Human Potential Lab

Today we have Dr. Justin Lehmiller on the podcast. Dr. Lehmiller is a Research Fellow at The Kinsey Institute and author of the book Tell Me What you Want: The Science of Sexual Desire and How It Can Help You Improve Your Sex Life. Lehmiller is an award winning educator, having been honored three times with the Certificate of Teaching Excellence from Harvard University, where he taught for several years. He is also a prolific researcher and scholar who has published more than 40 pieces of academic writing to date, including a textbook entitled The Psychology of Human Sexuality.

On this episode we cover a wide range of provocative and fascinating findings from the largest survey on sexual fantasies of all time. Topics include:

• The most common sexual fantasies among humans
• The most taboo sexual fantasy category
• Fantasy vs. desire
• Reducing shame for the content of one’s sexual fantasies
• The relationship between the fantasy-prone personality and sexual fantasies
• The importance of sexual self-actualization for well-being
• The benefits of open communication of our fantasies with our partners
• Sexual orientation vs. sexual flexibility
• The truth behind widely held stereotypes about BDSM
• Gender differences in sexual fantasies
• What your sexual fantasies say about you
• The sexiest superhero
• OCD and gender bending
• Does size really matter?
• Which fantasy is the least likely to work out when it’s actually acted out?
• How can more people turn their fantasies into reality in a healthy way?
• How can we break the barriers in society that prevent us from properly communicating our sexual desires?

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Today we have Michael Shermer and Philip Goff on the podcast. Michael is the founding publisher of Skeptic magazine, a monthly columnist for Scientific American, and a Presidential Fellow at Chapman University where he teaches Skepticism 101. He is the author of New York Times bestsellers Why People Believe Weird Things, The Believing Brain, and Heavens on Earth: The Scientific Search for the Afterlife, Immortality & Utopia. Goff is an associate professor in philosophy at Central European University in Budapest. His main research focus is trying to explain how the brain produces consciousness. His first book, which was published by Oxford University Press, is called Consciousness and Fundamental Reality. Goff is currently working on a book on consciousness aimed at a general audience.

In this episode we cover the following topics:

• Is reasoning the ultimate route to truth?
• What if human rational faculties can’t comprehend the ultimates realities of existence?
• Will the hard problem of consciousness ever be solved?
• Panpsychism as a scientific alternative for explaining consciousness
• The latest neuroscience of consciousness and its implications for understanding the hard problem of consciousness
• The insights that can be gleaned through understanding subjective experience
• Will we ever discover if free will exists?
• To what extent can our understanding of cognitive neuroscience and genetics can elucidate the extent of our free will?
• The possibility for “free won’t”
• Can science ever solve the mystery of the existence of God?
• How can the science of consciousness, free-will, and God help alleviate fundamental existential concerns of humanity?

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Today I’m delighted to have Sara Algoe on the podcast. Dr. Algoe is associate professor of social psychology at the University of Virginia. Her expertise spans emotions, relationships, and health psychology. Her basic research questions illuminate the social interactions that are at the heart of high-quality relationships. These include giving to others, expressing gratitude, and sharing laughter.

In this episode we discuss:

• The main components of “positive interpersonal processes”
• The effect of gratitude on the other person in relationships
• The importance of context in positive psychology
• How positive and negative emotions can co-exist simultaneously
• The “find, remind, and bind” theory of gratitude
• The importance of gratitude in everyday life
• “Meta” positive emotions
• The essentials vs. luxuries of well-being
• The validity of gratitude interventions
• “Gratitude burnout”
• Appreciation vs. gratitude
• The need for evil to define the light

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“There are two ideas about safe spaces. One is a very good idea, and one is a terrible idea. The idea of being physically safe on a campus, not being subjected to sexual harassment and physical abuse, or being targeted for something specifically for some sort of hate speech… I’m perfectly fine with that. But there’s another that is now ascendent, which I just think is a horrible view, which is ‘I need to be safe ideologically, I need to be safe emotionally, I just need to feel good all the time. And if someone says something that I don’t like, that is a problem for everyone else, including the administration.’ I think that is a terrible idea for the following reason: I don’t want you to be safe ideologically. I don’t want you to be safe emotionally. I want you to be strong. That’s different. I’m not going to pave the jungle for you. Put on some boots, and learn how to deal with adversity. I’m not going to take all the weights out of the gym. That’s the whole point of the gym. This is the gym.”

— Anthony Van Jones

Today we have Jonathan Haidt on the podcast. Dr. Haidt is a social psychologist at New York University’s Stern School of Business. Dr. Haidt’s research examines the intuitive foundations of morality, and how morality varies across cultures— including the cultures of American progressive, conservatives, and libertarians. Haidt is the author of The Happiness Hypothesis, and of The New York Times bestseller The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion. His third book, co-authored with Greg Lukianoff, is called The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas are Setting up a Generation for Failure.

In this episode we discuss:

•  “The tumultuous years” on college campuses from 2015-2017
• Wisdom and its opposite
• The three great untruths
• The main aims of Heterodox Academy
• The importance of exposing students to opposing views on campus
• The detrimental effects of moral amplification
• How moral foundations theory helps explain political divides
• The common humanity of liberals and conservatives
• The psychological function of having a common enemy
• How social media amplifies tribalism
• The rise of antifragility
• The net effect of “callout culture”
• The importance of play in early childhood
• The importance of cognitive behavioral therapy and sharpening your intuitions
• The importance of both racial/ethnic minority diversity and viewpoint diversity
• How to help young people flourish in college

Links

Heterodox Academy

Wisdom as a classical source of human strength: Conceptualization and empirical inquiry

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Today we have Carl Zimmer on the podcast. Zimmer reports from the frontiers of biology, where scientists are expanding our understanding of life. Since 2004 he was written about science for the New York Times, where his column “Matter” has appeared weekly since 2013. Zimmer has won many awards for his work, including the Stephen Jay Gould Prize, awarded by the Society for the Study of Evolution to recognize individuals whose sustained efforts have advanced public understanding of evolutionary science. Zimmer is the author of thirteen books about science. His latest book is She Has Her Mother’s Laugh: The Power, Perversions, and Potential of Heredity.   In this episode, we discuss:   - The difference between genetics and heredity   - The perils and promises of gene-editing technologies   - The potential for unethical application of emerging genetics findings   - The potential for misuse of the genetics of intelligence in education   - The potential perils of genetically modified mosquitoes    - The potential perils of genetically modified crops   - The quirky nature of epigenetics   - The existence of “human chimeras”   - The limitations of DNA testing

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 "When you turn your back on reality you lose the ability to manipulate reality. One would think that is self-evident. I didn't go into this to not try to find the truth." -- James Flynn*

Today it is an honor to have Dr. James Flynn on the podcast. Dr. Flynn is Professor Emeritus at the University of Otago and recipient of the University’s Gold Medal for Distinguished Career Research. In 2007, the International Society for Intelligence Research named him its Distinguished Contributor. His TED talk on cognitive and moral progress has received over 3.5 million visits. His long list of books include Are We Getting Smarter?, What is Intelligence?, Where Have All the Liberals Gone?, Fate and Philosophy, How to Improve Your Mind, and most recently, https://anchor.fm/the-psychology-podcast/support

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Today we have Michael Steger on the podcast. Dr. Steger is a Professor of Psychology, and the Founding Director of the Center for Meaning and Purpose at Colorado State University. He studies the link between meaning in life and well-being, as well as the psychological predictors of physical health and health-risk behaviors, and the facilitators and benefits of engaging in meaningful work.

In this episode we discuss the following topics:

- The definition of meaning in life

- The measurement of meaning

- The dark triad and meaning

- “The Hitler Problem”

- Life satisfaction vs. meaning in life

- Different forms of pleasure

- The possibility for “meaning exhaustion”

- Meaningful work

- The difference between coherence, purpose, and significance

- Different meanings of purpose

- The strongest sources of meaning in life

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Today we have Bradley Campbell on the podcast. Dr. Campbell is a sociologist interested in moral conflict— clashes of right and wrong and how they are handled. Most of his work examines genocide, which normally arises from large-scale interethnic conflicts. Recently he has also begun to examine the much smaller-scale conflicts on modern college campuses. His latest book, co-authored with Jason Manning is called “The Rise of Victimhood Culture: Microaggressions, Safe Spaces, and the New Culture Wars.”

• The clash between victimhood and dignity culture
• The sociology of genocide and conflict
• The difference between honor culture, dignity culture, and victimhood culture
• Victimhood as a form of status
• Microaggressions on campus
• Anti-PC culture vs. victimhood culture
• Distinguishing real victimhood from victimhood culture
• Conservative victimhood vs. liberal victimhood
• Those who embrace offensiveness
• Healthy Activism: vs. Psychopathological activism
• The main goals of the Heterodox Academy
• The need for more generosity and forgiveness among differing viewpoints, cultures, and neurodiverse individuals

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Today it’s great to have Amy Alkon on the podcast. Amy Alkon is a “transdisciplinary applied scientist”, who synthesizes research findings from various areas, translates the findings into understandable language, and then creates practical advice based on the latest science. Alkon writes The Science Advice Goddess, an award-winning, syndicated column that runs in newspapers across the United States and Canada. She is also the author of Good Manners for Nice People Who Sometimes Say F*ck and I See Rude People. She has been on Good Morning America, The Today Show, NPR, CNN, MTV, and does a weekly science podcast. She has written for Psychology Today, Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times Magazine, the New York Daily News, among others, and has given a TED talk. She is the President of the Applied Evolutionary Psychology Society, and she lives in Venice, California. Amy’s latest book is Unf*ckology: A Field Guide to Living With Guts and Confidence.

In this episode you will learn:

• The importance of action for overcoming your fears
• How people-pleasing backfires
• How you can use fear as a tool for change
• How to “impersonate your way to being the real you”
• Why authenticity is overrated
• How to have a secure self-esteem
• How to reduce shame
• How Amy asked for feedback while she was dating
• How to have the courage to say “no”
• Why it’s better to have systems than goals
• “The importance of “small wins”
• Why dating is a numbers game

• How to feel more empowered in your life

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Today it’s a great honor to have Steven Pinker on the podcast. Dr. Pinker is an experimental psychologist who conducts research in visual cognition, psycholinguistics, and social relations. He grew up in Montreal and earned his BA from McGill and his PhD from Harvard. Currently Johnstone Professor of Psychology at Harvard, Pinker has also taught at Stanford and MIT. He has won numerous prizes for his research, his teaching, and his ten books, including The Language Instinct, How the Mind Works, The Blank Slate, The Better Angels of Our Nature, The Sense of Style, and most recently, Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress. Pinker is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, a two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist, a Humanist of the Year, a recipient of nine honorary doctorates, and one of Foreign Policy’s “World’s Top 100 Public Intellectuals” and Time’s “100 Most Influential People in the World Today.” He is Chair of the Usage Panel of the American Heritage Dictionary, and writes frequently for The New York Times, The Guardian, and other publications.

In this episode we discuss the following topics:

• The main thread that runs through all of Pinker’s work
• Does reducing economic inequality increase happiness?
• Does increased autonomy lead to increased happiness?
• How humanism is compatible with spirituality
• Why we should not confuse evolutionary adaptation (in Darwin’s sense) with human worth
• The difference between the ultimate and proximal levels of analysis
• Why Evolutionary Psychology is often so misunderstood
• Why human nature isn’t necessarily conductive to human flourishing
• How the laws of the universe don’t care about you
• Why do intellectuals hate progress so much?
• What are some indicators of human progress?
• Why should people care about human progress over the course of history?
• The myth of the suicide and loneliness “epidemics”
• Why we enjoy and care more about food and children than oxygen
• Rates of sexual assault and mental health on campus
• The increasing divisiveness and irrationality of politics
• How the recent presidential election was a “carnival of irrationality”
• Humanistic ethics
• Can we have a good without a God?
• The possibility of the unification of knowledge across the arts, humanities, and sciences
• Toward a third culture

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