Olympic Lessons for American Unity and Human Progress

Image by DALL·E 3

As the 2024 Olympics captivate the world, we're reminded of the power of sport to unite people across divides. Team USA embodies this unity, bringing together athletes from diverse backgrounds and disciplines to represent our nation on the global stage. This display of shared pride and purpose offers a timely lesson for our politically polarized country, especially in this election year.

Most of us aren't going to be Olympic athletes, but we can similarly come together to elevate ourselves, our communities, and our nation by focusing on our shared identity as Americans. Humans are inherently tribal, a trait often viewed as a weakness due to its potential to spark social conflict. However, this group-oriented nature also plays a crucial role in uniting us around shared goals. Our ability to organize and coordinate has led to remarkable achievements in science, engineering, art, and humanitarian efforts.

In a pluralistic society like the United States, one way to potentially reduce polarization, promote social trust, and advance human progress is to focus on building and maintaining a superordinate group identity - one that unites smaller, even antagonistic groups under a larger umbrella. When individuals prioritize this overarching identity, they're better able to connect with those they might otherwise distrust, fostering cooperation and openness to diverse perspectives.

Our research at the Human Flourishing Lab has explored American patriotism as a means to promote this national superordinate identity. Our findings offer valuable insights for understanding how we might move forward.

First and foremost, we've discovered that the majority of Americans, regardless of politics, age, income, or race, are proud to be American. This shared pride isn't just a feel-good statistic – it's a powerful predictor of what we call a "progress mindset."

Our surveys find that proud Americans are more likely to trust their fellow citizens and believe in continued U.S. leadership in scientific, medical, and technological innovations. They are also more hopeful for the future of the nation. Our research focused on American college students finds that those who express national pride are more inclined to be hopeful that significant progress will be made within their lifetime on major challenges they deeply care about, such as climate change, poverty, racism, and political polarization. National pride's potential to inspire hope in young Americans—often pessimistic about their country's and the world's future—has significant implications for both individual flourishing and societal progress, as hope is a key driver of human advancement.

However, this unifying and energizing force of national pride is at risk, particularly among younger Americans. Not only are young Americans less patriotic overall compared to older generations, but they're also increasingly politically divided in their national pride. Less than half of young liberals express pride in being American, compared to 75% of young conservatives. This growing partisan gap presents a concerning trend for our shared national identity.

Part of the problem may lie in our cultural tendency to focus on differences rather than similarities. This bias towards emphasizing differences isn't just a media phenomenon - it's deeply ingrained in scholarly disciplines studying human behavior and society. Social and behavioral scientists often focus on identifying and reporting significant differences between groups in their work, while tending to neglect discussions of similarities. This approach, while useful for testing specific hypotheses, often fails to consider what people from different groups have in common. Moreover, the way this research is typically shared with the public by academics and journalists further amplifies the focus on differences, potentially exaggerating perceived divisions in society.

Research published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology highlights this issue. After making over 168,000 comparisons across various demographic categories, researchers concluded that "similarities between any two groups of humans generally far outweigh the differences between them." When we only focus on differences, we risk viewing groups as more divided than they truly are.

Of course, Americans are divided on a number of issues, especially specific policy issues, and thus a certain amount of political debate and disagreement is unavoidable and a sign of a healthy, dynamic, pluralist society. But we should always keep in mind that when it comes to our basic psychological needs, even those with dramatically different political and social views tend to be very similar. 

I've been studying existential psychology for a quarter of a century, conducting studies on the personal memories, life experiences, and goals that people find most meaningful. Doing this work, I have learned that people of different backgrounds, cultures, political affiliations, and religious beliefs are similar in their view that family and close relationships are key to a meaningful life. The intertwined quests for meaning and connection are priorities that unite, not divide people across different groups. Even this seemingly simple appreciation of our shared existential and social nature can provide us a needed reminder of our common humanity, fostering empathy and understanding across divides.

By embracing our shared national identity and the hope it engenders, we can work together more effectively to create a flourishing future for all Americans. The Olympics show us that unity doesn't erase our individual strengths – it amplifies them. Let's carry that lesson forward in our communities, our politics, and our shared national life.

This doesn't mean ignoring our differences - diversity of thought, experience, and talent is valuable. But by recognizing our fundamental similarities and shared national identity, we can create a stronger foundation for addressing the challenges we face together.

I hope you are enjoying watching the 2024 Olympics as much as I am. Have a great weekend!

Clay