Aug 8, 2022, 1:00 AM ETInterview

The More Successful You Are The Longer You'll Live! Will Storr

Status pursuit is a fundamental, subconscious human drive evolved to ensure survival and reproduction, where higher status historically correlated with better food, safety, and mating opportunities.
Being lower in a social hierarchy has direct biological consequences: individuals lower in the "pecking order" suffer increased inflammation, reduced antiviral responses, and significantly higher mortality rates.
Dr. Michael Marmot's "Whitehall studies" found that in the British civil service, health outcomes deteriorated incrementally with each rung down the hierarchy, independent of income or lifestyle factors.
A 2019 study cited indicates that men with lower status are less likely to survive smoking-related diseases compared to higher-status smokers, even when consuming identical amounts of tobacco.
Recent research on monkeys demonstrates that health outcomes (specifically atherosclerotic plaque from poor diets) change in lockstep with hierarchy shifts; when a low-ranking monkey moved up, their health improved immediately.

99% of self-help books omit genetics, promoting a myth of total self-control despite the fact that personality traits (neuroticism, extroversion, etc.) are heavily genetic and set a "prevailing wind" for behavior.
Will Storr argues that while early trauma sets a negative course, it is likely impossible to fully reverse 18 years of developmental feedback once the brain stops forming in the mid-20s.
Trauma acts as a "puppet master" that can be diminished but never eradicated, with individuals often needing to learn to manage these underlying biases rather than trying to delete them.
The "self-esteem movement" of the 1980s was debunked by psychologist Roy Baumeister, who found no evidence that high self-esteem causes success; rather, success (e.g., good exam results) causes high self-esteem.
Neoliberal policies (Reagan/Thatcher) accelerated individualism, leading to a massive rise in perfectionism linked to suicide, eating disorders, and self-harm.

Dominance Games: Involve aggression and the threat of force; these are shared with other animals and often lead to toxic environments (e.g., bullying).
Success Games: Based on competence and providing value to the tribe (e.g., being the best hunter or storyteller); considered the most positive and constructive form of status pursuit.
Virtue Games: Involve enforcing tribal rules, rituals, and moral beliefs; while they can be positive, they become destructive when combined with dominance ("Virtue-Dominance Games"), seen in cancel culture or political extremism.
Virtue-Dominance Games are identified as the most destructive, characterized by punishing those who do not adhere to specific moral rules, a dynamic observed in the rise of the Nazis and Soviet Communists.

Successful business storytelling requires the audience to be the "hero" and the brand to act as the "light figure" (helper), a model exemplified by Nike's Colin Kaepernick campaign and the 1950s Volkswagen "Little Blue Bug" ad.
Competition (all-against-all, e.g., Enron's "rank and yank" system) creates toxic cultures, whereas rivalry (one-against-one) is a healthy, powerful motivator that drives innovation.
The origin story of the iPhone is attributed to Steve Jobs' rivalry with a Microsoft executive at a barbecue, where a competitive desire to prove Microsoft wrong drove the invention of the touchscreen interface.
Employees often prefer a higher-status job title over a modest pay rise, as status is more evolutionarily significant than money for most humans.
Giving status to others is a free resource that can increase loyalty and productivity; a CEO title given to a low-paid employee can be more effective than a salary increase.

Copy-Flatter-Conform: Humans identify high-status individuals who are "like them" and instinctively copy their behavior, dress, and speech to gain status, a mechanism that drives celebrity culture and influence marketing.
The Paris Hilton Effect: Modern media creates feedback loops where mass attention signals status, causing more people to pay attention, even when the subject lacks traditional competence.
Sudden drops in status are a primary predictor of suicide, more so than financial loss alone, because the brain registers the loss of value as a life-threatening threat.
Social loneliness triggers the same biological inflammatory responses as low status, confirming that connection and status are distinct but both vital for survival.

Storr advocates for self-acceptance over self-love, urging people to acknowledge their flaws as a "flawed, broken animal" rather than trying to be someone they cannot be (e.g., "Don't raise children to believe they can be Beyoncé").
To mitigate status addiction, individuals should play multiple status games (e.g., writing, volunteering, sports) to ensure stability; if one game is lost, others provide a psychological safety net.
Men are identified as requiring specific, male-friendly strategies for social connection, as they tend to be more individualistic and struggle with emotional vulnerability compared to women.
Storr plans to volunteer for a charity to build a new source of status and connection, acknowledging that his current life is too focused on his own writing success.
The optimal approach to the "inner voice" is to balance a "harsh judge" (for discipline) with a "loving parent" (for validation), avoiding both self-flagellation and unbridled self-justification.