You Are Not So Smart
272 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 1 year ago - ★★★★★ - 1.6K ratingsYou Are Not So Smart is a show about psychology that celebrates science and self delusion. In each episode, we explore what we've learned so far about reasoning, biases, judgments, and decision-making.
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Episodes
206 - Narcissism
May 16, 2021 17:49 - 58 minutes - 53.3 MBIn this episode we explore what narcissism is and what is most-definitely is not. You will learn is that narcissists are not psychopaths, and vice-versa, but there is a form of narcissism which had been, up until now, confused with psychopathy, and vice-versa. According to the research of the two psychologists in this episode, narcissism may even need to be renamed, because it isn't excessive self-love, it's excessive self-loathing. Narcissists like Don Draper in Mad Men cope with their inse...
206 - Narcissism
May 16, 2021 17:49 - 58 minutes - 53.3 MBIn this episode we explore what narcissism is and what is most-definitely is not. You will learn is that narcissists are not psychopaths, and vice-versa, but there is a form of narcissism which had been, up until now, confused with psychopathy, and vice-versa. According to the research of the two psychologists in this episode, narcissism may even need to be renamed, because it isn't excessive self-love, it's excessive self-loathing. Narcissists like Don Draper in Mad Men cope with their inse...
205 - Unfollow - Megan Phelps-Roper
May 03, 2021 22:55 - 1 hour - 101 MBIn this episode we sit down with Megan Phelps-Roper, the author of Unfollow, a memoir of her time in Westboro Baptist Church, and an exploration what it took to convince her to leave. I interviewed Megan for my upcoming book, How Minds Change, and in this interview you will learn all about assimilation and accommodation, cult deprogrammers, and the steps Megan says one must take if they want to change someone's mind. - Vote for You Are Not So Smart at The Webby Awards! Link here: https://vo...
204 - On Being Certain - Robert Burton
April 18, 2021 23:25 - 54 minutes - 50.4 MBIn this episode, we sit down with neurologist Robert Burton, author of On Being Certain, a book that fundamentally changed the way I think about what a belief actually is. That’s because the book posits that conclusions are not conscious choices and certainty is not even a thought process. Certainty and similar states of “knowing” as he puts it, are "sensations that feel like thoughts, but arise out of involuntary brain mechanisms that function independently of reason." Patreon: http://patr...
203 - Transcend - Scott Barry Kaufman
April 04, 2021 21:33 - 1 hour - 63.8 MBIn this episode we sit down with Scott Barry Kaufman, one of the most-influential and prolific psychologists working today, to discuss his new book, Transcend: The New Science of Self-Actualization. Business Insider magazine named Kaufman one of the “50 groundbreaking scientists who are changing the way we see the world,” and you would agree after hanging out with him. In my experience, you feel seen, heard, respected, challenged, and above all, when you leave a conversation with Scott, you...
202 - Desirability Bias (rebroadcast)
March 21, 2021 21:58 - 28 minutes - 25.9 MBConfirmation bias is our tendency to seek evidence that supports our beliefs and confirms our assumptions when we could just as well seek disconfirmation of those beliefs and assumptions instead. Confirmation is such a prevalent feature of human cognition, that until recently a second bias has been hidden in plain sight. Recent research suggests that something called desirability bias may be just as prevalent in our thinking. When future desires and past beliefs are incongruent, desire wins...
201 - Good Dog
March 07, 2021 19:22 - 1 hour - 74.5 MBIn this episode we sit down with journalist and author Kate Leaver to explore her new book, Good Dog, which covers "the science and history of our extraordinary relationship with dogs and focusing on the role that dogs can play in enriching and improving our mental and emotional health." Show Notes at: YouAreNotSoSmart.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
201 - Good Dog - Kate Leaver
March 07, 2021 19:22 - 1 hour - 74.5 MBIn this episode we sit down with journalist and author Kate Leaver to explore her new book, Good Dog, which covers "the science and history of our extraordinary relationship with dogs and focusing on the role that dogs can play in enriching and improving our mental and emotional health." Show Notes at: YouAreNotSoSmart.com Patreon: http://patreon.com/youarenotsosmart
200 - Socks and Crocs (rebroadcast)
February 22, 2021 00:24 - 1 hour - 88.7 MBWhen facing a novel and uncertain situation, the brain secretly disambiguates the ambiguous without letting you know it was ever uncertain in the first place, leading people who disambiguate differently to seem iNsAnE. This episode is about why we so often don't understand why we disagree, which leads us to disagree even more, and we explore that through the science behind The Dress. We look into why some people see it as black and blue, others see it as white and gold, and how the scientif...
199 - Math Without Numbers - Milo Beckman
February 08, 2021 01:37 - 56 minutes - 51.7 MBIn this episode we explore the weirdness and wonder of Math Without Numbers with mathematician Milo Beckman who wrote a book about the math behind multiple infinities, strange topologies, and extra dimensions, all without using numbers to explain some of the most fascinating and complex ideas that usually only make sense when scribbled in strange notations on a blackboard. Patreon: http://patreon.com/youarenotsosmart
199 - Math Without Numbers
February 08, 2021 01:37 - 56 minutes - 51.7 MBIn this episode we explore the weirdness and wonder of Math Without Numbers with mathematician Milo Beckman who wrote a book about the math behind multiple infinities, strange topologies, and extra dimensions, all without using numbers to explain some of the most fascinating and complex ideas that usually only make sense when scribbled in strange notations on a blackboard. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
198 - Reflection and Insurrection
January 25, 2021 19:21 - 52 minutes - 48 MBIn this episode, we explore the psychological mechanisms that led to the the storming of the Capitol, an event that sprang from a widespread belief in a conspiracy theory that, even weeks later, still persists among millions. Patreon: http://patreon.com/youarenotsosmart
197 - Conspiratorial Thinking
January 11, 2021 01:20 - 1 hour - 77.1 MBOver the last few years, this show has devoted many shows to the psychology behind what we saw in the Capitol in January 2021. So, in this episode, we re-listen to three interviews on conspiratorial thinking to gain some perspective. Patreon: http://patreon.com/youarenotsosmart
196 - Art (rebroadcast)
December 27, 2020 19:57 - 1 hour - 93.7 MBMoira Dillon studies how “the physical world in which we live shapes the abstract world in which we think,” and in this episode we travel to her Lab for the Developing Mind at NYU to sit down and ask her a zillion questions about how the brain creates the reality we interact with, and how we attempt to communicate that reality to others through language, art, geometry, and mathematics. Patreon: http://patreon.com/youarenotsosmart
195 - Clearer Thinking
December 14, 2020 03:52 - 1 hour - 73 MBIn this episode we sit down with Spencer Greenberg to discuss how to be better critical thinkers using his FIRE method and other insights from his website, ClearerThinking.org See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
195 - Clearer Thinking - Spencer Greenberg
December 14, 2020 03:52 - 1 hour - 73 MBIn this episode we sit down with Spencer Greenberg to discuss how to be better critical thinkers using his FIRE method and other insights from his website, ClearerThinking.org Patreon: http://patreon.com/youarenotsosmart
194 - Because Internet
November 29, 2020 22:54 - 1 hour - 93.5 MBOur guest in this episode is Gretchen McCulloch, who is a linguist, but also, I’d say a MEME-ologist, evidenced by that the fact that in her New York Times Bestselling book, Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language, she spends a good portion of the book tracing the history of memes and how we have used them all the way up to right now, which is part of her her overall exploration of how language itself has changed since the advent of text messaging, SnapChat, TikTok, emojis, ...
194 - Because Internet - Gretchen McCulloch
November 29, 2020 22:54 - 1 hour - 93.5 MBOur guest in this episode is Gretchen McCulloch, who is a linguist, but also, I’d say a MEME-ologist, evidenced by that the fact that in her New York Times Bestselling book, Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language, she spends a good portion of the book tracing the history of memes and how we have used them all the way up to right now, which is part of her her overall exploration of how language itself has changed since the advent of text messaging, SnapChat, TikTok, emojis,...
193 - Gossip
November 16, 2020 04:09 - 1 hour - 65.9 MBIn this episode we sit down with psychologist Robb Willer to discuss the psychology of gossip: how much we do it, why we do it, its major functions, and what life would be be like without it. Patreon: http://patreon.com/youarenotsosmart
192 - The Dunning-Kruger Effect (rebroadcast)
November 01, 2020 22:11 - 56 minutes - 52.2 MBIn this episode, we explore why we are unaware that we lack the skill to tell how unskilled and unaware we are. The evidence gathered so far by psychologists and neuroscientists seems to suggest that each one of us has a relationship with our own ignorance, a dishonest, complicated relationship, and that dishonesty keeps us sane, happy, and willing to get out of bed in the morning. Part of that ignorance is a blind spot we each possess that obscures both our competence and incompetence cal...
191 - Livewired
October 18, 2020 16:14 - 1 hour - 67.5 MBIn this episode we sit down with neuroscientist David Eagleman to learn how brains turn noise into signal, chaos into order, electrical spikes into meaning, and how new technology can expand subjective reality in ways never before possible. In his new book, Livewired, Eagleman explores how brains come into the world "half baked" so they can create reality itself out of the inputs and experiences available. And now, thanks to that plug-and-play plasticity, with the latest tools, not only can...
191 - Livewired - David Eagleman
October 18, 2020 16:14 - 1 hour - 67.5 MBIn this episode we sit down with neuroscientist David Eagleman to learn how brains turn noise into signal, chaos into order, electrical spikes into meaning, and how new technology can expand subjective reality in ways never before possible. In his new book, Livewired, Eagleman explores how brains come into the world "half baked" so they can create reality itself out of the inputs and experiences available. And now, thanks to that plug-and-play plasticity, with the latest tools, not only ca...
190 - Learned Helplessness (rebroadcast)
October 04, 2020 14:23 - 43 minutes - 39.5 MBStuck in a bad situation, even when the prison doors are left wide open, we sometimes refuse to attempt escape. Why is that? In this episode learn all about the strange phenomenon of learned helplessness and how it keeps people in bad jobs, poor health, terrible relationships, and awful circumstances despite how easy it might be to escape any one of those scenarios with just one more effort. In the episode, you'll learn how to defeat this psychological trap with advice from psychologists J...
189 - The Vaccine
September 21, 2020 04:08 - 1 hour - 94.9 MBIn this giant episode, experts on vaccines, epidemiology, psychology, and science communication explain how we created so much confusion about COVID-19, and how we can avoid doing it again when a vaccine is ready for widespread, public distribution. We also learn exactly what it will take to make that vaccine and when it will likely arrive. - Show notes at: www.youarenotsosmart.com - Become a patron at: www.patreon.com/youarenotsosmart Patreon: http://patreon.com/youarenotsosmart
188 - The Happiness Lab (rebroadcast)
September 06, 2020 21:30 - 1 hour - 60.7 MBIn this episode, we welcome Yale psychologist Laurie Santos who discusses her new podcast, The Happiness Lab which explores how wrong and misguided we can be when we pursue the things we think will make us happy or avoid the things that we think will make us sad. Based on the psychology course she teaches at Yale - the most popular class in the university’s 300-year history - The Happiness Lab is a tour of the latest scientific research into what does and does not make us happy. - Show note...
188 - The Happiness Lab - Laurie Santos (rebroadcast)
September 06, 2020 21:30 - 1 hour - 60.7 MBIn this episode, we welcome Yale psychologist Laurie Santos who discusses her new podcast, The Happiness Lab which explores how wrong and misguided we can be when we pursue the things we think will make us happy or avoid the things that we think will make us sad. Based on the psychology course she teaches at Yale - the most popular class in the university’s 300-year history - The Happiness Lab is a tour of the latest scientific research into what does and does not make us happy. - Show not...
187 - Bad Habits (rebroadcast)
August 24, 2020 01:12 - 1 hour - 67 MBIn this episode, Dr. Jud Brewer, a neuroscientist and addiction psychiatrist, discusses bad habits and how to change them. He is the author of The Craving Mind: From Cigarettes to Smartphones to Love -- Why We Get Hooked and how We Can Break Bad Habits -- and his TED Talk on how to change a bad habit has more than 12 million views. But...we talk about so many other things in this episode. It's a free association smorgasbord of brain stuff that will rattle your head. ::: Show Notes at YouAr...
187 - Bad Habits - Jud Brewer (rebroadcast)
August 24, 2020 01:12 - 1 hour - 67 MBIn this episode, Dr. Jud Brewer, a neuroscientist and addiction psychiatrist, discusses bad habits and how to change them. He is the author of The Craving Mind: From Cigarettes to Smartphones to Love -- Why We Get Hooked and how We Can Break Bad Habits -- and his TED Talk on how to change a bad habit has more than 12 million views. But...we talk about so many other things in this episode. It's a free association smorgasbord of brain stuff that will rattle your head. ::: Show Notes at YouA...
186 - Maybe You Should Talk to Someone - Lori Gottlieb (rebroadcast)
August 10, 2020 00:03 - 41 minutes - 38.4 MBIn Lori Gottlieb's new book, Maybe You Should Talk to Someone, she opens with a quote from James Baldwin that reads, "Nothing is more desirable than to be released from an affliction, but nothing is more frightening than to be divested of a crutch." In this episode, we talk about therapy, how it works, the misconceptions around it, and how people go from resisting change to embracing the behaviors required to alter their own thoughts and feelings when stuck in destructive, unhealthy loops. ...
186 - Maybe You Should Talk to Someone (rebroadcast)
August 10, 2020 00:03 - 41 minutes - 38.4 MBIn Lori Gottlieb's new book, Maybe You Should Talk to Someone, she opens with a quote from James Baldwin that reads, "Nothing is more desirable than to be released from an affliction, but nothing is more frightening than to be divested of a crutch." In this episode, we talk about therapy, how it works, the misconceptions around it, and how people go from resisting change to embracing the behaviors required to alter their own thoughts and feelings when stuck in destructive, unhealthy loops. Y...
185 - Masks
July 28, 2020 05:49 - 1 hour - 83.5 MBIn this episode we explore the psychology behind why some people don't want to wear masks, why they get angry at the idea, and why they sometimes take to the streets and city council meetings to voice that anger. Four guests help us to understand how masks, during a the COVID-19 pandemic, became politicized and what we can learn from this going forward to help prevent a similar reaction when it comes time to convince to public they should get vaccinated. Patreon: http://patreon.com/youareno...
184 - The Blind Spots Between Us - Gleb Tsipursky
July 13, 2020 03:38 - 1 hour - 67.3 MBOur guest in this episode is Dr. Gleb Tsipursky, a disaster-avoidance expert who has spent more than 20 years training businesses how to de-bias themselves. He is the author for Never Trust Your Gut and he is here to talk about his new book The Blind Spots Between Us. Patreon: http://patreon.com/youarenotsosmart
184 - The Blind Spots Between Us
July 13, 2020 03:38 - 1 hour - 67.3 MBOur guest in this episode is Dr. Gleb Tsipursky, a disaster-avoidance expert who has spent more than 20 years training businesses how to de-bias themselves. He is the author for Never Trust Your Gut and he is here to talk about his new book The Blind Spots Between Us. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
183 - Black Lives Matter
June 29, 2020 01:34 - 1 hour - 66.6 MBIn this episode, members of the Association of Black Psychologists gather in a roundtable discussion to explore Black Lives Matter and the social movement taking place right now in The United States. Patreon: http://patreon.com/youarenotsosmart
182 - The A/B Effect (rebroadcast)
June 15, 2020 18:00 - 1 hour - 80.1 MBSo, you might think that, in general, as an idea, as a practice, the A/B test would be beloved, supported, and encouraged as a way to test out policies and practices and drugs and treatments, but new research shows that a significant portion of the public does not feel this way, enough to cause doctors and lawmakers and educators to avoid A/B testing altogether. -- Show Notes at: youarenotsosmart.com -- -- Become a patron at: www.patreon.com/youarenotsosmart -- SPONSORS • The Great Cours...
181 - Pluralistic Ignorance (rebroadcast)
June 01, 2020 04:42 - 1 hour - 79.1 MBThere are several ways to define pluralistic ignorance, and that’s because it’s kind of a brain twister when you try to put it into words. On certain issues, the majority of the people believe that the majority of the people in a group believe what, in truth, the minority of the members believe. Or put another way, it is the erroneous belief that the majority is acting in a way that matches its internal philosophies, and that you are one of a small number of people who feel differently, when...
180 - Meltdown
May 18, 2020 05:02 - 1 hour - 104 MBIn this episode we sit down with Chris Clearfield, author of Meltdown: Why Our Systems Fail and What We Can Do About It See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
180 - Meltdown - Chris Clearfield
May 18, 2020 05:02 - 1 hour - 99.3 MBIn this episode we sit down with Chris Clearfield, author of Meltdown: Why Our Systems Fail and What We Can Do About It Patreon: http://patreon.com/youarenotsosmart
179 - The Memory Illusion
May 03, 2020 22:27 - 1 hour - 72.6 MBOur guest on this episode of the You Are Not So Smart Podcast is Dr. Julia Shaw, the author of The Memory Illusion, Julia is famous among psychologists because she was able to implant false memories into a group of subjects and convince 70 percent of them that they were guilty of a crime they did not commit, and she did so by using the sort of sloppy interrogation techniques that some police departments have been truly been guilty of using in the past. - Show notes at: www.youarenotsosmart.c...
179 - The Memory Illusion - Julia Shaw
May 03, 2020 22:27 - 1 hour - 72.6 MBOur guest on this episode of the You Are Not So Smart Podcast is Dr. Julia Shaw, the author of The Memory Illusion, Julia is famous among psychologists because she was able to implant false memories into a group of subjects and convince 70 percent of them that they were guilty of a crime they did not commit, and she did so by using the sort of sloppy interrogation techniques that some police departments have been truly been guilty of using in the past. - Show notes at: www.youarenotsosmart....
178 - Behind the Curve (rebroadcast)
April 19, 2020 23:56 - 1 hour - 74.8 MBIn this episode, we sit down with the director and producers of the documentary film, Behind the Curve, an exploration of motivated reasoning and conspiratorial thinking told through the lives of people who have formed a community around the belief that the Earth is flat. - Show notes at: www.youarenotsosmart.com - Become a patron at: www.patreon.com/youarenotsosmart SPONSORS • The Great Courses: www.thegreatcoursesplus.com/smart • BetterHelp -- Offer code: YANSS -- www.betterhelp.com/YAN...
177 - COVID - 19
April 05, 2020 16:39 - 2 hours - 112 MBFlatten the curve. That idea has spread through the population faster than COVID-19 ever could. That’s the power of culture, of human psychology, of brains interacting with brains. Of course, culture and human psychology and brains interacting with brains are also how the virus spread to begin to with, and that is what this show is about — the psychology behind the spread, and the prevention of the spread, of COVID-19. When I asked followers on Twitter what kind of show they would want if...
177 - COVID-19
April 05, 2020 16:39 - 2 hours - 140 MBFlatten the curve. That idea has spread through the population faster than COVID-19 ever could. That’s the power of culture, of human psychology, of brains interacting with brains. Of course, culture and human psychology and brains interacting with brains are also how the virus spread to begin to with, and that is what this show is about — the psychology behind the spread, and the prevention of the spread, of COVID-19. When I asked followers on Twitter what kind of show they would want if ...
176 - Socks and Crocs - Part Two
March 26, 2020 02:55 - 1 hour - 61.6 MBPriors are what neuroscientists and philosophers call the years of experience and regularity leading up to the present. All the ways a ball has bounced, all the ways a pancake has tasted, the way the dogs in your life have barks, or bitten, or hugged you when you were sad -- these all shape the brain, literally. They form and prune our neural networks, so in situations that are uncertain, unfamiliar or ambiguous, we depend on those priors to help us disambiguate the new information coming in...
175 - Socks And Crocs - Part One
March 08, 2020 22:09 - 36 minutes - 33.9 MBBack in 2015, before Brexit, before Clinton vs. Trump, before weaponized Macedonian internet trolls, one NPR affiliate called The Dress, “The debate that broke the internet,” and The Washington Post referred to it as “The drama that divided the planet.” This episode isn’t just about the science behind The Dress. it’s about how the scientific investigation of The Dress lead to the scientific investigation of socks and crocs, and how the scientific investigation of socks and crocs may be, a...
174 - Bad Advice (rebroadcast)
February 24, 2020 03:03 - 1 hour - 61.7 MBIn this episode, we sit down with vaccine expert Dr. Paul Offit to discuss his new book, Bad Advice or Why Celebrities, Politicians, and Activists Aren't Your Best Source of Health Information. Offit has been fighting for years to promote vaccines, educate the public, and oppose the efforts of anti-vaxxers, and in his new book he offers advice for science consumers and communicators on how to deal with what he calls the opaque window of modern media which gives equal time to non-experts when...
174 - Bad Advice - Paul Offit (rebroadcast)
February 24, 2020 03:03 - 1 hour - 61.7 MBIn this episode, we sit down with vaccine expert Dr. Paul Offit to discuss his new book, Bad Advice or Why Celebrities, Politicians, and Activists Aren't Your Best Source of Health Information. Offit has been fighting for years to promote vaccines, educate the public, and oppose the efforts of anti-vaxxers, and in his new book he offers advice for science consumers and communicators on how to deal with what he calls the opaque window of modern media which gives equal time to non-experts whe...
173 - Rule Makers, Rule Breakers
February 10, 2020 03:26 - 1 hour - 67.2 MBIn this episode, we sit down with psychologist Michele Gelfand and discuss her new book: Rule Makers, Rule Breakers: How Tight and Loose Cultures Wire Our World. In the book, Gelfand presents her research into norms, and a fascinating new idea. It isn’t norms themselves that predict how cultures will react, evolve, innovate, and clash -- but how different cultures value those and sanction people who violate them. She categorizes all human cultures into two -- kinds, tight and loose -- and ar...
173 - Rule Makers, Rule Breakers (rebroadcast)
February 10, 2020 03:26 - 1 hour - 84 MBIn this episode, we sit down with psychologist Michele Gelfand and discuss her new book: Rule Makers, Rule Breakers: How Tight and Loose Cultures Wire Our World. In the book, Gelfand presents her research into norms, and a fascinating new idea. It isn’t norms themselves that predict how cultures will react, evolve, innovate, and clash -- but how different cultures value those and sanction people who violate them. She categorizes all human cultures into two -- kinds, tight and loose -- and ar...
173 - Rule Makers, Rule Breakers - Michele Gelfand
February 10, 2020 03:26 - 1 hour - 67.2 MBIn this episode, we sit down with psychologist Michele Gelfand and discuss her new book: Rule Makers, Rule Breakers: How Tight and Loose Cultures Wire Our World. In the book, Gelfand presents her research into norms, and a fascinating new idea. It isn’t norms themselves that predict how cultures will react, evolve, innovate, and clash -- but how different cultures value those and sanction people who violate them. She categorizes all human cultures into two -- kinds, tight and loose -- and a...