Podcasts · Science · Society & Culture

You Are Not So Smart

You Are Not So Smart

300 episodes

You 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.

Episodes page 2 of 6

  1. 301 - Cognitive Dissonance - Part Two

    · 58 min

    In this episode we welcome Dr. Sarah Stein Lubrano, a political scientist who studies how cognitive dissonance affects all sorts of political behavior. She’s also the co-host of a podcast about activism called "What Do…

  2. 300 - Cognitive Dissonance - Part One

    · 57 min

    In this episode, the story of a doomsday cult that predicted the exact date and circumstances of the end of the world, and what happened when that date passed and the world did not end. Also, we explore our drive to…

  3. 299 - Debunkbot

    · 1 h 09 min

    Our guests in this episode are Thomas H. Costello at American University, Gordon Pennycook at Cornell University, and David G. Rand at MIT who created Debunkbot, a GPT-powered, large language model,…

  4. 298 - Tribal - Michael Morris

    · 1 h 34 min

    In this episode we sit down with renowned cultural psychologist Michael Morris to discuss his new book, Tribal, in which he makes the case for seeing humans as an "us" species, not a "them" species. Morris says that…

  5. 297 - Project Alpha - Brian Brushwood (rebroadcast)

    · 1 h 10 min

    Brian Brushwood tells us how he put together the most recent season of The World's Greatest Con, his podcast about incredible scams and over the top chicanery. This season is all about how two teenagers pulled off an…

  6. 296 - Job Therapy - Tessa West

    · 55 min

    Are you unhappy at your job? Are you starting to consider a change of career because of how your current work makes you feel? Do you know why? According to our guest in this episode, Dr. Tessa West, a psychologist at…

  7. 295 - Easy Crafts for the Insane - Kelly Williams Brown

    · 1 h 15 min

    In this episode we sit down with author Kelly Williams Brown, an old friend who (I recently learned) had attempted suicide, which is the subject of this episode – suicide prevention and awareness. In the show we learn…

  8. 294 - Living Constitutionally - A.J. Jacobs

    · 1 h 28 min

    In this episode we sit down with A.J. Jacobs, a journalist who noticed some striking similarities between Biblical fundamentalism and constitutional originalism, and since he once wrote a NYT bestselling book about…

  9. 293 - Do Your Own Research - Sedona Chinn (rebroadcast)

    · 45 min

    Sedona Chinn, who studies how people make sense of competing claims – scientific, environmental, health-related – joins us to discuss her latest research into doing your own research. Her research has found that the…

  10. 292 - The Society Library - Jamie Joyce

    · 1 h 24 min

    Our guest in this episode is Jamie Joyce who is the president and executive director of The Society Library, an organization that extracts arguments, claims, and evidence from various forms of media to compile…

  11. 291 - Tough - Terry Crews (rebroadcast)

    · 1 h 11 min

    Terry Crews, actor, athlete, artist, President Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Camacho, star of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, host of America’s Got Talent - that Terry Crews joins us to discuss his new book, Tough. In the book,…

  12. 290 - The Intention Action Gap - Britt Frank

    · 1 h 11 min

    In this episode, we sit down with therapist Britt Frank to discuss the intention action gap, the psychological term for the chasm between what you very much intend to do and what you tend to do instead. It turns out,…

  13. 289 - Hack Your Bureaucracy - Marina Nitze (rebroadcast)

    · 42 min

    Marina Nitze is a professional fixer of broken systems – a hacker, not of computers and technology, but of the social phenomena that tend to emerge when people get together and form organizations, institutions,…

  14. 288 - Fluke - Brian Klaas

    · 51 min

    In this episode we sit down with Brian Klaas, author of Fluke, to get into the existential lessons and grander meaning for a life well-lived once one finally accepts the power and influence of randomness, chaos, and…

  15. 287 - The Complexity of Genius - David Krakauer and Dean Simonton

    · 1 h 05 min

    In this episode, we are exploring the complexity of the concept of "genius" with two experts on the topic. First you’ll hear from David Krakauer, the president of The Santa Fe Institute, a research institution in New…

  16. 286 - Notes on Complexity - Neil Theise

    · 58 min

    In this episode we sit down with professor Neil Theise, the author of Notes on Complexity, to get an introduction to complexity theory, the science of how complex systems behave – from cells to human beings,…

  17. 285 - What Do You Mean? - Celeste Kidd (rebroadcast)

    · 49 min

    Is a hotdog a sandwich? Well, that depends on your definition of a sandwich (and a hotdog), and according to the most recent research in cognitive science, the odds that your concept of a sandwich is the same as…

  18. 284 - Awe - Dacher Keltner (rebroadcast)

    · 54 min

    In this episode we sit down with psychologist Dacher Keltner, one of the world’s leading experts on the science of emotion, the man Pixar hired to help them write Inside Out. In his new book – Awe: The New Science of…

  19. 283 - Cultures of Growth - Mary C. Murphy

    · 1 h 05 min

    In this episode we welcome psychologist Mary C. Murphy, author of Cultures of Growth, who tells us how to create institutions, businesses, and other groups of humans that can better support collaboration, innovation,…

  20. 282 - They Thought We Were Ridiculous - Andy Luttrell

    · 1 h 09 min

    In 1974, two psychologists, Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky, as the New Yorker once put it, "changed the way we think about the way we think." The prevailing wisdom, before their landmark research went viral (in the…

  21. 281 - More Chat, Less Bot - Jeremy Utley, Kian Gohar, Henrik Werdelin

    · 1 h 11 min

    Jeremy Utley, Kian Gohar, and Henrik Werdelin sit down to discuss the surprising results of a new study into what happens when groups of people work together to brainstorm solutions to problems with the help of…

  22. 280 - Supercommunicators - Charles Duhigg

    · 1 h 15 min

    Our guest in this episode is Charles Duhigg, a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and writer for the New Yorker Magazine who is also the New York Times Bestselling author of The Power of Habit and Smarter Faster Better.…

  23. YANSS 279 - Pluralistic Ignorance (rebroadcast)

    · 1 h 26 min

    There 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, most people people believe that most people believe what, in…

  24. 278 - An Admirable Point - Florence Hazrat

    · 1 h 00 min

    On this episode we learn about the history of the exclamation point, the question mark, and the semicolon (among many other aspects of language) with Florence Hazrat, a scholar of punctuation, who, to my great…

  25. 277 - Visual Thinking - Temple Grandin (rebroadcast)

    · 48 min

    Temple Grandin didn’t develop speech until much later than most children, and she might have led a much different life if it hadn’t been for people who worked very hard to open up a space for her to thrive. In this…

  26. 276 - How to Stand up to a Bully - Andrea Chalupa

    · 54 min

    In this episode David McRaney is interviewed by Andrea Chalupa about the psychological research covered in How Minds Change that could help if you expect to spend time with a family member this holiday who can't wait…

  27. 275 - Blight - Emily Monosson

    · 47 min

    How likely is the fungal infection in The Last of Us? The one that takes over human brains and brings humanity to the brink of extinction, could something like that really happen? In this episode we sit down with…

  28. 274 - Cascades - Greg Satell

    · 1 h 11 min

    In this episode we sit down with Greg Satell, a communication expert whose book, Cascades, details how rapid, widespread change can sweep across groups of people big and small, and how understanding the psychological…

  29. 273 - The Conspiracy Test - Jesse Richardson

    · 59 min

    In this episode Jesse Richardson tells us all about ConspiracyTest.org, a new project designed to be a weird, fun, and cleverly educational way to explore just how skeptical you are (and could be) about a variety of…

  30. 272 - Quit! - Annie Duke (rebroadcast)

    · 59 min

    I recently sat down for a live event and Q&A with the great Annie Duke to discuss her new book, Quit: The power of knowing when to walk away. This episode is the audio from that event. Quit is all about how to develop…

  31. 271 - Survival of the Richest - Douglas Rushkoff (rebroadcast)

    · 1 h 01 min

    In this episode we sit down with Douglas Rushkoff, a media scholar, journalist, and professor of digital economics who has a new fire in his belly when it comes to the world of billionaire preppers, which comes across…

  32. 270 - Defining Genius

    · 1 h 12 min

    In this show you'll hear the first episode of a documentary series I made for Himalaya, an audio service devoted to inspirational and educational content that asked me if I had any ideas for a book that I had yet to…

  33. 269 - Deconstructing How Minds Change - Michael Taft

    · 1 h 05 min

    In celebration of How Minds Change, my new book, turning one-year-old, in this episode Michael Taft interviews David McRaney about how minds do and do not change, the process behind writing a book about that, and what…

  34. 268 - The Status Game - Will Storr (rebroadcast)

    · 1 h 16 min

    In this episode we welcome back author Will Storr whose new book, The Status Game, feels like required reading for anyone confused, curious, or worried about how politics, cults, conspiracy theories communities, social…

  35. 267 - Do Your Own Research - Sedona Chinn

    · 42 min

    Sedona Chinn, who studies how people make sense of competing scientific, environmental, and health-related claims, joins us to discuss her latest research into doing your own research. In her latest paper she found…

  36. 266 - Project Alpha - Brian Brushwood

    · 1 h 06 min

    We sit down with Brian Brushwood to discuss how he put together this most recent season of The World's Greatest Con, his podcast about incredible scams. This season is all about how two teenagers pulled off an…

  37. 265 - Chess Queens - Jennifer Shahade (rebroadcast)

    · 58 min

    In this episode we sit down with Jennifer Shahade, a two-time U.S. Women’s Chess Champion, author, speaker, and professional poker player whose new book, Chess Queens, is the true story of the greatest female players…

  38. 264 - Nobody's Fool - Dan Simons and Christopher Chabris

    · 49 min

    In an era in which we have more information available to us than ever before, when claims of “fake news” might themselves be, in fact, fake news, Daniel Simons and Christopher Chabris, authors of The Invisible Gorilla,…

  39. 263 - The Truth Wins - Tom Stafford (rebroadcast)

    · 46 min

    Deliberation. Debate. Conversation. Though it can feel like that’s what we are doing online as we trade arguments back and forth, most of the places where we currently gather make it much easier to produce arguments in…

  40. 262 - If It Sounds Like a Quack - Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling

    · 50 min

    At the peak of COVID-19, Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling set out to write a book about the widespread pushback against masks and vaccines as away to discuss the rise of the medical freedom movement in America. But after…

  41. 261 - Hack Your Bureaucracy - Marina Nitze

    · 42 min

    Marina Nitze is a professional fixer of broken systems – a hacker, not of computers and technology, but of the social phenomena that tend to emerge when people get together and form organizations, institutions,…

  42. 260 - The Science of Stuck - Britt Frank (rebroadcast)

    · 49 min

    Feeling stuck? Can't build momentum to escape all the loops keeping you from moving forward? Our guest in this episode is professor, author, therapist, and speaker Britt Frank, a trauma specialist who treats people…

  43. 259 - Think Again - Adam Grant (rebroadcast)

    · 56 min

    How to manage procrastination according to Margaret Atwood, how to work around your first-instinct fallacy, the upsides of imposter syndrome, the best way to avoid falling prey to the Dunning-Kruger effect, how to…

  44. 258 - Under Alien Skies - Phil Plait

    · 1 h 09 min

    Astronomer Phil Plait joins us to discuss his new book, Under Alien Skies, in which he describes what it would be like (through human eyes and real physical experiences) to actually travel to Saturn, Mars, asteroids,…

  45. 257 - What Do You Mean? - Celeste Kidd

    · 49 min

    Is a hotdog a sandwich? Well, that depends on your definition of a sandwich (and a hotdog), and according to the most recent research in cognitive science, the odds that your concept of a sandwich is the same as…

  46. 256 - The Persuaders - Anand Giridharadas

    · 1 h 10 min

    This is the third episode in a three-part series about how to have difficult conversations with people who see the world differently, how to have better debates about contentious issues, and how to ethically and…

  47. 255 - Good Arguments - Bo Seo

    · 1 h 04 min

    This is the second episode in a three-part series about how to have difficult conversations with people who see the world differently, how to have better debates about contentious issues, and how to ethically and…

  48. 254 - I Never Thought of It That Way - Mónica Guzmán

    · 52 min

    This is the first episode in a three-part series about how to have difficult conversations with people who see the world differently, how to have better debates about contentious issues, and how to ethically and…

  49. 253 - The World's Greatest Con - Brian Brushwood (rebroadcast)

    · 53 min

    In this episode, we sit down with famed stage magician and infamous instructor of the school of scams, Brian Brushwood, whose new podcast explores the world's greatest con artists and con jobs from World War II to…

  50. 252 - Procrastination - Britt Frank

    · 42 min

    It’s February. It’s that time of year when we start to wonder if we might not follow through with our New Year’s resolutions. It’s that time of the year when procrastination becomes a centerpiece of our psychological…

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