Status Roles

Sonder
October 9, 2019

When placed in any situation, the human brain is designed to manage social connections. It takes into account emotion, self identity, trust and thousands of other social components and calculates how to best act from there. That the very resting state of our brains are wired to manage social connections.

One of the shortcuts that our brain uses to manage social relations is called status roles.

Not only status in the sense of who is driving a fancier car or who has a bigger house - but status roles in the sense of the brain deciding where it falls in the pecking order.

You see this dynamic in both school and business - as soon as a group is formed the "roles" of each person starts to get established explicitly and implicitly among the members. One typically assumes the role of the leader, others as a support to the leader, others are there to challenge the leader and some are there just to listen and follow orders.

The thing about this dynamic is based on different situations - people will get placed in different social roles. Either way in social settings - status roles are created.

When you think about your next marketing campaign or you are about to share your next idea - think about status roles and the part that they play in the story that your customer tells themselves.

Overview
Overview
Overview