gwern comments on Open Thread, May 1-14, 2013 - Less Wrong
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I was wondering to what extent you guys agree with the following theory:
All humans have at least two important algorithms left over from the tribal days: one which instantly evaluates the tribal status of those we come across, and another that constantly holds a tribal status value for ourselves (let's call it self-esteem). The human brain actually operates very differently at different self-esteem levels. Low-status individuals don't need to access the parts of the brain that contains the "be a tribal leader" code, so this part of the brain is closed off to everyone except those with high self-esteem. Meanwhile, those with low self-esteem are running off of an algorithm for low-status people that mostly says "Do what you're told". This is part of the reason why we can sense who is high status so easily - those who are high status are plainly executing the "do this if you're high-status" algorithms, and those who are low status aren't. This is also the reason why socially awkward people report experiencing rare "good nights" where they feel like they are completely confident and in control (their self-esteem was temporarily elevated, giving them access to the high-status algorithms) , and why in awkward situations they feel like their "personality disappears" and they literally cannot think of anything to say (their self-esteem is temporarily lowered and they are running off of a "shut up and do what you're told" low-status algorithm). This suggests that to succeed socially, one must trick one's brain into believing that one is high-status, and then one will suddenly find oneself taking advantage of charisma one didn't know one had.
Translated out of LessWrong-speak, this equates to "A boost or drop in confidence can make you think very differently. Take advantage of confidence spirals in order to achieve social success."
Have you considered looking into the psychology literature? http://lesswrong.com/lw/dtg/notes_on_the_psychology_of_power/
Yeah, I plan on investigating to see how much support this theory has going for it sometime in the future, but obviously it's easier to sit around in your chair thinking and coming up with theories than it is to actually do research. d: The article you linked to looks like a great starting point though, thank you!