Annie Murphy Paul || The Extended Mind

Today it’s great to have Annie Murphy Paul on the podcast. Annie writes about how the findings of cognitive science and psychology could help us to think and act more intelligently. Annie contributes to the New York Times Magazine and the New York Times Book Review, Slate, and O, The Oprah Magazine, among many other publications. She’s also the author of a number of books including The Cult of Personality, Origins, and most recently, The Extended Mind: The Power of Thinking Outside the Brain.  In this episode, I talk to Annie about the research and concepts in her new book The Extended Mind. We debunk the notion that intelligence is only in the brain by discussing how our bodies, spaces, and relationships all contribute to thought processes. Finally, we also touch on how to build knowledge and expertise through productive cognitive loops, cognitive unloading, and imitation.    Topics  01:05 Thinking outside the brain  03:54 Individual differences in interception  09:51 Annie’s definition of intelligence  13:30 Cognitive loops enhance intelligence  15:31 Is the mind always extended?  17:10 The brain’s dynamic role in thinking  21:14 COVID-19 has turned us into “brains in front of screens”  24:57 Information overload  28:11 Using intuition to think rationally  30:22 Expertise is not brain bound  31:37 The best relationship hack: eat spicy food together  33:50 The research behind The Extended Mind  38:32 Cognitive unloading  40:51 Mastery through imitation  43:00 Scott’s theories about shared expertise  45:39 Reminiscing about Annie’s first episode on The Psychology Podcast  46:22 Embracing the extended heart Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-psychology-podcast/support See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.