this episode is supported by Prudential
how do we weigh our own best interests
against the best interests of others
this question can be extended beyond me
versus you and into the US and them how
do I weigh my family self-interest
against the needs of a family I've never
met what about the citizens of my
country versus citizens of another at a
number of levels that we built in groups
and out groups there are people with
whom we most closely relate CS and
belong and there are people outside of
that social psychologist Henry type L
propose that the groups you belong to
whether it's your religion your family
or a football team give you a sense of
social identity and sense of belonging
in a social world - cause this social
identity theory a theory he developed
after surviving as a prisoner of war in
nazi-occupied Poland Taif L emigrated to
Britain where he laid around the classic
minimal group experiments participants
were divided into groups completely
randomly and asked to allocate a reward
they immediately showed favoritism
towards those in their own group and
maximized their own groups outcome a
trivial decision between people was
enough to trigger discriminatory
behaviour these discriminatory attitudes
can serve several purposes for example
believing you're part of a good group
builds self-esteem it's not a bad thing
to be proud of your family or friends
but the flipside of effort is creation
of bad groups and stereotypes about
others negative ideas about an out group
as a whole when it comes to social
identity theory these stereotypes may
vary in severity and negativity
depending on both the in-group and
out-group studies but research is
repeatedly shown that cultures and
societies all over the world
consistently carry strong negative
stereotypes about one group in
particular immigrants immigrants are
people leaving an out group and
attempting to join your in groups of any
number of reasons safety security of
just new opportunities research in
intercultural relations
showing well the stereotypes people hold
the immigrants may vary by their nation
of origins level of education religion
or socioeconomic class the connotation
tends to remain negative for ambivalent
at best and this is problematic when
immigrants attempt to join in Ingrid
holding negative stereotypes against
them their ability to integrate and
contribute becomes more difficult and
everybody loses luckily scientists have
also studied how to reduce this empathy
gap in one experiment to dispense in an
fMRI we're first sharing images of
members of their in-group receiving a
painful shock and members of an out
group receiving the same shock as
expected at the participants reported
feeling more empathy for the Ingrid
individuals and that was supported by
their brain activity then that
participants were shocked themselves
however in this case a member of the
participants in group or out group could
give money to save the participant from
the shock the participant were told
whether or not they've been spared and
who had paid to spare them seeing a
member of their out group help them
build empathy for that out group and
this was supported by brain activity
when they saw members of their in-group
and out-group shocked again after the
training
this suggests that doing nice things for
members of your our group helps pull all
groups together beyond that giving
people outside of your group the
opportunity to help you will build your
own levels of empathy no shocks
necessary supporting our fellow humans
especially in times of struggle or
change can help us realize that beyond
our family friends and community doesn't
larger Ingrid that encompasses everyone
citizens of the planet Earth and we're
all in this together
thanks to Prudential for sponsoring this
episode we all want to ask you to be as
secure as our present but we have a
tendency to place a greater value on
immediate rewards rather than future
rewards and that goes when we think
about our finances to a Prudential study
found that more than half of Americans
are not on track to maintain their
current standard of living in retirement
go to Prudential come forward slash save
more to find out how you can better plan
for your retirement
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