Society is one big cult: The science of movements
•
8 likes•3,634 views
The document discusses the science behind social movements and how they form. It notes that movements start with a problem and that brains evolved to solve problems. It also discusses how brains imagine solutions, feel empathy for others, look for shared identity and leadership. Media is used to spread ideas and give people roles in the movement. Brains will do what they are told by leadership. While movements can be powerful, they can also be dangerous if misused or taken to an extreme.
Recommended
Recommended
More Related Content
Viewers also liked
Viewers also liked (15)
Similar to Society is one big cult: The science of movements
Similar to Society is one big cult: The science of movements (11)
Recently uploaded
Recently uploaded (20)
Society is one big cult: The science of movements
- 1. SOCIETY IS ONE BIG CULT THE SCIENCE OF MOVEMENTS #cultsci
- 3. “LET’S MAKE A MOVEMENT!” #cultsci
- 4. BUT FIRST, WHAT IS A MOVEMENT? #cultsci
- 5. [moov-muh nt] : a group of people tending toward or favoring a generalized common goal #cultsci
- 6. [moov-muh nt] : a group of people tending toward or favoring a generalized common goal #cultsci
- 7. [moov-muh nt] : a group of people tending toward or favoring a generalized common goal #cultsci
- 8. [moov-muh nt] : a group of people tending toward or favoring a generalized common goal #cultsci
- 9. [moov-muh nt] : a group of people tending toward or favoring a generalized common goal #cultsci
- 13. FORCE FOR GOOD SOURCE OF HARM #cultsci
- 14. 2 31 4 #cultsci
- 16. START WITH A PROBLEM1 #cultsci
- 17. BRAINS EVOLVED TO SOLVE PROBLEMS #cultsci
- 18. #cultsci
- 19. #cultsci
- 20. #cultsci
- 23. #cultsci
- 24. #cultsci
- 25. #cultsci
- 26. BRAINS IMAGINE THE WRONG ANSWER BRAINS EVOLVED TO SOLVE PROBLEMS #cultsci
- 28. BRAINS FEEL OTHER PEOPLE’S PAIN #cultsci
- 29. #cultsci
- 30. #cultsci
- 31. BRAINS’ EMPATHY CAN BE EASILY RE-WIRED #cultsci
- 32. #cultsci
- 35. BRAINS’ EMPATHY CAN BE EASILY RE-WIRED BRAINS FEEL OTHER PEOPLE’S PAIN #cultsci
- 36. GIVE PEOPLE A ROLE3 #cultsci
- 37. #cultsci
- 38. #cultsci
- 39. #cultsci
- 40. BRAINS LOOK FOR SHARED IDENTITY #cultsci
- 41. #cultsci
- 42. #cultsci
- 45. #cultsci
- 46. BRAINS FIND ANONYMITY" TOGETHER BRAINS LOOK FOR SHARED IDENTITY #cultsci
- 48. WITHOUT A LEADER MOVEMENTS FIZZLE #cultsci
- 49. WITHOUT A LEADER MOVEMENTS FIZZLE #cultsci
- 50. BRAINS LOOK FOR LEADERSHIP #cultsci
- 51. #cultsci
- 52. #cultsci
- 53. #cultsci
- 54. BRAINS DO WHAT THEY’RE TOLD TO DO #cultsci
- 55. #cultsci
- 56. #cultsci
- 57. BRAINS DO WHAT THEY’RE TOLD TO DO BRAINS LOOK FOR LEADERSHIP #cultsci
- 58. THINK IT CAN’T HAPPEN TO YOU? #cultsci
- 59. Oh here’s to my sweet Satan." " The one whose little path would make me sad," whose power is Satan." " He will give those with him 666." " There was a little tool shed where he made us suffer, sad Satan. #cultsci
- 60. IT’S WHY WE’RE HERE #cultsci
- 61. " #cultsci
- 62. POWERFUL DANGEROUS DO WHAT THEY’RE TOLDLOOK FOR LEADERSHIP IMAGINE THE WRONG ANSWEREVOLVED TO SOLVE PROBLEMS EMPATHY CAN BE RE-WIREDFEEL OTHER PEOPLE’S PAIN FIND ANONYMITY TOGETHERLOOK FOR SHARED IDENTITY #cultsci
- 64. THANK YOU (PLEASE DON’T START A CULT, OK?) @themaggiest #cultsci more questions? maggiewgross@gmail.com
Editor's Notes
- Hi, I’m Maggie Gross. I work at at advertising agency called Havas Worldwide, and have gotten to work with a lot of great brands. But the reason I proposed this topic is because I worked on Small Business Saturday…
- …And like many of you, I constantly hear both my colleagues and clients hungry to create movements. So today, I’m going to offer some interesting ideas to help you in these conversations from now on.
- But first, what is a moment? It’s a valid question, because a lot of case studies are claiming to have created them.
- So, I looked up movement in the dictionary. And the definition is a group of people tending toward or favoring a generalized common goal.
- The Arab Spring was a movement
- But by this definition, the military is a movement.
- Trends like punk rock are movements.
- And even cults like the Manson Family, while horrific and destructive are movements.
- And besides a definition, what all movements have in common are patterns.
- Both patterns in the variables that make them a reality
- And the patterns in your brain that make you to want to join in
- And that’s what I’m really going to show today… Is that movements can be a force for good or a source of harm because of the way your brain responds to patterns.
- So in the next 10 minutes, I’ll share the four variables of the most successful movements…
- …and explain how your brain responds to each in two ways: the light and the dark, the good and the bad, the powerful and the dangerous.
- The first variable of a successful movement is well-defined problem…
- And that’s because our brains evolved to solve big problems - things like what we eat, what eats us, who we mate and socialize and so on.
- So for the Civil Rights Movement, the problem was was racial inequality.
- For the Green Movement, the problem was pollution. But your problem doesn’t have to be life-threatening, it just has to be well-defined.
- Take Small Business Saturday as an example, they do a phenomenal job of defining and educating about the problem - when you don’t shop small, it hurts small business owners and it hurts your community.
- But the dangerous side of this is that your brain also LOVES solving problems… so much that it would rather have the wrong answer, than no answer at all. So it interprets and adds meaning to randomness to help fill in the blanks when it doesn’t understand.
- This tendency is called Pareidolia. It’s why you see faces in clouds, or think you have a lucky number.
- And it exists because our brains evolved to add meaning. So when our ancestors heard wind in the grass, they would connect the dots that a tiger could be the cause… Because solving a problem that might not be there is pretty harmless…
- …but not solving a real problem can get you eaten.
- And pareidolia can’t be turned off… I’m going to play part of the song Stairway to Heaven for you backwards. I want you to just listen. How many of you think you heard the word Satan? That’s pareidolia.
- So start with a problem for your movement, and people will want to solve it… but be sure you define the problem well, or our brains will fill in the blanks and you may like like the conclusions we come to.
- Now just having a problem doesn’t mean people will care, so the second variable of a successful movement is media.
- Because brains are empathetic. So unless you’re a sociopath, when someone feels pain, it triggers the same areas of your brain as if the event was happening to you. Media eliminates proximity constraints of this empathy and makes people want to act.
- So for the Civil Rights Movement, Rosa Parks and the Riots in Birmingham were painful for the people experiencing them, but homes now had televisions, and Americans all over the country were exposed to this pain. But you don’t need physical suffering to inject empathy into your movement’s narrative.
- Small Business Saturday did it by highlighting actual small business owners telling their own stories, connecting shoppers to the real people impacted by the movement.
- But the dangerous side of this is that it’s east to rewire this empathy with propaganda.
- Propaganda is how wars gain support, and it’s how cults and fringe fundamentalism receive energy. It de-humanizes and displays unified power with symbols like cartoons, slogans, and nicknames to tell a one-sided story.
- And it works because symbols are our native language. As babies, they’re the first patterns we use to interpret meaning. And once that pattern for meaning exists in your brain, it’s almost impossible to undo. So it’s why the swastika symbolizes Terror, Dictatorship, Murder, and Holocaust in your brain.
- And can never go back to the ancient hindu symbol for “good fortune” as seen on the chest of this Buddha.
- So use media in your movement, and people will pay attention… you can use it to powerfully inspire action through empathy, or dangerously radicalize through propaganda.
- And since the role of media is to reach people, the third variable of a successful movement is to give those people a role.
- For The Civil Rights Movement, it was the march on Washington
- For The Green Movement, it was the first earth day
- And For Small Business Saturday, it was asking people to make a purchase at a small business.
- And that’s why people join groups, they offer shared identity in the cause.
- Now, from an evolutionary perspective, we’re more likely to cooperate with people who kind of look like us… And movements capitalize on this.
- Their common language, chants, badges, and imagery not only give people on the outside a uniform to identify their cause, but also taps into supporters’ subconscious tribal instinct.
- But the dangerous side of this is that being in a group also stifles the part of your brain involved in thinking about yourself.
- And this is because of your anterior cingulate cortex. It sends out an error signal when you hold a different opinion than than the group, and actually makes you want to adapt your behavior to fit in.
- This is what causes mob-mentality, and can sweep otherwise decent individuals (both civilians and police) into actions they would normally find immoral.
- So give people a role in your movement, and they will find shared identity in the cause… but beware that a group of supporters can quickly turn into a mob.
- And because of the danger of group dynamics, the final variable of a successful movement is focused leadership.
- This is a photo of Zucatti park in Lower Manhattan during Occupy Wall Street - a movement founded on the principle that there should be no leaders. But if you walked among the protestors, there was no focus. Some were against soy, some against capitalism, some were against banks, some were against war. As a group, their main commonality was the fight, not a cause.
- And this is Zucatti park today. Because movements are trying to change the system in one way or another, and a fight isn’t enough to drive systemic change.
- So Brains look for focused leadership, because a movement's success rests in the power to create systemic change.
- It’s why The Civil Rights Movement needed Martin Luther King to organize supporters…
- …and communicate their stories and demands to powers in charge.
- It’s also a major reason why Small Business Saturday was so successful. They had the focus of the American Express Brand, but they also had the interest and leadership of Washington and The President.
- But the dangerous side of this is probably the darkest side of the brain that I’ve shown so far. Because brains naturally look for and look up to leaders, they are also easily lead astray.
- And a horrific example is The Jonestown Massacre from 1978… the origin of the phrase, “drinking the Kool-aid” where 918 people committed mass suicide at the direction of their cult leader Jim Jones. And while extreme, The Jonestown Massacre symbolizes the power a focused leader can have over a people’s actions.
- And there’s science behind it. Maybe you learned about The Milgram Experiments in a psych or ethics classes. It was an experiment in the 60s where a person was told to administer a shock to another - and it proved that we’re all too willing to obey an authority figure, even if it conflicts with our personal conscience.
- So your movement should offer focused leadership - maybe it’s your brand, maybe it’s a charismatic person on your team, maybe it’s you… and this can be an amazing organizing force for good, but beware of the power the leader you select can have over our actions and beliefs.
- So remember before I played Stairway to heaven and we kind of all heard Satan, but not much else? Well here’s what happens when I prime your brain with the pattern I want you to hear.
- As creepy as this may be, it’s incredibly powerful.
- Your brains’ thirst for patterns is why any of us are here today. As a species, humans find problems, and work together to figure it out.
- And it’s why any of you are here in this room. We come to SXSW to solve problems, hear new stories, be part of a group, and be around leaders… These are the same ancient reason we joined tribes. And they’re the same reason we still join movements, assimilate into societies… and even get swept away by cults.
- So if you want to start a movement, you can use this knowledge as a force for good… or a source of harm. You can powerfully lead our collective empathy and desire for shared identity to solve big problems. Or you can dangerously convince us of false problems through propaganda, and use mob-mentality to lead us all astray. As they say, with great power comes great responsibility. Use it to create a force for good.
- Thank you.