Summary of Will Storr's The Status Game

Everest Media

Description

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.
Sample Book Insights:
#1 Ben was 14 when he attacked and killed a boy who was 11. He called 999 and said he’d killed a boy, but didn’t explain why. He was sentenced to an indefinite term at Her Majesty’s pleasure. In prison, they treated him as if he was worthless. He attempted escapes and tried to starve himself to death.
#2 By 2010, Ben had been in prison for thirty years, three times longer than the minimum tariff demanded. He should have been released decades ago. But every time an opportunity for parole came up, he managed to supply the prison service with a new reason to deny it.
#3 When you take a human and strip them of all the esteem they desire, how do they save themselves. They build a life for themselves. They become famous for fighting the system, and they are.
#4 We rarely say that we do the things we do because of status. We rarely admit to being motivated by improving our rank. We readily recognize it in others and even use it as an insult.

Sujets

• Social psychology

Informations

• Publié par: Everest Media LLC
• Date de parution: 25 mars 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781669364405
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Insights on Will Storr's The Status Game
Contents Insights from Chapter 1 Insights from Chapter 2 Insights from Chapter 3 Insights from Chapter 4 Insights from Chapter 5 Insights from Chapter 6 Insights from Chapter 7 Insights from Chapter 8 Insights from Chapter 9 Insights from Chapter 10 Insights from Chapter 11 Insights from Chapter 12 Insights from Chapter 13 Insights from Chapter 14 Insights from Chapter 15 Insights from Chapter 16 Insights from Chapter 17 Insights from Chapter 18 Insights from Chapter 19 Insights from Chapter 20 Insights from Chapter 21 Insights from Chapter 22 Insights from Chapter 23 Insights from Chapter 24 Insights from Chapter 25 Insights from Chapter 26 Insights from Chapter 27 Insights from Chapter 28 Insights from Chapter 29
Insights from Chapter 1

#1

Ben was 14 when he attacked and killed a boy who was 11. He called 999 and said he’d killed a boy, but didn’t explain why. He was sentenced to an indefinite term at Her Majesty’s pleasure. In prison, they treated him as if he was worthless. He attempted escapes and tried to starve himself to death.

#2

By 2010, Ben had been in prison for thirty years, three times longer than the minimum tariff demanded. He should have been released decades ago. But every time an opportunity for parole came up, he managed to supply the prison service with a new reason to deny it.

#3

When you take a human and strip them of all the esteem they desire, how do they save themselves. They build a life for themselves. They become famous for fighting the system, and they are.

#4

We rarely say that we do the things we do because of status. We rarely admit to being motivated by improving our rank. We readily recognize it in others and even use it as an insult.

#5

Ben’s story shows us that it’s possible to survive everything being taken from us. He became useful to his co-players in their conflicts against the prison staff, and he grew to be admired and valuable.
Insights from Chapter 2

#1

We are a species of great ape that survives by belonging to highly co-operative groups that share labor. We have instincts that compel us to seek connection with coalitions of others. We strive to achieve their approval and acclaim, which is critical for our survival.

#2

When our lives begin to fail, our minds and bodies fail too: we can become sick, angry, antisocial, and increasingly isolated. We are, writes Cacioppo, creatures shaped by evolution to feel safe in company and endangered when unwillingly alone.

#3

The effects of failing to win status can be deadly. The status game has been found to be extremely powerful over our physical wellbeing. When we’re not doing well in the game of life, our bodies prepare for crisis by increasing inflammation, which helps the healing of any physical wounds we might be about to suffer.

#4

When we’re constantly deprived of status, our brains turn against us and we become depressed. When we’re constantly connected to the status game, our brains and bodies are nourished and healthy.
Insights from Chapter 3

#1

We feel like heroes in a story. We think we have access to the outside world, when in reality we only have access to what our senses pick up. The brain then creates an illusion of reality based on these inputs.

#2

The brain creates our experience of the world. It is a hero-maker, manufacturing both the illusion of self and its gripping narrative. The story it tells even has a narrator, an inner voice that performs a live improvisation of our autobiography.

#3

We assign values to objects to determine our status in life. The human brain is specialized for the games we play, and it projects value onto virtually anything, including people’s appearance and behaviors.

#4

The status detection system constantly reads symbolic information from the voice and body language of our co-players. It registers facial markers for dominance or submission in just forty-three milliseconds and calculates the quality and quantity of eye contact we’re receiving.

#5

The status detection system is evident in the behavior of youngsters. Around three-quarters of arguments between children aged 18 and 30 months are over possessions, and for developmental psychologist Professor Bruce Hood, possession is a means to establish where you are in the nursery pecking order.

#6

Humans are extraordinarily imaginative creatures who can turn almost anything into a status symbol. In 1948, the anthropologist Professor William Bascom published an analysis of a status game on the Micronesian island of Pohnpei based on yams. Life there was like life everywhere: stratified into rankings.

#7

The game of yam growing in Pohnpei is similar to the games we play using orange juice, watches, or fast walking to symbolize status. In the 1950s, vehicle manufacturers convinced the American public that very long cars were a status game symbol.