Interesting to say that having an unusual medical problem raises someone’s status. It sounds intuitively right, but I don’t think any theory of status discussed here so far quite covers it.
I think it shows that status can be contextual. If a small group begins competing over who has the worst illness, then illness becomes a de facto status marker in that gathering. It doesn’t mean that illness is a global status marker among humans in general. In context, it may be no more than saying “I am the most superlative!”
In Poland there’s a whole genre of jokes based on one-upping such ad hoc status markers. It could well be “my husband is so stupid that he...”. “I’m so ill that...” fits the genre perfectly.
That goes well with common sense, but how would you go about giving it predictive value? I mean, if I were to announce to a bunch of people one day that I had urinary incontinence, I imagine that would lower my status quite a bit. Certainly from a evo psych theoretical standpoint, it’s odd to gain status by talking about how unhealthy and unfit you are.
I like what Andy Wood said about it being contextual, and hopefully if Kaj writes a summary of that chapter that’ll help explain how the context works.
That goes well with common sense, but how would you go about giving it predictive value?
Well, the first approach that comes to mind would be looking for some actual metric of status… preferably one that doesn’t interrupt the conversation. My guess would be that how often a person is interrupted vs. allowed to finish a statement, patterns of eye contact, and participants’ physical orientation relative to one another, and other indicators of attention are all correlates of status of the kind we’re talking about here. (This is, of course, only useful for determining relative status of individuals within a conversation, and possibly within a culture; different cultures reflect status differently.)
Then measure it, and look for speech patterns that correlate with it. Anthropologists (and in a sense, ethologists) do this sort of thing all the time.
Certainly from a evo psych theoretical standpoint, it’s odd to gain status by talking about how unhealthy and unfit you are.
Well, if low-status players all start talking themselves up as a way of gaining status, they create a context where someone can ostentatiously refuse to talk themselves up as a way of signaling that they are too high-status to care, which in turn creates a context where someone can ostentatiously talk themselves down as a way of one-upping that. If something like this is going on, then it’s possible that talking about how unfit I am becomes a way of signaling how fit I am.
OTOH, talking about how unhealthy I am can also be a form of malingering, which has certain immediate practical benefits. That is, it might not be an evolved trait at all, and its prevalence in a particular culture might just be historically contingent.
One way of teasing this apart would be to see, in communities that do this sort of status-jockeying, whether the people who most claim illness are in fact perceived as ill by their peers.
I haven’t really gotten started, so if you’ve already began working on it, I’ll probably just let you handle it—I have some other things I should be posting on, too. :)
Interesting to say that having an unusual medical problem raises someone’s status. It sounds intuitively right, but I don’t think any theory of status discussed here so far quite covers it.
I think it shows that status can be contextual. If a small group begins competing over who has the worst illness, then illness becomes a de facto status marker in that gathering. It doesn’t mean that illness is a global status marker among humans in general. In context, it may be no more than saying “I am the most superlative!”
In Poland there’s a whole genre of jokes based on one-upping such ad hoc status markers. It could well be “my husband is so stupid that he...”. “I’m so ill that...” fits the genre perfectly.
Might it be as simple as being Special? Someone with an unusual medical problem is deserving of extra attention by virtue of having it.
That goes well with common sense, but how would you go about giving it predictive value? I mean, if I were to announce to a bunch of people one day that I had urinary incontinence, I imagine that would lower my status quite a bit. Certainly from a evo psych theoretical standpoint, it’s odd to gain status by talking about how unhealthy and unfit you are.
I like what Andy Wood said about it being contextual, and hopefully if Kaj writes a summary of that chapter that’ll help explain how the context works.
Well, the first approach that comes to mind would be looking for some actual metric of status… preferably one that doesn’t interrupt the conversation. My guess would be that how often a person is interrupted vs. allowed to finish a statement, patterns of eye contact, and participants’ physical orientation relative to one another, and other indicators of attention are all correlates of status of the kind we’re talking about here. (This is, of course, only useful for determining relative status of individuals within a conversation, and possibly within a culture; different cultures reflect status differently.)
Then measure it, and look for speech patterns that correlate with it. Anthropologists (and in a sense, ethologists) do this sort of thing all the time.
Well, if low-status players all start talking themselves up as a way of gaining status, they create a context where someone can ostentatiously refuse to talk themselves up as a way of signaling that they are too high-status to care, which in turn creates a context where someone can ostentatiously talk themselves down as a way of one-upping that. If something like this is going on, then it’s possible that talking about how unfit I am becomes a way of signaling how fit I am.
OTOH, talking about how unhealthy I am can also be a form of malingering, which has certain immediate practical benefits. That is, it might not be an evolved trait at all, and its prevalence in a particular culture might just be historically contingent.
One way of teasing this apart would be to see, in communities that do this sort of status-jockeying, whether the people who most claim illness are in fact perceived as ill by their peers.
Incidentally, I recommend that people interested in the topic of status read the entire linked chapter. It contains rather interesting insights.
It’s actually an excerpt − 1⁄4 of the chapter entire. (Just got the book from Amazon yesterday, going through it to research the topic.)
Yeah, that’s true. I have the entire book, and started thinking about writing a summary of that whole chapter to be posted here. Maybe in a few days.
I’ve been working on something along those lines as well. Let me know if you’d like to coordinate, or trade notes, or just each do our own thing.
I haven’t really gotten started, so if you’ve already began working on it, I’ll probably just let you handle it—I have some other things I should be posting on, too. :)