We’ve Never Been Meaner. Here’s Why.

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The Power of Us by Jay J. Van Bavel and Dominic J. Packer

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Do you feel like people have become meaner and ruder recently? Does it sometimes feel like civility has left the building? If you feel that way, you are not alone. A recent study found that 53% of Americans believe society is uncivil while more than a third say they almost always or often see people behaving rudely when they go out in public. To get to the bottom of why this is happening and what we can do about it Oprah sits down with Dr. Jay Van Bavel who is a professor of psychology and neuroscience at New York University, and the director of the NYU Center for Conflict and Cooperation. He's also the coauthor of The Power of Us: Harnessing our Shared Identities to Improve Performance, Increase Cooperation, and Promote Social Harmony. Dr. Jay breaks down what is causing this rise in incivility and shares some ideas about how we can all do better. Oprah and Dr. Jay are also joined by a flight attendant, an emergency medicine doctor, a fast food worker, a barista and several influencers who talk about the extreme levels of rudeness they have experienced at work and online.

00:00:00 - Oprah and why did we get so mean?

00:03:50 - Welcome Dr. Jay Van Bavel author of “The Power of Us”

00:05:20 - How our environment makes us meaner

00:10:30 - How AI harms our relationships

00:12:00 - Why are people mean on planes?

00:14:00 - Flight attendant Cher shares

00:17:30 - What can we do everyday?

00:19:30 - The most dangerous profession

00:24:50 - Is reality TV normalizing bad behavior?

00:26:33 - We are in this together

00:28:00 - When you’re the target of anger

00:30:00 - Dealing with confrontation

00:33:40 - Impatience and meanness

00:35:30 - Dealing with mean comments

00:39:50 - Oprah reading negative letters

00:45:50 - Can things change?

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Listen to the full podcast:

https://open.spotify.com/show/0tEVrfNp92a7lbjDe6GMLI

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-oprah-podcast/id1782960381