Why Do We Act Differently Around Different People? with Claude Steele

Does your identity and performance change in different situations? What does this have to do with wondering how you’re being judged? What if polarization grows from uncertainty more than hatred? Might social uncertainty be more common than prejudice? Why do strangers become enemies so easily? Can we engineer more trust into society? Today Eagleman sits down with Stanford social psychologist Claude Steele to explore the hidden psychological forces that shape who we become whenever we wonder how other people see us.

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Claude M. Steele (2026). Churn: The Tension That Divides Us and How to Overcome It.

Claude M. Steele (2010). Whistling Vivaldi: How Stereotypes Affect Us and What We Can Do.

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