The Midweek Labnote 05/15

Hi there, I'm Chloe Wangu, and this is the midweek lab note.

So we interrupt your regularly scheduled program, uh, to bring you a sort of diagramming exercise, which I've done once before, and I do this when it makes more sense for me to um illustrate what I'm talking about than it does to talk it out or write it out.

Um, and it's the perfect time because this week's topic is polarization and the underlying mechanics of polarization, how it happens, why it happens.

Now, before I start all that, Quickly, um, why should we care about polarization? Well, given the fact that we are folks who are looking to have our ideas click, catch on and change behaviors, and given the fact that our ideas are all pro-social, social justice oriented, all around making the world a less poisonous place for us all to be.

Um, polarization is something that we have to pay very close attention to, because it is a dynamic that often interferes with um the motivational and mental calculus that is happening in and around the folks that we are looking to.

Ultimately influence.

So, with all that being said, let's get right into it.

Now, what you're seeing on the screen, um, is a network.

This is a network of people.

And all of these little nodes that you are seeing are people.

Just think of it this way.

This is all Heads up, very simplified, but um, it's simplified for the the purpose of being instructive.

Um, now, all the lines that are in between these nodes, those are relationships between the people, OK? So that's what we've got.

Now How does polarization happen or begin? Again, this is very simplified.

However, generally, it starts when an actor, and this might be an individual, this might be a group of individuals, when an actor calls out to a demographically or psychographically, or sometimes it's a combination of the two, but similar folks, right? Folks who are either demographically or psychographically similar to each other.

And gives them a sort of shared identity.

Sometimes they're calling them into community and sometimes that community is with each other, but not always, right? Now, For those who are unfamiliar, psychographics are really just the hobbies, affiliations, right? Do you prefer Hulu to Netflix? I see myself as an artist, right? Like things like that, right? Um, and the reason that it is demographically and psychographically similar folks, that this actor.

Calls out to.

Is because.

is because Groups that are demographically and or psychographically similar to each other.

Like within the group are frankly easier to manipulate.

So that's why that that choice is made.

So, that's the first thing that happens, right? Calls out to these demographically and or psychographically similar folks, gives them a shared identity, calls them into community.

Next, this actor plants ideas that alienates others that are outside of that demographically or psychographically similar group, so that those relationships break down, OK, so that those relationships dissolve.

And when that happens.

We enter a state of active polarization.

As you can see, we now have two distinct networks, 2 distinct groups.

Now the reason that.

These groups, especially this group that has been called out to and is now demographically and or psychographically homogeneous, right? The reason that this particular group is now so much easier to manipulate, right, this group here.

The reason it's so much easier to manipulate is because Their adoption thresholds are now easier to meet.

And adoption thresholds, this is a concept that I've introduced before.

I'll leave some resources below.

Um, I'll link them so that you can sort of either brush up if you're, um, if it's been a while and you don't remember the concept, or if it's new to you, so that you understand what that is, right? But their adoption thresholds are easier to meet when they are in this group that is now homogeneous in these ways, right? And The reason for that is because of the relationships that have broken down or dissolved.

Now remember that.

These ideas are meant to alienate folks who are demographically or psychographically distinct, right? Folks who are um For lack of a better word, diverse, right? It is meant to root out diversity of thought, opinion, experience, etc.

right? And the reason that that is a goal is because those perspectives, those relationships sort of serve as a BS check, frankly.

Um, aside from just enriching your life, right, if you are somebody who is the target of this kind of an idea that would, you know, Uh, cause you to act in a way that does not match the social norms that we collectively have, right? If you have a relationship with somebody whose experience is distinct or different from yours, um, then what that means is that they can relate to you the ways in which that idea does not square away with their experience.

And in doing so, if you are, if you have a relationship, if they're in your inner circle, in doing so, They help prevent that idea and the resulting behaviors from um being planted and and.

Happening essentially, right? So they serve as a sort of countervailing force, right? But once these relationships are dissolved, that countervailing force is gone.

And that's why disinformation and misinformation spread like wildfire.

In groups like this that are homogeneous in this very specific way.

Now, another thing that happens is that fear of disapproval, which is a key barrier to the adoption of a new behavior, um, especially a new behavior that shifts the status quo in any way, fear of social disapproval.

All but disappears, right? In this scenario, Concerns around legitimacy, which is what the literature tends to call fear of social disapproval, right? Um, not the best word, but it is what it is, right? Those fears disappear when everyone you know approves of the behavior or the idea in question, right? Now, usually, in order to overcome this barrier, this, you know, the concern of legitimacy, usually in order to overcome this, people will need to see lots of different kinds of people adopting the behavior in question.

Um, in fact, that's the advantage that social norms have, right? They seem legitimate because lots of different people have adopted that particular behavioral perspective, right? That changes when you have whole ecosystems of alternative realities and facts being developed to support and maintain these echo chambers.

And that's because those ecosystems and that echo chamber create the illusion of social approval.

One, that you don't have any reason to escape or to even doubt.

Now, additionally, It turns out that we as a society are growing increasingly intolerant of uncertainty, and that makes us increasingly vulnerable to what my friend, Elizabeth Weingarten, who just released a book and talks about this in this book, and I will link the book below because it's brilliant and blowing my mind.

We love a fellow applied behavioral science queen.

Um, It makes us especially vulnerable to what she calls charlatans of certainty.

And that's because we're not used to sitting with uncertainty, right? Given all the information, like the wealth of information that we now have at our fingertips, we're not practiced at sitting with uncertainty anymore, right? And so uncertainty itself causes us discomfort, discomfort that we kind of want to get rid of and do away with.

As much as possible as soon as possible.

And that discomfort makes us willing to invest, trust and believe in folks that we might not otherwise trust or invest in because they offer us certainty.

So, once you're in this echo chamber, Right? Once you're in this echo chamber, it's actually those charlatans of certainty that are maintaining that echo chamber and its hold on you.

And the relationships that would have served as a second check, as that BS check against that kind of manipulation, right? They are gone because they've been dissolved.

So what you get is a kind of perfect storm.

It's why I'm always saying that when it comes to resistance, we want to be doing two things.

We want to be defending the social norms that keep us all safe, and that can often include breaking that illusion of social approval.

And the second thing that we want to do is we want to take the resistance underground, and that can often look like seeding and planting new ideas on the on the DL, you know.

But as you can see from everything that I've said so far, Things need to be happening in the correct sequence in order for them to take root, take hold, and to spread.

So, here's 3 things that you can take away from everything that I shared so far.

Number one, Social change in the direction of social justice will require that some of those who are trapped in these echo chambers, it'll require that some of those folks are freed from those echo chambers.

It's not necessarily all of these folks, but definitely some of them.

And There are some of us who are uniquely equipped to do this, um, and uniquely positioned to do this and want to do this, right? And there are others who are not, and that's completely OK, right? This is not your gifting or your ministry or whatever, you don't have to take this on.

Second thing, When it comes to folks who are in these echo chambers, their adoption thresholds might be higher when it comes to the ideas that you are looking to influence in them.

So you do need to be aware of how power and influence operate in the ecosystems and echo chambers that they're now a part of.

I personally do this with um stakeholder spectrums, which is an analysis that I do with my clients.

Finally, number 3, when it comes to building and exercising influence, we have to be very clear about the key behavior we're looking to make happen.

And even more importantly, we have to select that key behavior carefully and with intention.

Right? Because we've got to make sure that that key behavior accounts for polarization, like these dynamics that we've just spoken about and the mechanics that underlie them, and the ways in which polarization can alter the motivational calculus for folks who are inside these echo chambers, right? Um, so yeah, that's it.

That's our quick primer on polarization with three things that you can take away from it, um.

And if you have any questions about anything that I've said so far, any interesting tidbits, resources, things that you have noticed that either square away with this or don't square away with this, absolutely feel free to share them with me.

You know, data is my love language.

Um, but for now, that's all, um, and I will say, Talk soon