Road Map for a Lost Generation
By Rod Dreher — Director of Publications
In early 2008, the U.S. economy was in the early throes of meltdown. Sociology professor Christine B. Whelan saw a flood of anxious college students rushing into her office atop a wave of anxiety.
Where were the jobs going? Why weren’t employers responding to their e-mailed queries? Why couldn’t they get out of debt? Would they ever get around to stopping the procrastination cycle ramping up their stress?
“Each had a different problem and a different story, but the overall message was the same: Why is everything so difficult? And where do I find the tools to take control of my life?” Whelan says today. “In a moment of frustration, one young man summed it up when he said to me, ‘It was like, WTF? What just happened here? The rug just got pulled out from under us and suddenly you want us to become these resilient, frugal people? How?’”
That anguished student’s question—“WTF” is an abbreviation for an off-color expression of bafflement—was the genesis for Whelan’s new book Generation WTF, a crackling self-improvement manual designed to help young adults make sense of this pivotal time in their lives, and to become, in Whelan’s words, “Wise, Tenacious, and Fearless.” As a University of Pittsburgh sociologist who specializes in behavior change, Whelan knew it wasn’t too late for these kids—provided someone gave them effective strategies.
Because her Oxford Ph.D. research focused on self-help literature, Whelan understood that the popular genre is riddled with the kinds of vapid platitudes that have earned it scorn from the academy. But she also knew that the best self-help writing was not drippy twaddle, but instead admirable examples of “the art of translating and making accessible the daily practice of virtue.” She also knew that sound science—typically ignored by self-help bestsellers—can now demonstrate why the best self-help advice really works.
“When Dale Carnegie wrote How to Win Friends and Influence People, there was no research to prove the power of a smile, and the power of expressing honest and sincere interest in others—yet he intuitively knew that these were effective interpersonal strategies,” she says.
“It wasn’t until decades later that positive psychologists and other researchers conducted studies that now offer proof for why his simple principles work. Generation WTF presents classic advice like Carnegie’s—and the modern research to back it up.”
In writing the book, Whelan enlisted her students to test her strategies, and reports that they were “stunned by more successful interviews, better relationships with family members, and more meaningful interactions with friends.” She believes that today’s young adults have been taught a lot about self-esteem, but little about self-efficacy. Direct, unpatronizing, and never dull, Generation WTF offers a clear road map forward for a lost generation that’s tired of going in circles.
Though funding a self-help book is not a typical project for the John Templeton Foundation, which is more commonly associated with advanced academic and scientific research, Templeton Press chief Susan Arellano says people who understand Sir John Templeton are not surprised.
“Generation WTF fits into Sir John’s vision to make science and new spiritual information accessible so individuals and societies can live better lives,” Arellano says. “He was keen that the best research would be framed so that it would help readers acquire a greater sense of purpose, perseverance, self-control, gratitude, thrift, and honesty.”
Though her presentation may seem cheeky, even radical, sociologist Whelan maintains that not only does Generation WTF meet today’s college students where they actually are (instead of where their parents imagine them to be), it also teaches an old-fashioned return to “the basic skills that will allow those in ‘emerging adulthood’ to get on with life.”
Freedom and Responsibility
Popular New York Times science columnist John Tierney explored exciting new research on free will in his March 21 essay, concluding that the more scientists and philosophers investigate free will, the more reasons there are to believe in it. Tierney spoke with Florida State University philosopher Alfred Mele, who leads the Templeton-funded Big Questions in Free Will project. He asked Mele to explain the seemingly illogical fact that most people are willing to give a pass to wrongdoers who commit victimless crimes, like tax evasion, while holding those who do heinous deeds (such as murder) wholly responsible for their crimes.
“It’s two different kinds of mechanisms in the brain,” Mele responded. “If you give people an abstract story and a hypothetical question, you’re priming the theory machine in their head. But their theory might be out of line with their intuitive reaction to a detailed story about someone doing something nasty. As experimenters have shown, the default assumption for people is that we do have free will.”
The Templeton Report covered the Big Questions in Free Will project, launched with a four-year, $4.4 million Foundation grant, in our June 23, 2010 issue.
Science Catches up with Religion
Martin Nowak, the Harvard biologist who directs the Foundational Questions in Evolutionary Biology (FQEB) project at the university, spoke to New Scientist recently about his new book Super Cooperators: Altruism, Evolution, and Why We Need Each Other to Succeed, co-written with that magazine’s editor, Roger Highfield. In the March 21 interview, Nowak, who is a believing Christian, said there is a biological basis for religion.
“I see the teachings of world religions as an analysis of human life and an attempt to help. They intend to promote unselfish behavior, love and forgiveness,” he said. “When you look at mathematical models for the evolution of cooperation you also find that winning strategies must be generous, hopeful and forgiving. In a sense, the world's religions hit on these ideas first, thousands of years ago.”
Nowak’s latest book emerged from his FQEB research, which is funded by $10.5 million in grant support from the Foundation.
