People and groups will do whatever they can to increase status.

Within a group, people will agitate for their own status. Between groups, people will try to increase their group’s status over others. Where positive actions fail to produce the desired status, overtly negative displays of dominance readily occur. Ego is the shadow side of this pursuit.rM1


  1. Brett & Kate McKay, “Podcast #756: How the Desire for Status Explains (Pretty Much) Everything,” The Art of Manliness (blog), November 15, 2021, https://www.artofmanliness.com/character/behavior/podcast-756-how-the-desire-for-status-explains-pretty-much-everything/. (See notes.)