WEBVTT - How to Make a Difference (Happily) 0:00:15.516 --> 0:00:26.596 Pushkin. If a psychologist ever looks at your life, at say, 0:00:26.676 --> 0:00:29.476 your level of emotional maturity or the way you handle 0:00:29.556 --> 0:00:33.476 daily problems, and says that you're well adjusted, you'd probably 0:00:33.556 --> 0:00:38.076 be pretty pleased. I mean, nobody wants to be called maladjusted. 0:00:37.716 --> 0:00:41.356 Right well. In nineteen sixty seven, one speaker at a 0:00:41.396 --> 0:00:45.356 meeting of the American Psychological Association made the case for 0:00:45.516 --> 0:00:49.436 being maladjusted. There are some things in our society, he said, 0:00:49.956 --> 0:00:52.516 some things in our world to which we should never 0:00:52.636 --> 0:00:57.396 be adjusted. In the face of bigotry, violence, extreme inequality, 0:00:57.436 --> 0:01:01.356 and war, feeling good makes no sense. The speech made 0:01:01.476 --> 0:01:05.036 major waves among psychologists, in part because it was not 0:01:05.156 --> 0:01:08.676 given by a psychologist, but by Martin Luther King Junior, 0:01:09.316 --> 0:01:13.356 the great civil rights leader, told psychologists that in many cases, 0:01:13.636 --> 0:01:17.356 their focus on happiness was backwards. When the norms of 0:01:17.396 --> 0:01:21.556 a culture are unjust, true social health requires what MLK 0:01:21.796 --> 0:01:27.076 called creative maladjustment. Creative maladjustment, he argued, had two parts. 0:01:27.756 --> 0:01:31.356 The first was a sense of fury about how things are. 0:01:32.116 --> 0:01:33.956 We need to be upset in the face of an 0:01:34.036 --> 0:01:37.756 unfair status quo, but we should also do so in 0:01:37.796 --> 0:01:40.236 a creative way. We need to bring a sense of 0:01:40.276 --> 0:01:43.956 hope that the future could be different. I'm Jamil Zaki, 0:01:44.236 --> 0:01:47.396 and in my book Hope for Cynics, I explore doctor 0:01:47.476 --> 0:01:51.236 King's idea of creative maladjustment and find that it is 0:01:51.356 --> 0:01:55.396 deeply prescient. A lot of evidence from psychology bears out 0:01:55.396 --> 0:01:59.516 what he said. Hope isn't a complacent feeling that causes 0:01:59.516 --> 0:02:03.156 people to ignore their problems. It's a key ingredient in 0:02:03.196 --> 0:02:06.516 our ability to yearn for a better future and to 0:02:06.596 --> 0:02:07.316 fight for it. 0:02:08.036 --> 0:02:10.756 In this special season on Finding Hope, Jamiale and I 0:02:10.796 --> 0:02:14.036 have shared study after study showing that we humans are kinder, 0:02:14.276 --> 0:02:17.956 less divided, and more cooperative than most people realize. But 0:02:18.116 --> 0:02:21.036 being a good person doesn't necessarily mean that you have 0:02:21.076 --> 0:02:23.836 the courage to do good things, and that is the 0:02:23.876 --> 0:02:26.956 subject of our final show of this series. Many of 0:02:27.036 --> 0:02:30.396 us feel pretty cynical about problems like inequality and justice 0:02:30.436 --> 0:02:34.196 and bigotry. We feel powerless to bring about change, so 0:02:34.396 --> 0:02:36.436 we just kind of go on with our lives. But 0:02:36.516 --> 0:02:39.916 what if we embrace the creative maladjustment Doctor King recommended? 0:02:40.436 --> 0:02:42.956 What if we got pissed off enough to think differently 0:02:43.476 --> 0:02:49.876 and found the hope needed to act differently. Our minds 0:02:49.876 --> 0:02:51.956 are constantly telling us what to do to be happy. 0:02:52.316 --> 0:02:54.356 But what if our minds are wrong? What if our 0:02:54.396 --> 0:02:56.836 minds are lying to us, leading us away from what 0:02:56.876 --> 0:02:59.556 will really make us happy. The good news is that 0:02:59.676 --> 0:03:02.036 understanding the science of the mind can point us all 0:03:02.076 --> 0:03:05.476 back in the right direction. You're listening to the Happiness Lab. 0:03:05.556 --> 0:03:07.756 Would meet doctor Laurie Santos. 0:03:07.756 --> 0:03:09.516 And me doctor Jamil's. 0:03:18.956 --> 0:03:20.636 I actually hate politics. 0:03:20.956 --> 0:03:24.596 Katie Fahey wasn't exactly a poster job for creative maladjustment. 0:03:24.836 --> 0:03:27.596 The fact that we live in America and that we 0:03:27.956 --> 0:03:30.076 have a government that is supposed to be derived by 0:03:30.076 --> 0:03:32.316 the people, I think all that's great, but the actual 0:03:32.436 --> 0:03:36.636 like politics, us versus them, party versus party, I just 0:03:36.716 --> 0:03:37.356 have never. 0:03:37.356 --> 0:03:39.676 Liked Many of the people in the Michigan town where 0:03:39.716 --> 0:03:43.116 Katie grew up didn't take part in local politics or elections. 0:03:43.636 --> 0:03:46.556 Katie did care about the issues facing her community. 0:03:46.276 --> 0:03:48.436 But I was also busy in twenty seven and trying 0:03:48.436 --> 0:03:50.556 to get my masters and trying to keep my day 0:03:50.636 --> 0:03:52.876 job and like have social relationships and like all that 0:03:52.956 --> 0:03:53.556 kind of stuff. 0:03:53.716 --> 0:03:56.196 But in Michigan there was a lot going on. 0:03:56.436 --> 0:03:58.876 This was around the time of the Flint water crisis. 0:03:59.236 --> 0:04:02.116 Local officials in Flint, Michigan, had decided to switch the 0:04:02.156 --> 0:04:05.356 location of the city's water supply to save money. Soon after, 0:04:05.556 --> 0:04:08.476 the residents of that low income community started complaining about 0:04:08.476 --> 0:04:11.356 the smell and color their water. By the time anyone 0:04:11.396 --> 0:04:13.716 tried to do anything to fix it, it was too late. 0:04:14.316 --> 0:04:17.196 All the pipes in the community had become corroded and 0:04:17.236 --> 0:04:20.716 the water was polluted with lead, bacteria, and other contaminants. 0:04:21.516 --> 0:04:24.076 Katie spent her hour long daily commute listening to the 0:04:24.156 --> 0:04:27.356 radio and hearing about this awful public health crisis. 0:04:27.916 --> 0:04:30.996 I really felt like, doesn't anybody care? How is this 0:04:31.116 --> 0:04:34.836 going on? And yet nobody's doing anything about it. Nobody 0:04:34.996 --> 0:04:37.476 was talking about like how do we prevent the next 0:04:37.476 --> 0:04:40.196 flootwater crisis? How do we make sure this never happens again? 0:04:40.396 --> 0:04:44.836 And I just felt so disheartened that this is the 0:04:44.836 --> 0:04:45.636 world we were in. 0:04:45.996 --> 0:04:49.276 I was just so disheartened. Katie was starting to experience 0:04:49.476 --> 0:04:53.316 the first step of creative maladjustment. She was getting pissed off. 0:04:53.876 --> 0:04:56.596 But there's a second step to creative maladjustment that goes 0:04:56.636 --> 0:05:00.316 beyond anger. We need to do the creative part. And 0:05:00.356 --> 0:05:03.316 that was where Katie got stuck. It just didn't seem 0:05:03.356 --> 0:05:06.356 like the political system was working for communities like hers. 0:05:06.676 --> 0:05:09.076 Our politicians are not afraid of us as the vote. 0:05:09.276 --> 0:05:11.556 They aren't worried about winning our vote or if we 0:05:11.676 --> 0:05:12.476 like what they're doing. 0:05:12.836 --> 0:05:15.796 Things seemed intractable, but Katie wanted to find a way 0:05:15.836 --> 0:05:16.516 to fix things. 0:05:16.716 --> 0:05:19.076 I can't keep going to work every day knowing that 0:05:19.196 --> 0:05:22.036 children can't drink water at their school and like, think 0:05:22.076 --> 0:05:24.276 that's okay. And I didn't know what to do. But 0:05:24.316 --> 0:05:27.036 I was kind of seeing all those pieces and felt like, 0:05:27.516 --> 0:05:29.956 maybe there's something to do that isn't just nothing, or 0:05:30.036 --> 0:05:32.836 isn't just listening to the radio and getting frustrated every 0:05:32.876 --> 0:05:33.396 single day. 0:05:33.756 --> 0:05:36.236 So Katie decided to take a deeper dive. So why 0:05:36.316 --> 0:05:38.716 so many of her local politicians were checked out? 0:05:38.916 --> 0:05:41.116 I was like, Okay, how do we actually start getting 0:05:41.116 --> 0:05:45.356 accountability in Michigan. Maybe we could try and fix one 0:05:45.356 --> 0:05:48.356 of those systemic problems that make it so that our 0:05:48.436 --> 0:05:51.476 legislators don't have incentives to want to listen to the voters. 0:05:52.316 --> 0:05:56.316 America's political system is, at least in theory, supposed to 0:05:56.316 --> 0:06:00.036 prevent problems like this. People within each district vote for 0:06:00.076 --> 0:06:02.956 the person whose policies they like best. If a community 0:06:03.036 --> 0:06:05.796 hates what a politician is doing, they should be able 0:06:05.876 --> 0:06:09.476 to vote that person out. But as Katie learned, it 0:06:09.556 --> 0:06:14.076 doesn't always work like that because of a process called jerrymandering. 0:06:13.676 --> 0:06:17.116 Where politicians decide what voting districts are instead of voters. 0:06:17.636 --> 0:06:21.436 Once elected, a politician can monkey around with the boundaries 0:06:21.476 --> 0:06:24.676 of their voting district. They can even move those borders 0:06:24.716 --> 0:06:27.836 so much that they exclude a huge percentage of votes 0:06:27.996 --> 0:06:31.516 that would be hostile to their policies. The word jerrymandering 0:06:31.596 --> 0:06:35.436 comes from a redistricting bill back in eighteen twelve signed 0:06:35.476 --> 0:06:39.716 by Massachusetts Governor Elbridge Jerry. His party redrew the boundaries 0:06:39.716 --> 0:06:42.676 of Boston voting districts in order to win more power. 0:06:43.236 --> 0:06:46.756 The result was a set of strangely shaped districts. One 0:06:46.796 --> 0:06:50.476 famous electoral map looked a bit like a salamander, or 0:06:50.596 --> 0:06:55.356 rather a jerrymander. Jerrymandering is a process that's helpful for politicians, 0:06:55.756 --> 0:06:58.796 but it's very bad for governance. It makes it harder 0:06:58.836 --> 0:07:03.316 to vote out incumbents and encourages entire communities to be ignored. 0:07:04.276 --> 0:07:06.916 People end up not being able to actually get government 0:07:06.956 --> 0:07:09.316 to deliver on the basic things that it's suppose to 0:07:09.356 --> 0:07:10.116 be delivering up. 0:07:10.556 --> 0:07:13.756 As Katie read more about jerrymandering, she was shocked at 0:07:13.756 --> 0:07:17.676 how much this unfair process affected her Michigan community. 0:07:17.876 --> 0:07:18.836 I knew it was bad. 0:07:18.956 --> 0:07:21.716 I didn't know much else besides that, But I was like, hey, 0:07:21.796 --> 0:07:23.556 I think if we started there, Like if we could 0:07:23.596 --> 0:07:26.156 fix that problem where politicians get to choose who their 0:07:26.196 --> 0:07:29.516 voters are and instead had voters choosing who their politicians 0:07:29.556 --> 0:07:32.396 are based on their voting districts, Like, maybe there's something there, 0:07:32.516 --> 0:07:33.596 But I didn't actually know. 0:07:33.556 --> 0:07:34.916 What we could do to fix it. 0:07:35.276 --> 0:07:39.076 Jerrymandering was infuriating, but it had been around for hundreds 0:07:39.116 --> 0:07:42.476 of years. It wasn't like some random recycling plant worker 0:07:42.596 --> 0:07:45.356 was going to single handedly fix such a big problem. 0:07:45.476 --> 0:07:47.636 So I was kind of feeling, like, why doesn't anybody care? 0:07:48.036 --> 0:07:49.636 I was feeling pretty hopeless. 0:07:49.836 --> 0:07:52.836 I was feeling pretty hopeless. Katie was feeling what a 0:07:52.836 --> 0:07:56.036 lot of cynical people do. She saw a huge problem 0:07:56.276 --> 0:07:59.516 but couldn't envision a solution, so she didn't take action. 0:08:00.716 --> 0:08:04.716 In Martin Luther King's terms, Katie was feeling maladjusted but 0:08:04.796 --> 0:08:07.836 didn't feel the creative hope we need to do something 0:08:07.836 --> 0:08:11.036 about it. Which finds that Katie is not alone here. 0:08:11.836 --> 0:08:14.996 Cynics don't vote or protest as much as their more 0:08:15.036 --> 0:08:19.276 hopeful counterparts. They leave the work to others, and even worse, 0:08:19.596 --> 0:08:23.276 people who feel hopeless sometimes belittle that work. They are 0:08:23.356 --> 0:08:26.636 quick to talk about society's ills, but also claim there 0:08:26.676 --> 0:08:29.676 is no cure and it's dumb for anyone to try. 0:08:29.476 --> 0:08:29.996 To fix it. 0:08:30.556 --> 0:08:33.596 We often think of cynicism as a radical feeling which 0:08:33.636 --> 0:08:37.636 will hold power to account. In fact, it's often the opposite, 0:08:37.796 --> 0:08:40.756 a duel of the status quo. But is there any 0:08:40.796 --> 0:08:43.916 way to find the hope that Katie was lacking? To 0:08:43.956 --> 0:08:46.796 get that creative nudge, we need to start taking action. 0:08:47.676 --> 0:08:50.596 We'll find out when the Happiness Lab returns from the break. 0:08:58.076 --> 0:09:00.876 So the exhausted majority, it's sixty seven percent of America. 0:09:00.956 --> 0:09:02.396 That is the majority of America. 0:09:02.476 --> 0:09:06.196 This is political strategist Emily Amic. Emily used to work 0:09:06.196 --> 0:09:09.076 for Senator Chuck Schumer, but these days she spent her 0:09:09.196 --> 0:09:12.356 time working with people like Katie Fahey, folks who find 0:09:12.396 --> 0:09:14.236 politics to be a massive turnoff. 0:09:14.476 --> 0:09:17.356 And that doesn't mean these people are centrists or moderates. 0:09:17.396 --> 0:09:19.796 But the thing that really brings them all together, that 0:09:19.876 --> 0:09:23.236 connects them all, is that they are like profoundly exhausted. 0:09:23.596 --> 0:09:27.036 Political scientists often categorize people by their willingness to engage 0:09:27.036 --> 0:09:29.716 in issues. Some folks, the ones we tend to hear 0:09:29.756 --> 0:09:31.796 from a lot on social media and in op eds, 0:09:32.196 --> 0:09:35.236 fall into what scholars call the wings. These are the 0:09:35.276 --> 0:09:39.196 hardcore conservatives and progressive liberals, voters on the tail ends 0:09:39.236 --> 0:09:42.196 of the political spectrum. But the devoted folks on the 0:09:42.236 --> 0:09:45.636 wings are a minority. The bulk of Americans, the others 0:09:45.636 --> 0:09:48.956 seventy year or so percent fall into the exhausted category. 0:09:49.396 --> 0:09:53.316 They heard like profoundly exhausted, and they don't view every 0:09:53.356 --> 0:09:56.916 single political issue as a war. They really just want 0:09:56.956 --> 0:09:59.116 the government to work, the trains to run on time, 0:09:59.196 --> 0:10:00.796 their kids to be able to go to school, the 0:10:00.836 --> 0:10:01.556 water to be clean. 0:10:01.716 --> 0:10:01.876 You know. 0:10:01.916 --> 0:10:03.396 They just want to be able to live their lives. 0:10:04.076 --> 0:10:06.916 The exhausteds want things to be better, but they're cynical 0:10:06.916 --> 0:10:10.396 about their ability to fix things. They wind up disengaging 0:10:10.916 --> 0:10:14.436 and feeling left out of the democratic process. So says 0:10:14.476 --> 0:10:17.236 Emily's collaborator Sammy Sage, these. 0:10:17.076 --> 0:10:21.076 People just feel like everything is corrupt, this is pointless. 0:10:21.196 --> 0:10:24.156 They're frustrated by politics, but it has turned to apathy. 0:10:24.356 --> 0:10:27.156 Nothing I do will matter. Nothing anyone I know does 0:10:27.196 --> 0:10:29.596 will matter. So I wish I didn't have to hear 0:10:29.636 --> 0:10:30.156 about this. 0:10:30.716 --> 0:10:33.796 As you've probably guessed, this sort of helplessness doesn't make 0:10:33.836 --> 0:10:37.356 for a happy nation, especially when nearly seventy percent of 0:10:37.396 --> 0:10:38.596 us are feeling that way. 0:10:38.636 --> 0:10:41.756 But the opportunity there is that if all of these 0:10:41.796 --> 0:10:44.596 people were to start engaging, we would be able to 0:10:44.596 --> 0:10:46.396 have a much more productive conversation. 0:10:46.916 --> 0:10:49.276 And that's why Emily and Sammy are on a mission 0:10:49.516 --> 0:10:53.796 to turn our collective exhaustion into more democratic engagement. They've 0:10:53.836 --> 0:10:57.516 even written a fabulous how to guide. It's called democracy 0:10:57.556 --> 0:11:00.156 in Retrograde, how to make changes big and small in 0:11:00.156 --> 0:11:01.916 our country and in our lives. 0:11:02.156 --> 0:11:04.636 The goal is for politics to be a daily habit, 0:11:04.756 --> 0:11:07.396 not a biannual freakout. We want you to figure out 0:11:07.436 --> 0:11:10.876 how to make civic life upfilling part of your life. 0:11:10.956 --> 0:11:13.076 It should be additive, It should make you happy. 0:11:13.076 --> 0:11:15.436 It should bring you joy so that you keep going 0:11:15.556 --> 0:11:16.356 back to it. 0:11:16.716 --> 0:11:19.116 The book begins by analyzing why so many of us 0:11:19.196 --> 0:11:22.836 got so exhausted when it comes to politics. One factor 0:11:22.836 --> 0:11:25.596 that pair says involves a toxic way that our political 0:11:25.636 --> 0:11:29.036 discourse has evolved over the past few decades, whether it's 0:11:29.036 --> 0:11:31.836 on Twitter or cable news, we've all seen what should 0:11:31.836 --> 0:11:35.076 have been a thoughtful political discussion turn into a polarized 0:11:35.116 --> 0:11:39.116 shouting match, and honestly, what's more exhausting than that. Emily 0:11:39.156 --> 0:11:41.836 worries that this change has caused some voices to be 0:11:41.916 --> 0:11:44.876 silenced while the trolls on the wings show even louder. 0:11:45.076 --> 0:11:47.516 And then the people who then want to talk about 0:11:47.516 --> 0:11:48.996 these issues are people who are. 0:11:48.916 --> 0:11:50.796 Doing it not with the best intentions. 0:11:50.916 --> 0:11:53.796 Right if the only political conversation you have is your 0:11:53.916 --> 0:11:57.356 uncle Chad screaming at you about politics, he's going into 0:11:57.356 --> 0:12:00.156 that conversation without good intentions. He just wants to get 0:12:00.196 --> 0:12:02.596 in an argument. He just wants to shit on you. 0:12:02.836 --> 0:12:05.276 That is not the normal conversation. 0:12:05.516 --> 0:12:08.716 And extreme individuals don't just skew political to be they 0:12:08.756 --> 0:12:11.916 also spend huge amounts of effort to impose their political 0:12:11.916 --> 0:12:15.156 will on the rest of us. They lobby politicians, attend 0:12:15.156 --> 0:12:17.636 city hall meetings, and complain to school boards to get 0:12:17.636 --> 0:12:18.956 their goals realized. 0:12:19.276 --> 0:12:22.356 Sixty percent of book bands were done by eleven people. 0:12:22.676 --> 0:12:23.436 The reality is. 0:12:23.396 --> 0:12:26.996 There are people who are extremely active and they are 0:12:27.036 --> 0:12:31.316 willing to do the work to get extremist policies in play. 0:12:31.916 --> 0:12:35.076 With so many toxic voices pushing for extreme policies, it 0:12:35.116 --> 0:12:37.676 can be hard to figure out what the average person thinks. 0:12:38.236 --> 0:12:42.396 It's a cognitive error that psychologists call pluralistic ignorance. We 0:12:42.436 --> 0:12:45.356 wind up mistakenly assuming that extreme positions are the norm 0:12:45.716 --> 0:12:48.556 and that pretty much everybody disagrees with how we think 0:12:48.596 --> 0:12:51.756 things should work. Consider one of the most famous examples 0:12:51.796 --> 0:12:55.636 of pluralistic ignorance, a study of Princeton students' perceptions of 0:12:55.676 --> 0:12:59.076 their classmates. Undergrads were brought into the lab and asked 0:12:59.076 --> 0:13:02.116 how often they thought the average Princeton student drank to excess. 0:13:02.996 --> 0:13:05.716 Most students assume that the typical student drank a lot, 0:13:06.156 --> 0:13:08.956 even though they themselves had a moderate approach to partying. 0:13:09.716 --> 0:13:11.916 And it's easy to see where this bias comes from. 0:13:12.356 --> 0:13:14.636 I mean, think about who's taking up the most space 0:13:14.716 --> 0:13:18.156 in campus conversations. Students don't often regale each other with 0:13:18.236 --> 0:13:20.636 stories about how they stayed up in their room watching TV, 0:13:21.156 --> 0:13:23.716 but they talk a lot about the raging parties they attended. 0:13:24.116 --> 0:13:27.116 And study after study has shown that our political discourse 0:13:27.156 --> 0:13:30.116 has become a lot like those campus errors. We simply 0:13:30.156 --> 0:13:32.996 don't realize just how much we agree on the big issues. 0:13:33.556 --> 0:13:37.676 Majority Americans support abortion rights at any point in the pregnancy. 0:13:37.796 --> 0:13:40.716 More than half of Americans support some form of gun 0:13:40.756 --> 0:13:43.796 control or gun safety laws. They support taking action on 0:13:43.836 --> 0:13:48.676 the climate. Ninety percent of Americans think that LGBTQ individuals 0:13:48.676 --> 0:13:51.956 should not suffer from discrimination. All of those people because 0:13:51.956 --> 0:13:55.116 they're not talking about politics, they're not finding each other. 0:13:55.556 --> 0:13:58.156 The uncle chads make so much racket that we think 0:13:58.196 --> 0:14:02.516 they're everywhere, while the exhausteds are so well exhausted that 0:14:02.556 --> 0:14:05.716 they just don't speak up, which creates a vicious cycle 0:14:05.916 --> 0:14:08.236 and which the average person winds up feeling even more 0:14:08.316 --> 0:14:11.156 angry about the state to the world and even more cynical. 0:14:11.476 --> 0:14:14.596 Anything can be done to fix it. But Jamille, explain 0:14:14.636 --> 0:14:16.356 how your work gives us a path forward. 0:14:16.796 --> 0:14:19.236 Well, Laurie, the good news here is that if you 0:14:19.276 --> 0:14:22.756 aren't exhausted, you are probably way less alone than you think. 0:14:23.356 --> 0:14:26.036 And research shows that when we take stock of how 0:14:26.036 --> 0:14:29.596 many people actually share our beliefs, this can energize us. 0:14:29.916 --> 0:14:33.196 It can help us turn cynicism into action. I think 0:14:33.236 --> 0:14:36.956 a lot about the work of psychologist Greg Sparkman. Recently, 0:14:37.156 --> 0:14:40.156 he surveyed thousands of Americans and found that more than 0:14:40.196 --> 0:14:43.716 two thirds of them supported aggressive policies to slow down 0:14:43.796 --> 0:14:47.836 climate change. But this same group assumed that barely forty 0:14:47.876 --> 0:14:51.356 percent of their fellow citizens wanted the same thing. Classic 0:14:51.436 --> 0:14:55.996 pluralistic ignorance. But Sparkman also found when people learned how 0:14:56.036 --> 0:14:59.316 angry others were about climate change, they felt less alone 0:14:59.516 --> 0:15:02.716 and were more willing to take action. A super important 0:15:02.716 --> 0:15:05.796 part of this work is that to overcome pluralistic ignorance, 0:15:06.036 --> 0:15:10.476 all you need is accurate information. We've seen many times 0:15:10.516 --> 0:15:14.676 in this series on Finding Hope people often underestimate one another. 0:15:15.356 --> 0:15:17.796 But that means that when we awaken to what the 0:15:17.836 --> 0:15:21.556 people around us are really like, our sense of efficacy 0:15:21.836 --> 0:15:26.436 and possibility swell. Accurate faith in each other now opens 0:15:26.476 --> 0:15:28.916 pathways to a future more of us want. 0:15:29.876 --> 0:15:32.636 That sounds awesome, Jamille, But how do we do that? 0:15:33.236 --> 0:15:36.076 The first step is to start talking about the issues 0:15:36.116 --> 0:15:38.476 we care about with one another, and we can do 0:15:38.516 --> 0:15:42.916 that through what political scientists call relational organizing. 0:15:43.436 --> 0:15:46.116 Relational organizing is a fancy way to say talking to 0:15:46.116 --> 0:15:50.076 people you already know about voting and about elections. It 0:15:50.156 --> 0:15:53.916 is eight times more effective than door knocking, because who 0:15:53.916 --> 0:15:54.556 do you trust? 0:15:54.716 --> 0:15:55.356 Right if you. 0:15:55.596 --> 0:15:57.996 Want to go to a restaurant, You're gonna look at reviews, 0:15:58.036 --> 0:15:59.716 You're gonna look at what people say, and you might 0:15:59.756 --> 0:16:01.476 ask a friend. If a friend tells you to go 0:16:01.516 --> 0:16:03.436 to a restaurant, you're not gonna double chuck it. You're 0:16:03.436 --> 0:16:05.636 just gonna be like, sounds good. I trust what you 0:16:05.676 --> 0:16:08.036 have to say. I understand that we share the same values. 0:16:08.076 --> 0:16:10.596 We both like greasy peas za, so therefore I will 0:16:10.596 --> 0:16:12.796 trust your opinion on what is a good pizza restaurant. 0:16:12.876 --> 0:16:16.036 And relational organizing, it's the similar concept, and it's one 0:16:16.116 --> 0:16:18.396 that works based on a lot of research. 0:16:18.956 --> 0:16:21.236 In one study, people who got a text from a 0:16:21.236 --> 0:16:24.236 friend reminding them to vote were eight percent more likely 0:16:24.316 --> 0:16:26.636 to show up to the polls. That may not sound 0:16:26.676 --> 0:16:30.196 like much, but it's far far more effective than nearly 0:16:30.316 --> 0:16:33.236 any other get out the vote technique political scientists have 0:16:33.316 --> 0:16:35.756 come up with. But the benefits of talking about the 0:16:35.796 --> 0:16:39.116 issues we care about go beyond just boosted voting numbers. 0:16:39.676 --> 0:16:43.556 Some political scientists have argued conversations like these and the 0:16:43.636 --> 0:16:48.036 relationships they forge, can even save our democratic way of life. 0:16:48.356 --> 0:16:52.036 Hannah Arent wrote that fascism and a totalitarian society is 0:16:52.076 --> 0:16:55.556 really just a bunch of atomized individuals who are separated 0:16:55.636 --> 0:16:58.836 and have no identity other than to submit to the state. 0:16:58.996 --> 0:17:01.076 So in that way, and she says this is that 0:17:01.156 --> 0:17:04.876 friendship can be an act of resistance. Having relationships with 0:17:04.996 --> 0:17:07.556 real people who could take care of each other is 0:17:07.716 --> 0:17:11.556 at authoritarian states worst enemy, because when people get together, 0:17:12.036 --> 0:17:15.476 they are able to talk and you know, figure things out. 0:17:15.676 --> 0:17:20.996 So having real, engaged, connected civic fabric is healthy for 0:17:21.036 --> 0:17:22.476 our democracy. 0:17:22.156 --> 0:17:25.596 And being part of an engaged, connected civic fabric is 0:17:25.676 --> 0:17:28.516 also healthy for us personally. If you're a fan of 0:17:28.516 --> 0:17:32.116 the Happiness Lab, you've probably already heard about the benefits 0:17:32.116 --> 0:17:35.756 of social connection. Connecting with your neighbors about important issues 0:17:35.996 --> 0:17:39.596 is a great way to build relationships that last Emily 0:17:39.636 --> 0:17:42.596 says this is one of her favorite parts of civic engagement. 0:17:43.156 --> 0:17:47.556 So I recently had cancer and a just completed treatment. 0:17:48.316 --> 0:17:51.316 The people who showed up to help me are people 0:17:51.676 --> 0:17:54.436 who I met through civic life, people who I met 0:17:54.436 --> 0:17:58.476 through this work. Being engaged in civic life isn't only 0:17:58.516 --> 0:18:00.996 giving you also received when you. 0:18:00.916 --> 0:18:02.756 Have cancer and you need people to rely on. 0:18:03.236 --> 0:18:05.396 And the people who you meet in civic life, who 0:18:05.396 --> 0:18:07.876 you meet because you are volunteering and giving yourself. 0:18:08.236 --> 0:18:09.076 It comes back to you. 0:18:09.596 --> 0:18:12.076 But to get the benefits of civic life, we actually 0:18:12.076 --> 0:18:15.236 have to engage. We need to take that first hopeful 0:18:15.236 --> 0:18:18.116 step and talk to people about the issues we value. 0:18:18.796 --> 0:18:20.836 And as Sammy and Emily have found out in their 0:18:20.876 --> 0:18:24.276 own work, getting that first step can be a tall order. 0:18:24.716 --> 0:18:28.076 The challenge and the opportunity with the exhausted majority is 0:18:28.076 --> 0:18:32.036 that they are extremely repelled by the political conversation. 0:18:32.516 --> 0:18:34.916 So how can we get the exhausted majority to start 0:18:34.956 --> 0:18:38.956 that dialogue. Next we'll return to Katie Faihe and hear 0:18:38.996 --> 0:18:42.596 what happens when she started a conversation about jerrymanderin and 0:18:42.676 --> 0:18:45.716 see how that first hopeful step was more effective than 0:18:45.716 --> 0:18:46.596 she could have dreamed. 0:18:47.116 --> 0:18:49.276 There was no guarantee we were going to be successful. 0:18:49.476 --> 0:18:51.836 Everybody told us all the reasons we would fail, and 0:18:51.956 --> 0:18:53.116 yet we were willing to try. 0:18:53.156 --> 0:18:56.836 Anyways, The Happiness Lab will return after the break. 0:19:03.236 --> 0:19:06.036 I make plenty of Facebook posts that don't lead to anything. 0:19:06.596 --> 0:19:10.436 When we last left Katie Fahee, thing recycling plant worker 0:19:10.636 --> 0:19:13.156 was fed up with the jerrymandering in her Michigan community, 0:19:13.556 --> 0:19:15.996 Confuming about politics in her car on the way to 0:19:15.996 --> 0:19:20.356 work for overriding thought at the time something has to change. 0:19:20.556 --> 0:19:23.316 So I went on social media. I have a normal 0:19:23.356 --> 0:19:25.556 amount of followers for the age I am in. I'm 0:19:25.596 --> 0:19:27.716 not an influencer or anything like that, but I just 0:19:27.756 --> 0:19:29.876 thought i'd say, like, I'd reach out to my friends 0:19:29.916 --> 0:19:32.676 and see if anybody else cared about jerrymandering and if 0:19:32.676 --> 0:19:34.876 they wanted to do something about it. So my one 0:19:34.916 --> 0:19:37.956 little step before work was like, Hey, I want to 0:19:38.036 --> 0:19:40.396 end jerrymandering in Michigan. If you want to help, let 0:19:40.436 --> 0:19:43.196 me know smiley face emoji. And I did not think 0:19:43.196 --> 0:19:45.516 that would lead to really much of anything, if I'm 0:19:45.556 --> 0:19:46.436 being honest. 0:19:46.476 --> 0:19:50.476 But that's not what happened. Katie's post blew up, and. 0:19:50.476 --> 0:19:52.436 All of a sudden, all these people were saying, Oh 0:19:52.436 --> 0:19:54.316 my gosh, I'm so glad you're working on this. I've 0:19:54.316 --> 0:19:56.156 cared about it for such a long time. Let me 0:19:56.196 --> 0:19:59.036 know how I could help. What happened when I made 0:19:59.076 --> 0:20:02.036 that Facebook post is I got instantly connected to a 0:20:02.036 --> 0:20:06.396 community I never knew existed, thoughtful people who paid attention 0:20:07.076 --> 0:20:11.556 but didn't really love hyper partisanship and didn't really know 0:20:11.596 --> 0:20:14.196 what to do, but still cared and still wished that 0:20:14.276 --> 0:20:15.716 something could be done. 0:20:15.476 --> 0:20:18.236 For the first time in a long time, Katie didn't 0:20:18.236 --> 0:20:19.116 feel alone. 0:20:19.356 --> 0:20:21.756 I think I had this aha moment of like, look 0:20:21.756 --> 0:20:24.036 at all these people who've also been sitting in their 0:20:24.076 --> 0:20:27.876 car or at home being mad online, thinking like, why 0:20:27.916 --> 0:20:30.596 doesn't somebody do something about this? Meanwhile all of us 0:20:30.596 --> 0:20:33.276 not realizing like we are actually people who can do 0:20:33.356 --> 0:20:34.116 something about this. 0:20:34.516 --> 0:20:37.876 But that positive feeling was quickly followed by panic. The 0:20:37.916 --> 0:20:40.636 people who replied to Katie's post seemed to think that 0:20:40.716 --> 0:20:43.156 she knew what the next step was for fixing things, 0:20:43.436 --> 0:20:43.876 and I was. 0:20:43.836 --> 0:20:47.036 Like, oh, no, I have no idea what I'm doing. 0:20:47.316 --> 0:20:49.956 And so were the people that came together, like, you know, 0:20:49.996 --> 0:20:54.036 experienced political activists, So no, they were not. 0:20:54.116 --> 0:20:56.236 That short answer is none of them knew what they 0:20:56.236 --> 0:20:56.956 were doing either. 0:20:57.836 --> 0:21:00.156 So I quickly literally googled. 0:20:59.756 --> 0:21:02.436 Like how do you end jerrymandering and saw that in 0:21:02.476 --> 0:21:05.596