KEY #15: Yes, we clan!
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Yes, we clan!
"If I were to identify one profound flaw in the founding of America, it would be its avoidance of our tribal nature. The founders were suspicious of political parties altogether — but parties defined by race and religion and class and geography? I doubt they’d believe a republic could survive that, and they couldn’t and didn’t foresee it."
— Andrew Sullivan
In 1954, Muzafer Sherif tried one of psychology's more irresponsible experiments on 22 boys of about 11 years old. He split them into two groups and brought them to a summer camp at Robbers Cave, Oklahoma. For the first week, thinking they were the only group in the camp, they played games, enjoyed the outdoors, and bonded. But then . . .
The second week, the two groups were allowed to meet. They began to identify as two tribes, the Eagles and the Rattlers. Sherif and his assistants contrived competitions, petty thefts and slights designed to see if the Eagles and Rattlers would turn against each other — which they did. They jeered and fought. It became a notorious illustration of how tribalism arises naturally in human societies.
This isn't actually the whole story, though. Let's come back to it at the end.
• Singing Kumbaya all by ourselves
In week 1 we talked about "identity," and put it in terms of our basic animal instincts and our accustomed way of life. We didn't touch on another important dimension of identity — our group identity and how we see ourselves in the social structure.
The hottest word in politics between 2016 and now is "tribalism." It's impossible to understand the Trump election, the "culture war" and the eternal question "Why do people vote against their own interests?" without it. You can't explain how immigration — not a national crisis — became the most critical issue in America without tribalism and the feeling of group threat.
Tribalism operates very differently on the right and the left. A wise person on a podcast (I can't remember who it was) said that Republicans have used tribalism to divide and exploit voters while liberals have expanded their idea of "the tribe" to include everyone, to the point where there is no tribe anymore. All people have value! We're going in opposite directions.
Science suggests that the "love everybody" crowd is fighting human nature. Tribalism is part of us. It was essential to human cooperation and survival in pre-modern times, and identification with our own kind still seems to be hard-wired into who we are. Studies led by researchers in Ontario and elsewhere have found …
… that babies as young as 6 to 9 months already trust faces of their own race more than those of other races. (And this kind of makes sense — they have spent their first months of life learning to trust their mothers and fathers.)
Of course, tribalism has never gone away.
• With us or against us is much stronger than right or wrong
During the height of the Iraq war, I interviewed historian Maurice Isserman, author of "America Divided: The Civil War of the 1960s." He said something very interesting:
"In the early 1970s a majority of Americans — this is astonishing and it's all but forgotten — said that the war in Vietnam was an 'immoral' war. Not just a mistake in policy but actually immoral. The curious thing was that that did not translate into increased public acceptance or approval of the anti-war movement."
Pay attention to this: Americans began to realize the Vietnam War was a fiasco very early, but they did not want to have anything to do with the people who were protesting it. Why? Because "protesting against America" was un-American. The same thing happened as the public turned against the Iraq war but did not embrace the antiwar left. Bill O’Reilly never told Michael Moore he was sorry.
With us or against us is much stronger than right or wrong. The worst offense was to step out of the tribe.
• So how do we get on the right side of this?
This is a tough problem, but it has solutions. The first thing you must remember is: Do not fight against someone's tribe! This is like what we've said about fighting against people's identity before. It drives people away. Don't do it.
Takeaway: Do not get into a fight with someone's tribe.
Michelle Obama committed an unforced error that never went away when she said she was proud of her country "for the first time." Barack Obama singled out people who "cling to guns or religion." Gov. Andrew Cuomo tried to take on "Make America Great Again" by arguing that America "was never that great." He failed. Mitt Romney insulted the 47%. Hillary Clinton insulted the "deplorables." These only rallied the other side.
Don't be this dumb. Don't insult America, don't insult groups, don't give the other side ammunition, don’t get into a nuanced consideration of all different points of view, and most importantly, don't polarize the middle against you. (And for what gain?) We can handle tribalism in a smart way, and this isn't it.
• Epilogue
By the way, the story of the boys at Robbers Cave? It's not as clear as it's made out to be. This was Sherif's second experiment — the first one ended in "failure" as the boys found ways to work out the issues between their two groups. And Sherif concluded the second experiment with a scheme to block the water supply and see if the youths would fight it out. But they didn't! Faced with a unifying problem, they worked together to get water to the camp.
In other words, tribal identity is not automatic — it's situational, flexible and expandable. It might even be good sometimes.
We should be able to work with this. More next time.
Joshua Tanzer
jmtanzer@gmail.com
Los Angeles
Takeaway Toteboard
- KEY #1: Republicans are from Mars, Democrats are from Swarthmore. (Feb. 23):
• Democrats run an intellectual campaign to voters who are emotional creatures.
• Instead of running an intellectual campaign, we need to use our intellect to create an emotional campaign.
- KEY #2: What does the Democrats’ hat say? (Feb. 26)
• The Republicans’ philosophy fits on a hat. Democrats don’t have one.
- KEY #3: Love isn’t rational. (Feb 28):
• Politics is emotion.
• If you find yourself trying to argue intellectually, stop! Find the emotional argument.
- KEY #4: You’re an animal! (March 1):
• Our attitudes come from our identity.
• You are speaking to the voter's animal brain.
- KEY #5: Don’t take away my _____! (March 4):
• Don't get into a fight with people's way of life.
• When you talk about change, find the “win.”
- KEY #6: You are this boy and life is this marshmallow. (March 6):
• Find ways to affirm people's way of life.
• Don’t just campaign; build community.
- KEY #7: Motivated reasoning (aka “Remember this friggin guy?”) (March 8):
• People believe what they need to believe.
- KEY #8: How your head keeps from exploding (March 11):
• People experiencing cognitive dissonance want an alternative narrative to make it better.
• Do not engage with your opponent’s alternative narrative.
- KEY #9: Lalalalalalalala, I'm not listening! (March 13):
• People don't hear information that conflicts with their opinions.
• Misinformation stays in people's heads. (And trying to correct it doesn't work well.)
• Don't respond to attacks by repeating the same attacks in your own language.
- KEY #10: Maybe there’s hope for people (March 15):
• Get out ahead of charges with your own framing.
• Correct misinformation fast.
• Let people know when they're about to hear something untrue.
• Undermine the source.
• Reframe, don’t repeat.
- KEY #11: The first rule of debate club is … (March 18):
• Arguing with people doesn't change their minds.
- KEY #12: Today’s the day we talk about The Key (March 20):
• Make people feel non-threatened by your approach.
• People can change their minds if they can keep their own identity.
- KEY #13: If you steal one idea from me this year, let it be ... (March 22):
• Start by affirming the other person’s identity.
• Create an identity-consistent "path" that leads the voter in the direction you want.
• Create an "offramp" for uncomfortable Republicans.
• The campaign is inside their heads, not yours.
• Use your intelligence not to make an intellectual argument but to make a psychological argument.
- KEY #14: That time we got it wrong (March 25):
• Don’t attack people who are changing.
- KEY #15: Yes, we clan! (March 27):
• Do not get into a fight with someone's tribe.