So on group selection, human beings are very
similar to the social insects.
The vast majority, if you just weigh all of the insects on the planet,
the vast majority of them are social. So,
it turns out, the social turn has been enormously productive in insecta.
Similarly, the dominance of human beings on the planet,
is probably not because of individual forebrain stuff, but
because we're like wasps and termites and ants,
that is, we build fortresses together,
we have means of communication together, we cooperate.
So interestingly, I believe that our forming good relationships
is a ground desire of human beings who are non-oppressed and not suffering.
The third part of what positive psychology studies
is what are good relationships and how to build good relationships.
PERMA, the five roots to human well-being,
we talked about P, positive emotion, E, engagement,
and R, relationships. M is meaning and purpose.
What is meaning and purpose?
Well there's surprising agreement among philosophers about the bare bones of it.
Meaning is to belong to and
to serve something you think is bigger than you are,
so serving the self is a very poor sight for meaning.
But the larger the entity you can credibly believe in
belong to, and serve, the more meaning people derive from their lives.
Meaning seems to be particularly important in
corporate group settings and in work.
In general, the literature on worker productivity and meaning is: the more
meaning, everything else being equal, that you can derive from your work,
the more satisfied you are with your work, and the more productive you are.
An interesting example took place at the University of Pennsylvania recently.
I think Adam Grant conducted the study.
The development office at this university raises money,
so there are a lot of people who, all day long, write,
and make cold calls to alumni, foundation, and the like.
This is very difficult work, you get turned down most of the time.
So, Adam reasoned that to the extent people in the development
office could see what the money they brought in accomplished,
people would do better work.
So, Adam arranged for the development office people to meet
the scholarship students that they had funded and
to find out about them, and productivity went up.
In general, there's reason to believe the more meaning and
purpose one has at work,
The better one’s work is.