The lesson of summer camp from hell

It was an experiment in group dynamics that was terrifying, unethical, and paradoxically, hopeful. In 1954, social psychologist Muzafer Sherif took two groups of twelve 11-year-old boys described as “the cream of the crop” of their communities to the Robbers Cave State Park in Oklahoma for a three-week summer camp. He then proceeded to make them hate each other. One group called themselves the “Rattlers” the other group chose the name “Eagles”. Two weeks after arriving at Robbers Cave, the Rattlers launched a midnight raid of the Eagles' cabin, triggering escalating violence and retaliation. All it took to make the Eagles and Rattlers into bitter enemies was a week-long competition, a contest of games and feats of skill for which one team would win a coveted prize: knives! (It was a different era, ladies and gentlemen of LinkedIn.) Sherif hypothesized that it was competition that would turn otherwise normal boys into brutal savages, and he was right. He also postulated that the Rattlers and Eagles could be reconciled if they were brought together to find a solution to a shared problem. Sherif observed the power of tribal loyalty to shape identity and behavior...and cultivate hatred. He believed that humans were inherently good and that understanding group psychology could promote peaceful co-existence. If ever we needed peaceful co-existence it's now: not only do we have polarized factions in the world, but media bubbles that incubate anger and hatred. We seem to be hard-wired for tribalism, but how much better would our society be if our identities, rather than being aligned with a political tribe, were aligned with people who share a vision of themselves at their best, as agents for positive social or spiritual change, as artists, as visionaries, or as athletes? Our mission with the 5-Minute Recharge is to share evidence-based expert knowledge, tips, and inspiration to help you be your best. Let's get started! (If you'd like to find out more about Muzafer Sherif, his theories, and his controversial experiment that had one of his Robbers Cave subjects wondering sixty years later why he had an aversion to camping, check out Gina Perry's The Lost Boys.)

ONE MAGIC QUOTE

“Regular exercise is always critical to me–and knowing there could be a long studio stretch, I was mindful for weeks beforehand to try to get more.” – CNN's John King explains how he was able to stand by the Magic Wall for several 12 to 14 hour workdays

A TIMELY MESSAGE

A ballot counter in Allegheny, Pennsylvania has an important key state alert.

THREE IDEAS 

 #1 INTROVERTS, WRITE ON! Within a group idea-generating setting, introverts tend to be hesitant to speak up and add their brainpower to a brainstorm. Video conferencing can make matters even worse, with the person who has the loudest voice on Zoom filling the screen with their extroversion. According to organizational psychologist Adam Grant, a simple solution to make sure introverts are heard is to 'brain-write' rather than 'brainstorm.' With brain-writing, you ask the group to come up with ideas independently and submit them in writing via a chat function or shared document where they can be reviewed. Research suggests that groups are good at evaluating ideas, but not so good at idea generation, so brain-writing enables everyone's ideas to be heard while using meeting time for what groups do best.

 “Pro tip on video meetings: If you've been talking for 3 minutes nonstop, it might be time to give someone else a turn. Or at least make sure everyone else is still awake.” – Adam Grant, Twitter

#2 ELECTIONS MAKE US AFRAID AND ANXIOUS A survey of emotions surrounding the 2016 American presidential election found that 50 percent of respondents spanning the political spectrum were very afraid and very anxious. Add several days of uncertainty accompanying the 2020 election, and you've got a situation that our bodies, built to deal with sudden threats such as lunging tigers, are not designed to handle. It's time to call in Dr. Laurie Santos of The Happiness Lab who recommends that you: 1. take a series of deep belly breaths to activate your vagus nerve and trigger the relaxation response; 2. remember what you have control over (sleep, connection, and physical activity that are especially important now); 3. shift your temporal perspective by thinking of the future story you want to tell yourself about this phase of uncertainty that is sure to pass. For more tips from Dr. Santos, be sure to check out this short podcast interview.

 “Stop, take a few deep breaths, and take a moment to notice how you feel, and you will biologically change whether your body thinks there's a threat right now.” – Dr. Laurie Santos

#3 STRENGTH TRAIN AWAY ANXIETY Just in time to ease post-election stress, a new study out of the University of Limerick suggests that strength training can significantly ease anxiety...

There's a study not old but recent

Its findings could be quite beneficient 

With lifts and crunches

And squats and lunges

Anxiety dipped twenty percent 

“Feelings of mastery may have occurred leaving people feeling generally more capable of coping.” – Gretchen Reynolds suggests a possible reason why strength training eases anxiety

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THE FAST FIVE

1. Acknowledging that this is a very stressful moment, neuroscientist Sam Harris is offering a free month of his meditation app Waking Up.

 2.The simple stress-buster that could change your life - BBC Reel (Hint: even if it's fake, it can be transformative.)

3.The 10 Happiest Songs, According to Science - Mental Floss (Surprisingly, Pharrell's “Happy” is not on the list...but it's on our list. )

4. Under Pressure: why athletes choke - The Guardian (Athletes are on the leading edge of discovering how to handle high-stress situations.)

5. How to Use Social Media Without Losing Your Mind - Ten Percent Happier Podcast (“If the game is attention, and anger travels furthest and fastest, and fake news travels six times faster, what is going to dominate on these [social media] platforms?”) 

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YOUR 5-MINUTE RECHARGE CHALLENGE: THE LIKE-LIST

Jacqueline Suskin is a poet who, through her project The Poem Store, has written over 40,000 improvisational poems for patrons who choose a topic in exchange for unique verse. Challenging you to write an improvisational poem may be too much to ask this week, but listening to this podcast interview about Jacqueline’s poetic process and her new book, Every Day is a Poem, will give you a nice break from the news cycle.

Suskin’s previous book Go Ahead and Like It provides the inspiration for this week’s 5-Minute Recharge challenge. Simply tune into the world around you and make a list of things you like. It could be the way the light is coming through your window, the sensation of an item clothing on your body, a cup of tea–the simple good things that usually slip by unnoticed.

Making like-lists is a great way to train your mind to seek out the good in any situation.

 “This tiny practice is really something that has worked for me. It has totally transformed my life. I will not be stuck in any situation ever where I’m unable to turn my mindset towards 'I like...'.” – Jacqueline Suskin

Hope this newsletter made your like-list...

Lynne