In The Laws of Human Nature (2018) author Robert Greene attempts to explain and demystify human nature to help readers navigate life and people.
Takeaways
- Choose important people in your life based on character first and foremost
- Understand, accept, and use your dark side: both the repressed desires and your aggression
- Accept mortality and use it to instill in yourself a sense of urgency
Notes
About The Author:
Robert Greene is a popular writer of books on power, psychology, and life strategies.
He has written many books: “The 48 Laws of Power“, “The Art of Seduction“, “Mastery” and “The 50th Law of Power“.
We Haven’t Transcended Human Nature
Robert Greene says that modernity might lead us to believe we are transcending human nature.
But the opposite is true: we have never been more enslaved by human nature as we are today.
Our emotions have only been heightened by social media, and viral news makes it all the easier to inflame hearts and evade rationality. And it’s easier than ever for manipulative politicians and leaders to manipulate us.
And look at our tribal tendencies, which digitalization has only made easier.
Now we can find our little groups and insulate ourselves with groupthink and herd mentality (see “red pill analysis” as an example).
We are all cut from the same cloth, and we all share the same tendencies. The sooner you realize this, the greater your power will be to overcome the negative traits within you
Master Your Emotional Self
The Law of Irrationality
We think we are rational, but we are not.
To achieve our potential, we need to learn how we are irrational and reactive to the world.
Ask yourself where your irrational drives come from.
Why are you angry, why are you being resentful?
Greene talks about the 2008 financial crisis and expands on psychological biases.
The author says that history shows there have been men of great rationality, which are proof that yes, we can be rational and increase our chances of success by becoming more rational.
The longer you can resist reacting, the more mental space for actual reflection
Transform Self-love into Empathy
The Law of Narcissism
We are all a bit narcissistic. But your goal is to move to a healthy narcissism.
Healthy narcissists are driven and focus their drive outward, they incorporate feedback and recover quickly from failures and setbacks.
Greene talks about Stalin. Stalin came to loathe his closest friends because he had to play a charming game with them. And why should he be charming with anyone?
TPM Note: Greene simplifies narcissism (pop psychology)
Narcissism isn’t just about self-absorption, but also a sense of superiority, entitlement, and drive to status and recognition. These can be weaknesses but also powerful strengths at the same time. It’s debated and debatable whether one can truly change his narcissistic tendencies and become more of a ‘healthy narcissist’, though we tend to agree you can.
See our science-backed work on this:
Turn off the internal monologue to tune in to the world
See Through People’s Mask
The Law of Role-playing
Humans are consummate actors, we all wear a mask and we all learn how to lie.
We adapt ourselves to our groups and we are so good at acting that we don’t even realize we do.
In this chapter, Greene goes into body language, but the value of learning language from a book is limited.
See our seminal articles on body language, or better yet learn how to calibrate body language to achieve goals in Power University, with a bonus lesson on reading people:
Determine the Strength of People’s Character
The Law of Compulsive Behavior
Character is a primary value when evaluating people to work for or partner with.
Their characters matter more than their charm, intelligence, or charisma.
Strong characters stem from a feeling of personal security and self-worth. Greene’s strength of character comes to down our foundations of mental power.
Try to test people’s character by making a joke, criticizing them, or giving them a challenging task. And associate only with strong characters.
See here:
Make Others Feel Good
The Law of Defensiveness
Greene leverage basic social exchange dynamics and proposes focusing on giving value.
As Carnegie says in How to Win Friends, to be interesting, be interesting. Make others the focus of attention.
Similar to Chris Voss, To influence people Robert Greene recommends you stop trying to push them. Instead, take a step back and assume an inferior position. Ask them for advice, and make them feel good.
Make a small favor for them, and induce them to reciprocate.
Also, read:
But most of all, read our strategic guide on giving without being taken advantage of:
Confront Your Dark Side
The Law of Repression
We all have a dark side, but most of us mask it.
Greene uses Carl Jung’s terminology of “the shadow”, but we prefer more empirically sound psychology.
We fully agree with Greene when he exorts to include and accept your dark side, use it for good, and to fuel you towards our goals.
For more on the dark side also read:
You often recognize people with a repressed dark side by their exaggeration. Too much masculinity, for example, betrays a yearning to be dominated.
Or too much saintliness, hiding their sexual appetites or their hunger for power.
Beware the Fragile Ego
The Law of Envy
We always compare with one another, and it rarely leads to good results for us, says Greene. Though this is not true since some personalities compare themselves with those lower down to maintain a sense of grandiosity.
Learn to develop your self-confidence from internal sources instead of comparisons. And deflect the envy by drawing attention away from you.
Also, read:
Know Your Limits
The Law of Grandiosity
We all have a need to feel superior to others. But the more successful we get, the more superior we feel, and that creates a disconnect with reality that can easily become our downfall.
- Come to terms with your grandiosity needs
- Concentrate energy: focus deeply and completely on one thing
- Practical grandiosity: focus on goals that stretch you but that you can reach
- Let loose your grandiose energy
Read:
Reconnect to the Masculine/Feminine Within You
The Law of Gender Rigidity
Greene says that we all tend towards the feminine or masculine, but we have both.
When people go too far in repressing the opposite gender within them, they will leak out in a caricature form.
And it’s often the people with internal conflicts who lean too strongly towards one gender while trying to suppress the other.
Greene says that hostility towards the opposite gender is stronger in men.
It’s born out of a sense of insecurity and he says it’s possibly because of the hostility men feel towards their mothers for a time when they were fully dependent.
TPM Note: This is a failure to understand human nature
Male sense of hostility stems from evolution, and in good part from the need to control partners to ensure paternity.
Learn more:
14: Resist the Downward Pull of the Group
The Law of Conformity
This was my favorite chapter.
Here Greene goes a bit into social psychology and sociology.
We are attracted to numbers and groups, we like losing ourselves in the group’s energy.
But we also have an urgent need to fit in. We like to tell ourselves we are independent, but we are not: the people around us exert pressure on us, and instead of denying it we should leverage it.
Differences among groups are often exaggerated to create stronger feelings of “outgroup/ingroup” and of similarity among the members.
Don’t fall for the tendency of denigrating your enemy: see him for who he is, and learn from what he does better.
We must come to the conclusion that the primary group we belong to is that of the human race.
Anything else is regressive and far too dangerous.
Also read the foundational article on individualist vs. collectivist mindsets:
#15: Make Them Want to Follow You
The Law of Fickleness
Leadership is always built on a dichotomy, Greene says. On one side, people want to be led and they look up to a great and strong leader.
At the same time, they resent him. They resent his position, the power he has, and the power he has over them.
People in power though see only the smiles, and they mistake it for unending approval. When they make a mistake and people will be clamoring for their heads, they are taken by surprise.
They shouldn’t, it’s just the normal release of aggression and pent-up resentment that is channeled against the leader.
As a leader, you must be seen working harder than everyone else, says Greene.
Also, read:
16: See the Hostility Behind the Friendly Facade
The Law of Aggression
Our culture, civilization, and society tend to repress our most aggressive instincts.
But we all have it, it’s what made us the apex predator on earth, and instead of repressing it, we should use our aggression.
Also, if you don’t, you will be run over by those who do. Aggressive people tend to obsess over the objects people, which is a sign they want to swallow them whole.
Take stock of physical obsessions, like anger in being overtaken or always wanting to be front and center.
Case in point:
Fight the aggressive types indirectly, and avoid making them feel not in control, which is their greatest fear.
Also, read:
17: Seize the Historical Moment
The Law of Generational Myopia
Ibn Khaldun was the first to come up with the idea of “generations” and “generational cycles”.
Every generation has its spirit, its peculiarities. Often, like individuals, they swing in the opposite direction of their most repressed feelings.
The generation you are born into shapes the way you are, and presents unique opportunities for you.
Don’t go completely against the grain or you will end up isolated and in trouble. Instead of bucking the trend, it’s best instead to redirect the flow of your generation.
18: Meditate on Our Common Mortality
The Law of Death Denial
Death is there, whether you like it or not.
Meditate on your death to make the most of your time, instilling a sense of urgency in your purpose and goals.
Also, read:
Criticism
“The Laws of Human Nature” may be Greene’s best book, but there are still some valid criticism to be mentioned.
Let’s start from the author:
Lucio:
Robert Greene doesn’t have the deepest experience on social power dynamics and seduction.
And his work tends to be low in empirical evidence.
Howerer, he has a deep grasp of human nature, especially when it comes to the darker side of human nature.
His focus on that dark side also makes Greene stand out in the mass of (naive) self-help books to deliver some of the most striking, unique, and helpful self-development books available
Some criticism now relating to The Laws of Human Nature:
Weak Human Nature Comprehension Without Evolutionary Psychology
Robert Greene largely misses the insights from evolutionary pscyology.
Evolution’s impact on human nature across millions of years is too strong and foundational on human pscyhology, both ‘light’ and dark.
It’s like trying to understand general relativity without math. You can grasp the concepts, but you’ll miss on the underlying grammar.
Robert Greene’s analyses are brilliant, yet miss out on that underlying grammar that makes up who we are.
Freudian Psychology (Instead of Evolutionary Logic)
Robert Greene tends to be very Freudian.
Much of what the personality traits he ascribes to childhood and parents and he often invites the readers to investigate people’s past.
Logic Wasn’t Always Tight
For example:
Hindsight Bias & Fooled by Randomness
In a few instances, the laws and recommendations are based on wrong assumptions.
For example, Greene says we should try to better understand trends and future events. Wolfgang was so good at predicting the future, tells, Robert Greene. He even predicted the unification of Europe, which started happening after WWII!
But that makes no sense.
Wolfgang didn’t predict anything, he simply said something would happen.
And on a long enough timeline, whatever you say is bound to happen. I can say today that “Europe will divide once again”, and on a long enough timeline, it’s quite likely that I’ll be right (sadly).
Some Case Studies Raise Question Marks
Some of the famous Greene historical examples don’t fully add up.
For example, he says that when a doctor asks the patient “does your husband know about your affair?” He knew already knew the answer because she was nervos. But the patient can be nervous in both situations. If he knows, the relationship is on the rocks and she must make some tough decisions. If he doesn’t, she can be found out.
Another example is Haig.
Greene says that Haig rose through the rank playing one of the games that he so well describes until the point when he became chief of staff and told the cameras “I am in charge here”.
But just look at the videos and it seems like Greene embellished the facts:
Haig: I’m in control… Here at the White House, pending the return of the vice president, if something came up I would check with him, of course” <— He did not say ‘I’m in charge’ like Greene reported
Big difference.
People Don’t Change? Well, It Depends
Greene tends to over-generalize sometimes.
He says that people don’t really change. And many people change little indeed, and some traits are notoriously hard to work on.
On the other hand, it really depends on the trait. And some people DO change.
Not only in skills, which are obviously improvable, but also in mindsets and behaviors.
Longitudinal research also tells us that people DO change over time, and sometimes in predictable patterns.
Review
The Laws of Human Nature provides an insightful mix of pscyhology with a focus on the ‘dark side’, several valid foundations of mental empowerment, and social strategies.
On the downside, it lacks a coherent narrative. And, most of all, it lacks deep scientific rigor and relies more on Freudian psychology and Greene’s personal intuition, and sometimes it shows.
However, on the whole, Greene is an acute and intelligent analyst. And The Laws of Human Nature positively stands out in the pop self-help literature as a lucid, realistic, and quality work that we can generally recommend.
Apply Laws of Human Nature to Succeed
We leverage human nature, including Greene’s characterstic awareness of its ‘darker side’, and add science and first hand experience to deliver practical real-world oucomtes like status, respect, and attraction:
