador?

El principio de 'Goldilocks' de 'tightness' y 'looseness' sugiere que lo ideal es encontrar un equilibrio entre la rigidez y la flexibilidad en las normas, ya que los extremos en cualquier dirección pueden ser problemáticos. Esto se aplica en la vida cotidiana al entender nuestras propias mentalidades, cultivar la empatía con otras mentalidades y utilizar el poder de las normas sociales para mejorar nuestro mundo.

Outlines

00:00

🌏 El Acertijo de la Cultura

El primer párrafo introduce el estudio de la cultura como un acertijo omnipresente e invisible que afecta todo, desde la política hasta la crianza de los hijos. La narradora comparte su experiencia personal de choque cultural durante un semestre en el Reino Unido y cómo esto la llevó a descartar su plan de ser médica para enfocarse en la psicología intercultural. El párrafo destaca la importancia de entender las normas sociales y cómo varían enormemente en diferentes lugares del mundo, como Singapur, Nueva Zelanda y Alemania, y cómo estas diferencias pueden ser desconcertantes sin un conocimiento profundo de la cultura.

05:02

🔗 Las Normas Sociales como Glue

En el segundo párrafo, se discute cómo las normas sociales son esenciales para predecir y coordinar el comportamiento de los demás, actuando como el 'pegamento' que nos mantiene unidos. Se contrastan las diferencias entre grupos 'tibios' y 'suaves', con los primeros teniendo normas y castigos más fuertes y los segundos siendo más permisivos. Se mencionan los hallazgos de un estudio publicado en la revista Science, donde se clasifican a los grupos en función de la rigidez de sus normas, y cómo esto influye en aspectos como la delincuencia, la uniformidad y la creatividad. También se explora la relación entre la rigidez cultural y la amenaza, ya sea natural o proveniente de otros seres humanos.

10:03

🏛 Las Diferencias Culturales y sus Consecuencias

Este tercer párrafo profundiza en cómo la rigidez o flexibilidad de las normas culturales afecta la conducta a nivel individual y colectivo. Se describe cómo los estados 'tibios' en los EE. UU. tienen más orden y estabilidad, mientras que los estados 'suaves' son más creativos y tolerantes. Se utiliza el concepto de 'Tightness-Looseness' para analizar diferencias en la clase social, donde se observa que las clases trabajadoras tienden a ser más rígidas que las clases altas. Se sugiere que los líderes ambidieztros, que pueden implementar normas rígidas o flexibles según sea necesario, son los más efectivos.

15:03

💡 Aprovechando el Codigo de Rigidez y Flexibilidad

El último párrafo concluye con la idea de que tanto la rigidez extrema como la flexibilidad extrema pueden ser problemáticas, y que un equilibrio, denominado 'Principio de Oro de la Rigidez y Flexibilidad', es necesario para la felicidad y el bienestar. Se ofrecen ideas prácticas sobre cómo se puede aplicar esta comprensión en la vida diaria, como comprender nuestras propias mentalidades, cultivar empatía por las mentalidades de otros y utilizar las normas sociales para mejorar el mundo. El discurso finaliza con una reflexión sobre cómo podemos ajustar nuestras normas sociales para abordar los desafíos de la era digital y más allá.

Keywords

💡Cultura

La cultura es un concepto central en el video, referida como una fuerza poderosa que nos rodea y que influye en todo, desde la política hasta la crianza de los hijos. Se define como un sistema de normas y valores compartidos que caracteriza a un grupo de personas. En el video, se discute cómo la cultura es distintiva y cómo puede ser fuente de cooperación y conflicto.

💡Normas Sociales

Normas sociales son reglas de comportamiento que siguen los grupos humanos y que son fundamentales para la predicción y coordinación del comportamiento. El video destaca cómo la estrictitud o flexibilidad de estas normas varía entre diferentes grupos y naciones, influyendo en la conducta y la estructura social.

💡Estrictitud Cultural

La estrictitud cultural se refiere a la rigidez o flexibilidad de las normas sociales en un grupo. El video explica que los grupos con normas estrictas ('tight') tienen más orden y seguridad, mientras que los grupos con normas más relajadas ('loose') son más permisivos y abiertos a la diversidad y el cambio.

💡Cooperación

La cooperación se menciona como un producto de la cultura, donde los seres humanos trabajan juntos para lograr objetivos comunes. Sin embargo, el video también señala que la cultura puede generar conflictos, indicando que la cooperación no siempre es sencilla o directa.

💡Conflicto

El conflicto es presentado como un aspecto negativo que surge de las diferencias culturales. Aunque la cultura promueve la cooperación, también puede llevar a desacuerdos y luchas por diferencias en las normas y valores.

💡Amistad

El video utiliza el ejemplo de la amistad entre diferentes culturas, como cuando el narrador describe su experiencia de choque cultural en el Reino Unido y cómo su padre lo comparó con viajar de Nueva York a Pensilvania, lo que le ayudó a sentirse más cómodo con la idea de viajar a Egipto.

💡Diferencias Culturales

Las diferencias culturales son un tema recurrente en el video, ilustrado con ejemplos de prácticas sociales en diferentes países, como las multas en Singapur por no seguir ciertas normas o la elección de un hechicero nacional en Nueva Zelanda, que reflejan la diversidad de normas y valores entre culturas.

💡Psicología Transcultural

La psicología transcultural es la disciplina que el narrador elige para estudiar, buscando entender las 'códigos culturales' más profundos. Se menciona para ilustrar la importancia de las ciencias sociales en el estudio de la cultura y el comportamiento humano.

💡Amistad Nacional

La 'amistad nacional' se refiere al personaje de un hechicero en Nueva Zelanda, que es un ejemplo de la flexibilidad y apertura de una cultura 'loose'. Se utiliza para contrastar con las culturas 'tight', donde las normas son más estrictas y menos permisivas.

💡Populismo

El populismo es mencionado en el contexto de las respuestas a la amenaza y la incertidumbre. El video sugiere que el aumento del apoyo al populismo puede ser explicado por sentimientos de amenaza que llevan a un deseo de mayor estrictitud y liderazgo fuerte.

💡Balanza

La balanza entre estrictitud y flexibilidad cultural es presentada como ideal para lograr la felicidad y la adaptabilidad. El video argumenta que tanto la extrema estrictitud como la extrema flexibilidad pueden ser problemáticas, y que se necesita un equilibrio, que el narrador llama el 'principio de Goldilocks'.

Highlights

The speaker has been studying culture for 30 years, emphasizing its invisibility and powerful influence on human life.

The quest to discover 'the laws of culture' to understand and potentially improve global cooperation and conflict.

Personal anecdote about culture shock experienced during a semester abroad in the UK, leading to a deeper interest in cultural study.

The idea that understanding cultural forces can lead to self-awareness, prompting a career shift from medicine to cross-cultural psychology.

Cultural differences observed globally, such as strict laws in Singapore contrasted with the relaxed attitudes in New Zealand.

The concept of 'tight' and 'loose' cultures, with examples of social norms and their enforcement in various countries.

A large study published in 'Science' journal classifying groups based on the strength of their social norms.

Tight cultures are associated with less crime, more uniformity, and stronger self-control, while loose cultures are more open and creative.

The role of threats, both real and perceived, in shaping the tightness or looseness of a culture.

How population density and historical threats contribute to the development of strict social norms, exemplified by Singapore.

The application of tight-loose cultural theory to understand differences between US states, with the South being tighter and the coasts looser.

The impact of social class on perceptions of rules, with the working class valuing tightness and the upper class leaning towards looseness.

Early development of cultural mindsets observed in children's reactions to rule-breaking puppets in a laboratory setting.

The rise of populism linked to feelings of threat and the desire for tighter cultural norms.

The 'Goldilocks principle' of cultural tightness and looseness, advocating for a balanced approach for optimal happiness and functioning.

Practical suggestions for using the tight-loose cultural framework to improve personal and societal outcomes.

The potential of harnessing social norms to address modern challenges, such as the lack of norms on the Internet.

Transcripts

for 30 years I've been studying a

fascinating puzzle

it's omnipresent but it's invisible

we rarely recognize it it's distinctly

human no other species has it it

produces a lot of cooperation but also a

lot of conflict this puzzle is culture

culture is a powerful force all around

us affecting everything from our

politics to our parenting for our

nation's to our neurons and we need to

know more about it we've used our big

brains to accomplish many technical

feats we've split the atom we've mapped

the human genome and we've even

discovered the laws of gravity but what

if we could discover the laws of culture

the secret codes that are driving our

differences then maybe we can create a

better planet for us all truth be told I

wasn't always so interested in culture I

was a sheltered kid from a Long Island

with a classic New Yorker cartoon view

of the world

there's New York we acknowledge there's

New Jersey but then there's basically

rocks the Pacific Ocean in the rest of

the world this view of the world was

challenged when I ventured off to the UK

for a semester abroad and I remember

experiencing massive culture shock and

calling my father and among other things

I was confiding with him how puzzled I

was that people were travelling from

London to Paris or to answer them just

for the weekend

and my dad in his quintessential

Brooklyn accent said to me it's just

like going from New York to Pennsylvania

and that metaphor gave me so much

comfort that the very next day I booked

a little budget trip to Egypt I figured

it just like going from New York to

California my dad was not very happy but

in my travels around Egypt and rest of

the world I started to recognize how

powerful this forces of culture but I

knew so little about it and by extension

I knew so little about myself so I

ditched my plans to become a medical

doctor and I got a PhD in cross-cultural

psychology I wanted to use the tools of

science to understand these deeper

cultural codes

that time I've been traveling the world

trying to understand lots of puzzling

differences so for example in Singapore

why are people fined for things like

chewing gum or not flushing the toilet

or walking around their homes naked with

the curtains open go to over to New

Zealand in contrast and you'll see

people walking barefoot in banks

you'll see them decorating their fences

with large quantities of bras New

Zealand is also the only place that I

know that has its own national wizard

this guy here is actually a prior

offender the streets of New Zealand and

was lecturing on everything from rugby

to religion and rather being punished as

a deviant the Prime Minister asked him

to be the official wizard New Zealand

and he was charged with keeping the

country entertained which he did he's

found building large nests on libraries

and hatching himself from eggs in art

museums other puzzling trends can be

seen all around the world why do Germans

wait very patiently at street corners

when there's no cars in sight when a new

teenager a newer car New Jersey you see

people jaywalking with great frequency

even with kids in tow in Germany they're

also inventing other incentives to keep

people staying put

it's called street punk and you might

not be able to see it right away but you

see this guy here is playing a game of

electric ping pong on the street corner

with the dude across the street and

actually this game tells them when the

light is going to change on other

serious notes why is it that in the

Netherlands you can smoke pot openly

whereas in Indonesia you can get the

death penalty for that same behavior or

closer to home there's other trends that

elude us why are we giving our kids more

and more unique names as an aside one of

my colleagues was in the supermarket and

asked where the candy was and they said

she doesn't work there anymore

and why are we getting fatter and fatter

in our country is there anything that

can help us explain these kinds of

diverse patterns these examples and many

more reflect something very fundamental

how strictly groups abide by social

norms all groups have social norms or

rules or behavior we follow them

constantly and actually we rarely stop

and think about how much we need social

norms I'd like to do a thought

experiment with you right now

imagine you live in a world where people

drive on either side of the street as

they'd wish or they ignore traffic

lights in this world you're in your

favorite restaurant and people are

chewing with their mouths wide open

they're burping really loudly and

they're stealing food from each other's

plates or imagine you board an elevator

and people are facing the back and

they're shaking their own BIOS on each

other or in this world

imagine that sex is not reserved for

private places people do it on airplanes

on buses and in movie theatres this is a

world without social norms or any

agreed-upon standards for behavior

luckily humans invented social norms to

abour these kinds of scenarios they help

us predict these to others behavior they

help us coordinate they're the glue that

keep us together but what I found is

that this glue is stronger in some

groups than others some groups are tight

they have strong norms and punishment

for deviance other groups are loose they

have weaker norms and they're much more

permissive and it turns out that this

distinction is really important in

understanding behavior all around the

world from abroad at home I first

discovered this difference in a large

study that I did with colleagues from

around the world the results of which

were published in the journal science

what we found was that just like we can

classify people in terms of their

personalities we can also classify

groups in terms of the strength of their

norms so cut loose is a continuum some

groups like Japan and Singapore Austria

and Germany Vere tight other groups like

New Zealand or Brazil Greece or the

Netherlands beer loose and what we found

was that tight and loose confers really

important trade-offs for groups that we

don't recognize so tight groups have the

corner on order they have a lot more law

enforcement and also security and they

have much less crime there's a great

wait wait don't tell me show on NPR

where Peter Siegel's asking the audience

what if Japanese policemen need more of

and we're all guessing do they need

higher pay do they need more vacation

actually they need more crime Japan is

such low crime that these police

officers in some places we're trying to

Ed people on to commit minor crimes

because they were so bored type cultures

also have more uniformity and what

people wear and what people drive and

even in their city clocks I analyzed how

similar the clocks were in city streets

all around the world in type cultures

they're almost identical city clocks but

in loose cultures they say something

very different and you're not entirely

sure what time it is

type cultures with their strong rules

have people also regulating their

behavior more they have more

self-control type cultures have less

alcoholism they have less debt and

they're less fat lose cultures tend to

be more disorganized they have more

crime they have less synchrony and they

have a host of self-regulation failures

but loose cultures corner the market on

openness they're far more open to many

different types of people people from

different religions from races

immigrants people with disabilities many

stigmatized people when one experiment I

did I asked my research assistants from

all over the world to wear fake facial

warts you can buy them on the internet

or they were wearing tattoos and nose

rings and they were asking for help on

city streets or in stores and there was

a very clear pattern people in loose

cultures were much more likely to get

helped when they were wearing this

stigma as compared to tight cultures

whose cultures are open also open to

more ideas they're much more creative

and they're much more open to change and

Thai culture struggle with openness so

you might be asking by now what causes

these differences tight lewis cultures

don't share any obvious characteristics

geography or language or religion or

tradition but there is a hidden

rationale and it has to do with threat

tight cultures have a lot of threat

whether it's from Mother Nature think

disasters and famine something that

Japan has been struggling with for

centuries or that threat might come from

other humans think invasions or the

spread of disease or even high

population density and it makes a lot of

sense when you have a lot of threat you

need those rules to help coordinate to

survive when you have less threat you

don't need as many rules you can be more

permissive let's go back to Singapore

which is called the fine country because

it has so many punishments for various

behaviors it's a very threatened country

it has a dearth of natural resources it

has a lot of conflict in its past and it

has extremely high population density

and astonishing 20,000 people per square

mile it's like living in an elevator a

lot of your life compare that to New

Zealand that has 50 people per square

mile and more sheep per capita than

people when you live with a lot of

people jammed around you you need rules

to help avoid chaos and conflict in

Singapore this overpopulation can also

help us explain the ban on gum in a

place where there's so many mouths per

mile gum was causing a lot of problems

people like they'd like to chew gum and

throw it on the floor

and it was causing a massive mess in

Singapore it was even causing elevators

and trains to malfunction because the

gum wads were covering up sensors so Lee

Kuan Yew said guys we're going to just

ban gum we're going to get rid of this

temptation is the simple solution and if

you have been Singapore you might

actually also understand why this makes

sense once you grasp the tight news lens

you can see these differences all around

us rather than red or blue we can also

differentiate our United States 50

states in terms of a continuum tight and

loose in our research we could see the

South in some parts of the Midwest

vier tight and the coasts tend to veer

loose tight stays just like type nations

tend to have more threat there's a

remarkable similarity between scores on

tightness and our data and mother

nature's fury in terms of natural

disasters tight and loose cultures also

reflect the same trade-off at the state

level tight States have got order and

stability they have more law enforcement

and they have more self-control and

divorce and less homelessness tied

states are even much more polite my

beloved New York State is ranked number

one on rudeness and that explains why

New Yorkers who really like to flip

people off get in a lot of trouble when

they do that in the South I've witnessed

that firsthand but blue states again

corner the market on openness the more

creative they're much more tolerant and

even if the more rude they tend to be

much more fun according to our surveys

once your grass began this tight loose

lens you can also use to analyze other

differences that have eluded us let's

take social class we tend to think about

class differences typically in terms of

bank accounts but here again our deeper

cultural codes are helping to drive

these differences let's do another

thought experiment I want you to think

about what comes to mind when you see

this phrase follow the rules just what

comes to mind when we have done this

experiment with the working class and

upper class we see a striking difference

the working class comes up with many

positive associations with this phrase

good structure safety it's the upper

class this he's very negative

connotation about rules goody two-shoes

nuisance in our research the working

class is far tighter than the upper

class and it makes sense the experience

a lot of threat they're worried about

falling into poverty they work in more

dangerous jobs where rules help keep a

bit safe and they also live in more

dangerous neighborhoods where rules can

keep kids out of trouble it's the upper

class that has more of a safety net they

have less threatened so they can afford

to be more rule breakers actually it

explains why California the University

of California Berkeley researchers found

that Mercedes and other upper class cars

were much more likely to violate traffic

rules and even cut off pedestrians as

compared to plumber vans and lower class

vehicles but again just like our other

research we could see the trade-off with

class differences in our research it's

the upper class the rule breakers that

are more creative and they're far more

tolerant of people who are different

amazingly these differences arise very

early we brought three-year-olds into

the laboratory and we couldn't ask them

exactly what do you think about rules

but we wanted to see how did the working

class in upper class react to a puppet

who violates the rules this is max the

puppet they befriend the puppet and

they're playing games with him according

to the rules they learn and all of a

sudden the middle experiment max the

puppet becomes max the rule violator and

he starts announcing that he's playing

the rules correctly and what you see is

a striking difference again the working

class kids are upset by these

normalizations

it's the upper class that's more likely

to laugh and they let max off the hook

tightness and looseness can also help us

understand many really bewildering

things happening in the world

take the rise of populism it's not

explained easily by just some kind of

mesmerizing personalities in fact it's

explained better by feelings of threat

before the US election we surveyed

people and the people that felt very

threatened whether it was by Isis were

immigrants or North Korea wanted the

country to be tighter and this predicted

their vote for Trump same exact pattern

in the elections in France when we

collected data there and it also

explains the the patterns of brexit

threats don't even have to be real to

tighten people up in my laboratory I can

give people fake threat about disasters

or invasions and it tightens them up

immediately they want stricter rules and

strong leaders and of course leaders

around the world are using this tight

psychology they're amplifying and

exaggerating threats they're targeting

the groups that are most threatened in

order to be popular and this is not just

relevant to the modern age this has been

happening for centuries and it

capitalizes on this very powerful

evolutionary principle of threat and

tightness I want to leave you with a

question that's very important which is

which is better tight or loose

philosophers have been debating this for

centuries is it better to have rules or

better have freedom Plato

Confucius and Hobbes wanted rules they

wanted tightness John Stuart Mill's and

even Freud advocated for freedom for

looseness which is correct

actually what if neither are correct

while certainly groups have Devere tight

or loose for good reasons what I found

is that groups that

too extreme in either direction have a

lot of problems when we get extremely

loose things become normal Asst and

unpredictable like that world that we

thought about earlier and it's

unbearable but on the flip side when we

get too tight it's oppressive and also

unbearable this is what I call the

Goldilocks principle of tightness and

looseness that we need a balance of the

strength of norms in their everyday

lives for the maximal happiness and

we've seen this with our own research in

Nations we see that groups that are

either too loose or too tight have more

suicide and less happiness it even

applies to our households parents who

are too over-controlling or parents who

are too laissez-faire produced

maladaptive kids it's the balance and

households of type moves that produces

healthy families it also applies to

organizations the best leaders are

ambidextrous they know how to deploy

tightness and looseness at the right

time an innovation is a great example of

this we need looseness to create ideas

but we need tightness to implement them

so I want to leave you with a few

different ideas of how you can use the

tight loose code in your everyday life

the first is that we should understand

our own mindsets we each have a certain

default on the Titleist spectrum based

on our own personal experiences on my

website I have a quiz where you can see

where do you fall on that spectrum and

it's very empowering to understand where

we are and why we became that way it

helps us to understand our own actions

and reactions there are variety of

settings and with people the second is

that we need to cultivate empathy for

others mindsets often people that we

have a lot of conflict with or people

that we have the biggest differences in

our tight lose mindsets and

understanding where they come from can

be great to understand and empathize and

build better relationships and finally

we can harness the power of social norms

to better our world culture isn't

destiny we can tighten up norms and

there's getting too loose or loosen up

norms when they're getting too tight the

Internet's a perfect example it offers

us a lot of advantages in terms of

efficiencies and connections but let's

face it it's a norm las' place and it

needs

tightening luckily for us humans

developed and invented social norms and

we can use them to better our planet

thank you

[Applause]