In 2018 I spent a lot of time thinking about the problem of tribal psychology and divisive polarization, not from the a political standpoint but from a critical thinking standpoint. I wanted to better understand the role that our group memberships play in determining how we view the world and other people, and in both enhancing and undermining our ability think clearly and independently.

This is still very much an active area of research for me. In this course you’ll find the six videos I created on this topic in 2018.  I will add to it as I create new podcasts and videos.

Some of the takeaways:

1. The problem isn’t tribalism. Human “groupishness” is fundamental to our psychology and our distinctively human intelligence. We need tribes to survive and flourish.

2. The problem is excessive polarization. Our tribal psychology starts to work against us when polarization becomes excessive. At lower levels of polarization we thrive.  At higher levels our tribal psychology becomes pathological.

3. We do not fully understand the forces that are driving us apart. Social polarization is a complex, multi-level phenomenon that resists easy explanations. We do not fully understand the nature and scope of the problem. Most people who say they do are looking at it from a disciplinary perspective (political science, psychology, media, …) that largely ignores causal factors that lie outside their perspective.

4. We need to be intentional about the tribes we join. Strong ideological and political identities undermine our critical thinking faculties and our intellectual autonomy. We need to understand the true costs of “joining up”. On the other hand, our critical thinking faculties are enhanced when we join tribes that reinforce intellectual virtues and critical thinking values. We can benefit from seeking out and/or creating tribes that understand this.