Human Potential Lab

Today we have Jonah Sachs on the podcast. Jonah is an author, speaker, storyteller, designer, and entrepreneur. He is the author of Winning the Story Wars: Why Those Who Tell— and Live— The Best Stories Will Rule the Future, and most recently, Unsafe Thinking: How to Be Nimble and Bold When You Need It Most.

In this episode we discuss:

• What is safe unsafe thinking?
• The power of intuition for creativity
• Does your subconscious have free will?
• Dual-process theory and creativity
• How can you challenge and change yourself when you need it most?
• The importance of context for creativity
• The different phases of the creative process
• The importance of rocking the boat
• The benefits of collaborating with your enemies
• How can you stay motivated when changing habits is so hard?
• What’s the difference between flow and deliberate practice?
• The difference between values and identity
• Making a safe culture for risks
• How to gamify dissent

Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-psychology-podcast/support

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today we have Dr. Michael Inzlicht on the podcast. Dr. Inzlicht's  primary appointment at the University of Toronto is as professor in the Department of Psychology, but he is also cross-appointed as Professor at the Roman School of Management, and he is a Research Fellow at the Behavioral Economics in Action group. Michael conducts research that sits at the boundaries of social psychology, cognitive science, and neuroscience. Along with Yoel Inbar, he hosts the podcast “Two Psychologists Four Beers.”

In this episode we discuss:

• How serious is the replication crisis in psychology?
• Can the human social realm ever be removed from scientific critique?
• Do psychologists need to grow a thicker skin?
• Academic bullying vs. respectful critique
• Is there a gendered element to bullying in science?
• Is ego depletion real?
• Methodological issues with the ego depletion paradigm
• Real world ego depletion vs. laboratory-based ego depletion
• The lack of correspondence between self-report measures of self-control and performance measures
• The importance of distinguishing between self-control and self-regulation
• The paradoxical relationship between trait self-control and state self-control
• The "law of least work" or why we are so lazy most of the time
• The psychology of boredom

Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-psychology-podcast/support

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today we have Shannon Odell on the podcast. Odell is a Brooklyn based writer, comedian, and scientist. She co-hosts and produces Drunk Science, an experimental comedy show deemed “a stroke of genius” by Gothamist and a finalist in TruTV’s comedy break out initiative. She also co-created, writes, and stars in the Inverse original series “Your Brain on Blank”, where she explains the science behind how everything-from alcohol to caffeine to puppies- affects the brain. She can also be seen at Weill Cornell Medicine, where she is a Neuroscience PhD candidate studying the epigenetic underpinnings of hippocampal function. You can visit Shannon’s YouTube channel here.

• How Shannon got into science comedy
• How science can be funny
• Similarities between the personalities of comedians and scientists
• Political correctness in comedy and science
• How science communication is often so humorless
• Your brain on… the flu.
• Your brain on… breakups.
• Your brain on… puppies.
• Your brain on… caffeine.
• Your brain on… social media.
• Epigenetics and the effects of early life adversity on the brain
• How science can inform treatment options
• Barriers for women entering science

Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-psychology-podcast/support

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today we have Robert Greene on the podcast. Robert is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The 48 Laws of Power, The 33 Strategies of War, The Art of Seduction, and Mastery, and is an internationally renowned expert on power strategies. His latest book is The Laws of Human Nature.   In this episode we discuss:  

• What is human nature?
• How to transform self-love into empathy
• The deep narcissist vs. the the heathy narcissist
• Abraham Maslow’s encounter with Alfred Adler
• How to confront your dark side
• Returning to your more authentic self
• How people who are one-sided are concealing the opposite trait
• The importance of not taking yourself too seriously
• How to see through people’s masks
• The importance of assessing people’s actions over time
• Why toxic types have a peculiar sort of charm
• Healthy people-pleasers vs. toxic people-pleasers
• How to get in deep contact with your purpose
• The importance of becoming aware of the "spirit of the generation"
• How to confront your mortality and open your mind to the sublime

Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-psychology-podcast/support

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today it’s a great honor to have A.J. Jacobs on the podcast. Jacobs is the author of Thanks a Thousand, It’s All Relative, Drop Dead Healthy, and the New York Times bestsellers The Know-It-All, The Year of Living Biblically, and My Life as an Experiment. He is a contributor to NPR, and has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Entertainment Weekly. He lives in New York City with his wife and kids. Get a handwritten thank you card at ajjacobs.com/thanks.

In this episode we discuss:

• What is Project Gratitude?
• How A.J. went from grumpy to grateful
• Why A.J. chose coffee as his main source of gratitude
• The importance of savoring coffee (and everything else in life that matters)
• Why we should be grateful for the barrister
• The enemy of gratitude
• The importance of the “zarf”
• Where gratitude emerges, according to gratitude expert Bob Emmons
• They importance of reframing your life
• Some strategies to increase gratitude in daily life

Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-psychology-podcast/support

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

"It's going to be Okay."-- Steve Stewart-Williams

Today I’m delighted to have Steve Stewart-Williams on the podcast. Dr. Stewart-Williams is a New Zealander who moved to Canada, then to Wales, and then to Malaysia, where he is now an associate professor of psychology at the University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus. His first book, Darwin, God, and the Meaning of Life, was published in 2010 and his latest book is The Ape That Understood the Universe: How the Mind and Culture Evolve.

In this episode we cover the following topics:

• What would the human species look like from the perspective of an alien?
• Are humans just evolved fish?
• How far does evolutionary psychology take us in understanding human nature?
• What are some common myths about the evolutionary process?
• How we can be evolutionary “losers” and still be human success stories
• The distinction between altruism and selfishness
• Why the evolutionary psychology perspective is not enough to understand human nature
• How culture evolved among humans
• The link between human creativity and cultural evolution
• The potential human conflict between passing on genes vs. passing on memes
• How culture can amplify our nature
• Steve answers questions from Twitter

Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-psychology-podcast/support

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today it’s an honor to have Dr. Sean Carroll on the podcast. Dr. Carroll is a theoretical physicist at the California Institute of Technology. Recently, Carroll has worked on the foundation of quantum mechanics, the arrow of time, and the emergence of complexity. He has been awarded prizes and fellowships by the National Science Foundation, NASA, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, among others. Dr. Carroll has given a TED talk on the multiverse that has more than 1.5 million views, and he has participated in a number of well-attended public debates concerning material in his latest book, which is entitled “The Big Picture: On the Origins of Life, Meaning, and the Universe Itself.”   - The meaning of “post-existentialism”   - What is “poetic naturalism”?   - What is the fundamental nature of reality?   - Do “tables” and “chairs” really exist?   - The difference between rich ontology and sparse ontology   - The Bayesian probability of the existence of God   - How the universe evolved   - The analogy between psychological entropy and naturalistic entropy   - Can we think about the brain in useful terms entropically?   - In what sense do we have free will?   - How hard is the hard problem of consciousness?   - The importance of “existential gratitude”   - The link between quantum mechanics and consciousness   - Is there life (consciousness) after death?   - How can we create purpose, meaningfulness, mattering, morality, and ethics in a natural world?

Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-psychology-podcast/support

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today we have Dan Pink on the podcast. Pink is the author of six provocative best-selling books— including his newest: When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing. His other books include A Whole New Mind, Drive, and To Sell is Human. Pink’s books have won multiple awards and have been translated into 38 languages.

In this episode we discuss the following topics:

• What is the best way to motivate people?
• The case for “metapay” among self-actualized people
• How purpose is a powerful motivator
• The “motivation continuum”
• The ways contingent rewards can go awry
• Is it possible to be "unhealthily autonomous"?
• The importance of “killing your darlings”
• Dark triad selling vs. cooperative selling
• The “identity civil war” and zero-sum thinking
• The new ABCs of communication
• The myth of the necessity of extraversion for sales success
• The importance of time management
• The best and worst times to do…
• When is the best time to have a mid-life crisis?

Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-psychology-podcast/support

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today it’s a great delight to have James Clear on the podcast. Clear’s website, jamesclear.com, receives millions of visitors each month, and hundreds of thousands subscribe to his email newsletter. His work has appeared in the New York Times, Time, and Entrepreneur, and on CBS This Morning, and is taught in colleges around the world. Clear is the creator of The Habits Academy, the premier training platform for organizations and individuals that are interested in building better habits in life and work. His latest book is called “Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones”.   - How the mind is a “suggestion engine”   - How James has grown since his last appearance on The Psychology Podcast   - The importance of “dichotomy transcendence”   - The importance of choosing the best environment for your genes   - How was easily fall into “frictionless” habits   - How environment design plays a crucial role in habit change   - The four laws of behavior change   - The multiple levels of behavior change   - The link between identity and habit change   - The importance of small habits   - Why we should stop focusing on goals and focus on systems instead   - Why it’s easier to build a new habit in a new environment   - How to go from good to great

Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-psychology-podcast/support

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today it’s a great honor to have Dr. Robert Plomin on the podcast. Dr. Plomin is Professor of Behavioural Genetics at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience at King's College London. He previously held positions at the University of Colorado Boulder and Pennsylvania State University. He was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences and of the British Academy for his twin studies and his groundbreaking work in behavioral genetics. He is the author or coauthor of many books, including G is for Genes: The Impact of Genetics on Education and Achievement (with Kathryn Asbury), and most recently, BluePrint: How DNA Makes Us Who We Are.

In this wide-ranging conversation, we discuss the following topics:

• How Robert became interested in genetics
• The importance of going “with the grain” of your nature
• Robert’s twin studies methodology
• How genotypes become phenotypes
• How kids select their environments in ways that correlate with their genetic inclinations
• The genetic influence on television viewing
• How virtually everything is moderately heritable
• The effects of extreme trauma on the brain
• The developmental trajectory of heritability
• How the abnormal is normal
• How we could use polygenic information to inform educational interventions
• The potential for misuse of genetic information to select children for particular educational tracks
• Recent research on shared environmental influences on educational achievement
• The “nature of nurture”
• The variability of heritability across different cultures and levels of SES
• The role of education on intelligence
• How teachers can and cannot make a difference
• The genetics of social class mobility
• Free will and how we can change our destiny

Further Reading

Fifty years of twin studies: A meta-analysis of the heritability of human traits

The nature of nurture: effects of parental genotypes

Variat

Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-psychology-podcast/support

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.