Podcasts about decision research

Most people say they want deeper relationships and more meaningful connection, yet many conversations stay stuck at the surface level. We talk about work, schedules, the weather, or whatever else feels safe. So why is it so hard to move beyond small talk? In this episode, we're exploring the science of meaningful conversation, from curiosity and attention to vulnerability, flirting, and emotional openness. I am joined once again by Nicholas Epley, the John Templeton Keller Distinguished Service Professor of Behavior Science, and Director of the Roman Family Center for Decision Research, at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He is the author of Mindwise: How We Understand What Others Think, Believe, Feel, and Want. His latest book is A Little More Social: How Small Choices Create Unexpected Happiness, Health, and Connection. Some of the specific topics we explore in this episode include: Why do so many conversations stay surface-level? What kinds of questions foster closeness? How do we balance vulnerability with oversharing? Can people tell when they don't fully have our attention? What small conversational shifts create deeper connection? You can visit Nicholas’ website to learn more about his work. Got a sex question? Send me a podcast voicemail to have it answered on a future episode at speakpipe.com/sexandpsychology. *** Thank you to our sponsors!  Passionate about building a career in sexuality? Check out the Sexual Health Alliance. With SHA, you’ll connect with world-class experts and join an engaged community of sexuality professionals from around the world. Visit SexualHealthAlliance.com and start building the sexuality career of your dreams today.*** Want to learn more about Sex and Psychology? Click here for previous articles or follow the blog on Facebook, Twitter, or Bluesky to receive updates. You can also follow Dr. Lehmiller on YouTube and Instagram. Listen and stream all episodes on Apple, Spotify, or Amazon. Subscribe to automatically receive new episodes and please rate and review the podcast! Credits: Precision Podcasting (Podcast editing) and Shutterstock/Florian (Music). Image created with Canva; photos used with permission of guest.

When was the last time you sparked up a conversation with a stranger and surprised yourself with how good it felt? Behavioral scientist Nicholas Epley, author of A Little More Social, returns to the podcast to discuss with Michael why we systematically underestimate how positively strangers respond, how connection supports happiness, health, and longevity, and the key mechanisms behind our social pessimism (misjudging warmth vs. competence, overlooking reciprocity, and self-fulfilling avoidance). Nicholas shares research on how quickly people update after a conversation and how fast those gains can fade, plus practical “easy choice” experiments like asking someone to take your photo or simply asking, “Can you tell me your story?” Plus, in a special post-interview discussion, listener-turned-friend of Michael's, therapist Dr. Jennifer Kauder, joins Michael to reflect on voice vs. text, comfort-zone challenges, and why real-time connection changes everything.Listen and Learn: The surprising benefits of connecting with people you don't know, and why our minds trick us into fearing these interactions that can lengthen and enrich our livesPsychological traps that make us overly pessimistic about reaching out to others, and why we miss out on deeper, happier connections due to misplaced expectations Research on why trying to push past social awkwardness just once isn't enough, and why our brains quickly forget positive interactions Why our confidence drops right before we approach someone new, the psychology behind why starting a conversation is much easier than anticipating it, and how small mindsets can instantly dissolve social anxiety A simple, foolproof question that skips past awkward small talk, ignites genuine curiosity, and uncovers the fascinating, hidden storiesResources: A Little More Social: How Small Choices Create Unexpected Happiness, Health, and Connection https://bookshop.org/a/30734/9780593319543 Nicholas' Website: https://www.nicholasepley.com/Nicholas Epley on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicholas-epley/ Michael's Confidence Course: https://herold.coach/courseRejection Proof by Jia Jiang: https://bookshop.org/a/30734/9780804141383 About Nicholas EpleyNicholas Epley is the John Templeton Keller Distinguished Service Professor of Behavioral Science and Director of the Roman Family Center for Decision Research, at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He studies social cognition—how thinking people think about other thinking people—to understand why smart people so routinely misunderstand each other. He teaches an ethics and happiness course to MBA students called Designing a Good Life. His research has appeared in more than two dozen empirical journals, been featured by the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, CNN, Wired, and National Public Radio, among many others, and has been funded by the National Science Foundation and the Templeton Foundation. He has been awarded the 2008 Theoretical Innovation Award from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, the 2011 Distinguished Scientific Award for Early Career Contribution to Psychology from the American Psychological Association, the 2015 Book Prize for the Promotion of Social and Personality Science, and the 2018 Career Trajectory Award from the Society for Experimental Social Psychology. Epley was named a “professor to watch” by the Financial Times, one of the “World's Best 40 under 40 Business School Professors” by Poets and Quants, and one of the 100 Most Influential in Business Ethics in 2015 by Ethisphere. He is the author of Mindwise: How We Understand What Others Think, Believe, Feel, and Want. His new book, A Little More Social: How Small Choices Create Unexpected Happiness, Health, and Connection, was published in May! (Our UK listeners will find the book titled Hello: The Unexpected Power of Choosing To Connect)Related Episodes422. Mindwise with Nicholas Epley454. Remain Calm. Confidence Ahead with Michael Herold313. ACT-Informed Exposure for Anxiety with Brian Pilecki and Brian Thompson393. Supercommunicators with Charles Duhigg360. The Laws of Connection with David RobsonSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

We live in a world where people are more digitally connected than ever, yet loneliness remains incredibly common. Most of us move through daily life surrounded by strangers while following an unspoken rule: don't engage. In this episode, we're exploring why humans are so socially cautious, but also why even brief conversations with strangers can meaningfully improve our happiness, health, and sense of connection. My guest is Nicholas Epley,  the John Templeton Keller Distinguished Service Professor of Behavior Science, and Director of the Roman Family Center for Decision Research, at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He is the author of Mindwise: How We Understand What Others Think, Believe, Feel, and Want. His latest book is A Little More Social: How Small Choices Create Unexpected Happiness, Health, and Connection. Some of the specific topics we explore in this episode include: Why are conversations with strangers usually better than we expect? Do people really want to be left alone in public? Why do small moments of connection matter so much? How has technology changed everyday social interaction? For people who want to be a little more social, what’s a good starting point? You can visit Nicholas’ website to learn more about his work. Got a sex question? Send me a podcast voicemail to have it answered on a future episode at speakpipe.com/sexandpsychology. *** Thank you to our sponsors!  This spring, give yourself the kind of comfort that lives with you all day — not just the moment you get home. Head to cozyearth.com and use my code JUSTIN for an exclusive 20% off.  If you're looking for a dating experience where you can explore on your own terms, check out Feeld, a dating app for the curious. Go to feeld.co or download Feeld on the App Store or Google Play. *** Want to learn more about Sex and Psychology? Click here for previous articles or follow the blog on Facebook, Twitter, or Bluesky to receive updates. You can also follow Dr. Lehmiller on YouTube and Instagram. Listen and stream all episodes on Apple, Spotify, or Amazon. Subscribe to automatically receive new episodes and please rate and review the podcast! Credits: Precision Podcasting (Podcast editing) and Shutterstock/Florian (Music). Image created with Canva; photos used with permission of guest.

In this episode of The Founder's Sandbox, host Brenda McCabe sits down with behavioral scientist Nicholas Epley of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business to explore the surprising power of human connection. Drawing on decades of research and his new book A Little More Social, Epley reveals why we consistently underestimate how positive social interactions can be—and how small choices, like expressing gratitude or starting a conversation, can significantly improve our well-being, relationships, and workplace culture. Together, they discuss the science behind social connection, the hidden barriers that hold us back, and practical ways leaders and professionals can build more resilient, purpose-driven organizations through simple, intentional human interactions. You can find out more about Nicholas and his book at: about Nicholas Epley Accolades Nicholas Epley Book him for for speaking events at: https://www.wsb.com/speakers/nicholas-epley/ or pre order his new Book out May 19, 2026: A Little More Social Here: Amazon, Bookshop) You can also find his book Mindwise here: Amazon, Bookshop transcript: 00:04 Welcome back to the Founders Sandbox. I am Brenda McCabe, your host. Now in the fourth season, my mission with this podcast is really to bring in company owners, founders, 00:31 professionals, board directors that like me share a common mission, which is making change in the world through enterprises, small, medium or large. em And each of my guests um have em in their own ways built resilient, scalable, well-governed businesses um to really make that change. And I'm absolutely delighted to have Professor Epley, Nicholas Epley, 01:01 from the University of Chicago as my guest for this month. um Welcome to the Founder's Sandbox. Thank you, Brenda. This is a delight for me to have a former student back with me in conversation. I love it. It's amazing. I've been pursuing you for at least two years, and I kept getting delayed because of his writing a book. And today we're going to talk about um his new book that will be launching on May 19th, A Little More Social. 01:31 So before we get into the material, I need to make a proper introduction as I do to all my guests, all right? So um Nicholas Eppoli, he is the John Templeton Keller Distinguished Service Professor of Behavioral Science and Faculty Director of the Roman Family Center for Decision Research at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He is an author. We'll get into some of his work today. And he has many other accolades. 01:59 that are just too many to go through here because we'll eat into valuable time. And he has back to back podcast to announce his new book. I do want to call out one accolade. You were named by Ethicast, I guess, a business leader in ethics back in 2018. And business ethics, as we all know, corporate governance is very near and dear to my heart. So those accolades will be in the show notes. 02:29 em Dr. Epley, or Professor Epley as I'll call you, right? You study social cognition, how thinking people think about other thinking people to understand why smart people so routinely misunderstand each other. He teaches an ethics and happiness course to MBA students called Designing a Good Life. I was a... 02:56 an alumnus. I took your course back, think in 2017, 2018. So you're going to be forever a professor to me. All right. So I often speak of your class designing a good life and the pro-social exercises and other stats and experiments that now that you have this book out, I realized you were using the classrooms. Yes, I was. Yeah, I was doing a lot of the experiments in the class. I mean, the best way to teach 03:25 people something is not to tell them the thing, but to show them the thing. And so I could tell you that reaching out and expressing gratitude makes you feel better, makes other people feel better than you think, but more powerful is actually have you do it. Right. So we're going to talk about the book. And I think it's in chapter seven that you talk specifically about how gratitude is such a powerful mechanism. um Again, my guest here, I like to uh 03:56 kind of identify resiliency, purpose driven or scalable. m I think that what you teach and what we're gonna hear about here for my listeners is an example of resiliency practices. And I believe it's very much key in bringing it back to my listeners, Professor Upley is I work with a lot of company owners, business leaders who I think would benefit from learning some of these practices outside of the classroom today. anyway. 04:23 I took your class back in, I think, in 2017, pre-pandemic and in person. And my life has uh really been impacted in an incredibly positive way. I bring it into my personal life, some of these experiments that you're going to share with my listeners, as well as the classroom, where I do teach business ethics. And I have them um do a personal responsibility statement uh at the end of their. 04:51 their semester with me. That is awesome. So again, accolades. Thank you to you. So with my guests, I want you to make a little introduction and share your origin story. Why did you choose to become what's called a behavioral scientist? I won't make it too long. I do remember I got to college. I wanted to be a football player, college football player, small college division three. 05:20 at St. Olaf. I went to St. Olaf because I liked the football coach. I thought I was going to be a biologist. I took those classes. They were totally boring, but I took an intro psychology class, which was all self paced. It was supposed to take a semester to do. I was done with it about a third of the way through the semester. I just ate it all up. I went through it like wildfire, which I took as an indication that this is something I might be interested in. 05:51 I started reaching out to faculty, started doing research. And one day my senior year, early my senior year in college, my em undergraduate advisor grabbed a book down from the shelf and handed it to me and said, I think you might find this to be interesting. It was Tom Gilovich's book, How We Know What Isn't So. And the book describes how the psychological processes that give us beliefs and expectations and opinions about the world, thoughts about other people. 06:20 can often lead us astray, give us perceptions and beliefs that differ from the way the world actually is. And I found the work so fascinating. I read that book in a day. I took it and I went right through it. And I thought, that is the thing I wanna do. I wanna do research like that. I couldn't think of anything else more interesting to do than that. So I applied to a PhD program to Cornell University, which is where Tom is on the faculty. I applied to a bunch of others too. 06:49 em I was fortunate enough uh that I was waitlisted at Cornell, somebody declined their offer, and I got in as a PhD student. And the rest then is kind of one lucky break after another, after another, after another, after another, things working out well. And me just following things that seemed interesting at the time. em I was lucky to have Tom as a PhD advisor. 07:16 We started working on really interesting things. My first year there, turns out we underestimate how positively others judge us when we do something that we're kind of embarrassed about. Other people cut us a lot more slack than we think. And that interest in understanding, and in particular, understanding how well we understand the minds of others was something we were working on right away. And that interest... 07:44 just as grown and grown and grown and grown and grown. I've stopped thinking about other things. It's the only thing I kind of can think about. And the mistakes we make about the minds of other people are all around us and problematic. And so that's how I got here. Thank you for sharing that. um And specifically at this time in 2026, uh 08:11 So how does the mind of a behavioral scientist work? What experiments do you whip up to test some of the hypotheses? All right. for your first book, right, there was some, right. And the preface of your second book, you said, that morning I decided to test a different approach. As a psychologist, I try to understand human behavior using experiments. 08:34 But this time I decided to put myself into an experiment instead of ignoring the person who just sat down next to me, I would try to connect. So how does work? So one, I think the important thing about being a researcher, we're all researchers out there in the world in our own ways, right? So founders are starting companies and they're doing research constantly about what works and what doesn't. 08:59 As a scientist, we get to run experiments that sometimes have a little more control over them than what you have out there in the world. But the thing that is common to both the scientist and the founder or to almost anyone out there in the world is that you ask why questions. And so as a scientist, it's not so much the experiments we conduct that are critical, although those are critical. The critical thing is that you... 09:28 We look at the world in a slightly different way than others might and therefore notice things that other people might not notice. And that's where our hypotheses, our ideas come from. So one morning on the train, for instance, I was coming in to the University of Chicago where you know all too well where I work uh and I live on the far South side. And I was writing a chapter for MindWise, which was my first book describing how we have this mind uniquely equipped for brain uniquely equipped for connecting with the minds of others. 09:58 And I was describing how we often and why we misunderstand each other. And I was writing one of those chapters describing how we've got this brain uniquely equipped for connecting with others, made happier and healthier by connecting with others. And yet I was sitting on the train and I had this kind of eureka moment. Here we all were, and I've been doing this for years by now. Here we all were sitting on this train, highly social animals, made happier and healthier connecting with each other. And we were all ignoring each other. We're not connecting at all, treating the person next to us. 10:27 Like a lamp shade, right? And that was where I thought that seems weird. Does this make sense that we do this? Social connection is a choice. It's a decision about whether we reach out and engage with somebody or hold back. And that was the thing that I noticed. That was the perspective that other people might not have is that that's a choice and understanding that our perceptions are sometimes wrong or miscalibrated. 10:55 suggests that sometimes we can make those choices wrong, make them incorrectly or unwise. And so that morning I decided to enroll myself in an experiment. I had a woman come sit down next to me. I was probably at this time, I'm 51 right now, I was probably in my mid 30s, 35 or something like that at the time. This woman, she's probably 55 or so, African-American woman, uh clearly dressed for work, uh really looking sharp, had this beautiful red hat on. 11:24 almost like a bonnet, had this big wide brim. It was beautiful. uh And I decided that morning to put myself in an experiment. What would happen if I actually engaged in conversation and to really pay attention to what happened, right? Because that's another thing we do as researchers is we measure things closely. We pay close attention in our measurement. So I just started having conversation. I opened up with a pretty weak joke. uh I said, I love your hat. I have one just like it, right? 11:54 Yeah, not in the conversation hall of fame there, right? uh But she turned to me and she just like lit up. I remember so distinctly the reaction was like she'd almost looked like a different person. Her face, the face that we carry around with us, the dead face, right? Our resting Grinch face is kind of Grinchy, right? But as soon as you engage with somebody, you perk up, your face smiles, your eyes lighten, you look. 12:23 almost like a different person. So she turned to me lit up and uh the conversation then just flowed pretty easily. We had a nice conversation, half hour, time went really fast. As I got up to leave, I remember she held my wrist uh as I was getting up just to express some sincerity and she said, thank you so much for talking with me today. It wasn't just like, hey, that was lovely. We really meant it, like it was nice. 12:52 And the thing that I remember so clearly is that it wasn't just nice, it was surprisingly nice. That surprisingly part is critical because there was a gap between how I believed the conversation might turn out. I a nervous, what do I have in common with this person? I don't know. Will it go well? Do they really want to talk to me? Probably not. Will she misunderstand while I'm talking to her? Maybe. 13:17 You know, mistakenly think I'm hitting on her or something or make her feel uncomfortable instead of just having a nice conversation between two human beings. So all that stuff was going through my head, but it was misplaced. It was wrong. And so the conversation wasn't just positive. It was surprisingly positive. And that insight that social connection is a choice and that our choices could be wrong led me to run a bunch of experiments to test whether this is just something unique. 13:45 to me as a kind of weirdo or whether this is something we might see a little more widely. And so we started running experiments on the train that I ride. We recruited people for an experiment. We randomly assigned them to do one of three things, to either try to have a conversation with a person who sits down next to them that morning, so this is the connection condition, to... 14:11 keep to themselves that morning and just enjoy their solitude or to do whatever they normally do. 14:17 At the end of the survey, they reported how the conversation actually made them feel, how positive it made them feel on a couple of different measures. And then we asked another group, we asked them to predict how they would feel if they were actually in that situation. To report their beliefs, their expectations about how they would feel. Because that's what actually drives your behavior. It's not how you actually feel. You don't know how you're gonna feel. You're projecting, right? Yes. It's not gonna happen, yeah. Exactly. So you sit down and you think, well. 14:45 what would happen if I did this? Those are your expectations. And people's behavior is driven by their expectations. And what people expected was that they would have a more positive commute if they kept to themselves than if they had a conversation with somebody, which is what people are doing, right? So they're behaving rationally in line with their expectations. But when we actually had people do these things and report how they actually felt at the end, it was those in the connection condition. 15:12 that actually had the more positive commute and those in the solitude condition who kept it themselves had the least positive commute. People's expectations weren't just wrong, they were precisely backwards. They thought that keeping it in themselves would make them happier. In fact, connecting with somebody else is what would make them happier. And that was just the tip of a very big iceberg. For the last decade and a half, it just, we've been seeing these things all over the place. I'm like a guy with a hammer who sees nothing but nails. 15:41 I can find these phenomena all over the place now. So it's nearly two decades of research. That first experiment, you speak to it in the second book. don't know whether you also put it into the first book. It is wise to understand what others think, believe, feel and want, which is your first book. um So two decades later and pushing your five years of writing and you were avoiding. 16:09 being a guest on my podcast and that rightly so. Yes, took a long time. But as then. of 2026, your book, A Little More Social is being released. And we'll have how to get that book in the show notes as well after this podcast goes live. So what I wanted to do is really ask you what made you want to release it now in 2026, right? And 16:39 Again, I was able to get a pre-read of some of the material and uh while not stealing your thunder, what I was, I like how you've set the sections or the why questions. So back to the empirical, right? Research you do as a social scientist. Why, why not? What if, what now are the four sections of the book? But I will tell you this, I read the prologue and when I started reading chapter one, I was depressed. It was really hard to go on. 17:08 So I'm warning, just so with that, I'm not gonna give the spoiler alert. What made you want to publish this year finally after two decades and right? So I will say that I think the message of the book is fundamentally empowering, not depressing. It was just first chapter. I was like, wow. Just the first chapter maybe about the importance of social connection and how we're not choosing it. But once you see that, 17:38 Once you see that your beliefs about other people might be off a little bit, it's an invitation to test those. And to see places where you and your life are holding yourself back, not because social connection is unpleasant or you're not good at it, but because you're not even trying and finding out that you could be wrong. And once you start to see that the bars in front of you that are holding you back from reaching out and engaging with others, 18:05 having stronger relationships, communicating more clearly, having more joy and enjoyment in your life and making people around you better. Once you start seeing that those bars that are holding you back sometimes, making you overly fearful about engaging are actually made out of pasta noodles, it's easy to break through them. It is empowering. The people I talk to a lot in this book who spend a lot of time talking to other people, almost all describe themselves as having a superpower that other people don't have. 18:35 They're not afraid of engaging. And hence they don't hold themselves back from opportunities that they could have in the better life that tends to follow when we're connected well with other people. As to why 2026, I wish I could say it was something like market timing. I was getting exactly right. The world is a disaster, is a dumpster fire at the moment. are uh going deeper, deeper into loneliness in our lives. The world's a mess. 19:03 hostile and violent and unfriendly and we're trying to pull back from this. I wish I could say it was market timing. uh It wasn't market timing exactly. It was more, uh I don't know what the right word for it is in the innovator world, but I didn't have the product until today. Right. Or serendipitous as well. Serendipitous. Yes, serendipitous. I do think there's a timeless element to this too, which is, it is always the case, I think. 19:32 I don't think these phenomena are totally new. There are new elements to them, but there are times where we can always make our relationships a little bit better. But yes, right now there is some serendipity, I think. We could really use it right now. I agree. Tell me how it is to make a choice. So we all are different human beings, right? Talk about human beings. 20:01 condition, right? We're very social and some of us are more introverted than extroverted. how, and with your book, how can we be more empowered to make that choice? So I think the important insight from behavioral science here is that social connection and therefore the happiness and wellbeing and relationships that follow from that is to some extent a choice that we make. All social interactions that we have a choice over 20:29 you get to a point where you have to decide, I refer to it as the choice, because I think it is arguably the most important choice we make over and over and over and over again, which is, do I reach out and engage with you or do I hold back? And that choice, the choice shows up in lots of different forms. Do I talk with a stranger? Do I type to you or pick up the phone and talk to you? Do I... 20:56 ask deep and meaningful questions or do I hold back? Do I share this compliment or this feeling of gratitude or request for help or honest piece of advice for you, honest feedback? Do I share those things or do I hold them back? So the choice masquerades in lots and lots of different ways, but at its core is this conflict between approaching, wanting to engage and fear or avoidance, being nervous about it, right? And when both of those things are strong, we get 21:26 approach avoidance conflicts where we'd like to do this thing, but we're nervous. I'd like to go up and talk to that other CEO I'd like to meet, but maybe they don't want to talk to me. That's approach avoidance conflict. What we find in our work is that, well, other researchers have found that these two systems in our brain are independent of each other. That's approach and avoidance. Approach and avoidance. Yeah. The factors that govern approach, the system that governs approach in our brain is different from the system that governs avoidance. Okay. 21:55 That's how you can get both of them being very strong at the same time. They're not dynamic with each other. They can operate independently. And when you don't have any interest to approach or any interest to avoid, then you're indifferent, right? But the opposite of that is approach avoidance. And um people do vary a little bit in the strength of these two motives, uh in what guides their choice. 22:21 Extroverts tend, for instance, to have a little bit stronger approach orientation or rather a little less of the avoidance orientation. But I think the important insight is that what extroversion and introversion is really about is how you make the choice. And this is something that people, think, routinely misunderstand about what personality actually is, or at least the way we measure it as psychologists. I think that's the important thing, the way we often measure it as psychologists. 22:49 It's not describing the type of person you are. It is describing the type of choices that you make. So for instance, people might often think that introverts and extroverts, actually enjoy different things. That extroverts like talking to people, whereas introverts like talking to people less. That turns out not to be quite right. When you put people in experiments and you actually have them talk, introverts and extroverts both enjoy talking to people, right? 23:17 They both get tired talking to people later, but they're energized during it. They both actually feel more authentic when they're talking to someone and engaging in social interaction than when they're not. What differs between the two is how they make the choice and therefore what they think they will like or enjoy and therefore the habits they create and what they do. And that I think- that's kind of a revelation. uh 23:47 But psychologists have been discovering this for decades. So you go back to 1980 was the first published paper testing whether happiness or wellbeing was related to personality. Now in theory, you wouldn't expect it to be, right? Actroverts like talking to people. Proverts like uh reading books and keeping to themselves, more quiet time, Enjoying more solitude. Great, there should be no differences in happiness. We get what we want out of life. 24:16 That turns out not to be true. Extroverts tend to feel more positive, have more positive affect, more happiness in their lives than introverts full stop. And it is not a small effect, it is a huge effect. The correlation between extroversion and positive affect, essentially happiness in your life, positive mood in your life, is around 0.5, which is as big as the correlation between the heights of fathers and their sons. It's huge. It's huge, right? And so... 24:43 Psychologists learn then over time that that comes in part because extroverts tend to choose to act a little more extroverted. If you ask people to act more extroverted, everybody tends to get a little happier, uh introverts and extroverts alike. If you ask people to act more introverted, people tend to get a little less happy, introverts and extroverts alike. So I think that's a really important insight that introversion and extroversion is really about choices and habits. 25:12 more than actual experience. You know, m I extroverts to choose to do it more often. Is it a? Is it oh a game of numbers? Is it like betting? Is it just showing up for yourself more frequently? Independent of being an extrovert or introvert where I'm going is how can we apply this in the workforce with our workmates and things? Right? Is it just, you know, just choosing independent of what the outcome may be? 25:42 more often. So our data suggests that our assessment of the odds and all of life is kind of a gamble. Our choices are gambles on the future based on what we think is going to be relatively positive or not, what's going to be relatively rewarding or not. And our data suggests that we get the odds a little wrong. Extroverts and introverts both do. And actually, I don't want to focus too much on that because it's a much weaker, it's a much weaker phenomena than we actually 26:12 You might imagine that it is. People tend to think on average they're more introverted actually than they really are em because extroversion is public but introversion is private. So we all know our own private introverted side. It makes us feel unique, more unique than we actually are. But I think our data suggests not that you go out and you talk to people all the time or you share every detail about yourself. It suggests we get the odds a little bit off. 26:40 It suggests when it's easy, when it's possible to connect or to engage or when you have a thought that you could share that you think might turn, you know, be positive. If you recognize that that avoidance motivation is a little too strong. 26:55 Recognize you have to dial that back that your first thought might be overly avoidant your second thought a lot of times might suggest No, I'll give this a try. I'll give it a try. I'll give it try. I like that. Somebody said me lose right? So with that why not right part two of your book? Do you want to talk about a little bit about? The the how well you've talked about the have connection, but hello stranger, you know really just making it happen. I 27:23 I don't know whether you can make an inference into the workplace. I would like you to do that for me. Yeah. Yeah. Because we are human beings and whether we work in hybrid, we're totally remote, or we are working back in the office, we get things done through interactions with our colleagues. And so how might your work and a little more social uh make our, uh I guess, our interactions 27:53 more empowering uh and just overall lifting up. I think our data suggests that you can look for times in your life where there's kind of dead space or kind of gray space. Time where you could engage or connect with someone but are choosing not to in ways that wouldn't take you away from something. That's a place to start. Like I'm on the train in the morning coming in. 28:18 I'm just sitting there. Usually I'm not doing squat anyway. I'm scrolling my phone or reading the news. I think it's really important, but come on. Sometimes we do things, but often we're not. And that's a place that's easy for me. Like I did this morning, I had a conversation with Brenda on my train. um Brenda I've known for a while. I don't see her that often, but this morning she was on the train and we had a lovely 30 minute conversation. She gave me a hug at the end and she said I was really what she needed today. 28:48 Oh, right. And that's amazing. Yeah, she's a lovely human being. She's a great name. Yeah, she's great. But I don't see her a lot. Maybe a few times a year we'll be on the same train. But every time I see her, I know her. I remember I wrote her name down and I can have that conversation. It's easy. But that's something where I wouldn't have been. 29:13 social otherwise, it's easy to do. And if I know it's gonna be more positive than I think, then I would choose to do that than something else. When I get to my office here at the Harper Center here at Booth, I walk into the door on the way in and I got maybe a 250 yard walk up to my office here on the fourth floor. And I've started making it a habit that I take a hello walk when I come in. When I walk by people, I don't just sit there and just walk to my office. 29:42 I greet people when I'm going by. So I say hi to Nigel who's sitting there at the same table every day this winter quarter uh down uh in the winter garden here at the University of Chicago. I say hi to Keith and Mario and Linda on my way to the elevator often who are down there. These are often our staff people or uh other folks around in the business school. When I get up the elevator onto my floor, I walk past uh Jane's office and Eric's office. 30:11 uh Emma's office, Virginia's office on my way. And I say hi to people, right? Hi, Eric. Hi, Jane. Hi, Emma. Morning, Virginia, when I go by. Now, it's not taking me a lot of time, right? It's not slowing me up from anything. It's not really interrupting them too much. They're just getting started with their day. But it makes that moment brighter, right? It makes that walk better. Virginia came by my office the other day. I've gotten to know her. She's one of our new junior faculty. She came by my office. uh 30:40 to talk about the book that I've been working on to talk through it, because she found that interesting, she's an economist. I don't think she'd have done that before if I hadn't said hi. It's been nice. So, you know. So there's small, little initiatives, you just have to make the choice. They don't have to be massive things. There are many opportunities that are easy, seem small to us, they end up being, I think, 31:09 much, much bigger than we imagine them to be. And we just choose not to take them. And that seems like a tragedy. And once you start looking for these moments, these opportunities, you walk to get coffee at the office or something. Take a friend with you. Ask a colleague to walk with you. Ideas come out of those. Connections come out of those. Well, being comes out of those. You never know where it's going to go. Can you, for my listeners, discuss or share the experiment and how 31:38 people underestimate how much they'll enjoy talking to strangers or the letters of gratitude. It's your choice, you can do both. I mean, can share my own personal, know, living that. um It remains with me. I would love that. You do that. That would be great. know, the enjoying talking to strangers is uh during the last week of the course of designing, right? 32:06 a good life, we literally had to, um I think we had to report back and we had to do a kind act towards somebody that we didn't even know. Right? Yeah. Yeah. We were randomly assigned or we, right. I think you were, right. In that case, I asked you to go on and a random act of kindness for somebody. Exactly. An act of kindness. And it was amazing that then the person reacted. so it was a very, it was aha moment. Again, I'm 32:36 This was seven years ago, eight years ago. So I'm drawing a blank, but I just recall it was an amazing experience. we all kind of got to know each other's names. We were like 80 students in the classroom at that time. Another thing that I do recall with fondness is writing a thank you letter, graduate letter. you gave us the op, it was prior to getting to campus, we were to write a letter. 33:03 we could actually share with you who we writing that to. And that person had the opportunity to share with you what they felt or not. So it was kind of blind. And I did go ahead and write a thank you letter to a color out Betsy Berkamer. She's also been in my podcast, influential person in my life. uh And uh lo and behold, she wrote to you and as did other people that were recipients of a thank you letter that was two paragraphs. It made their day. 33:32 But the questions you ask, how did, you you had to get the guts up to write that letter, right? Because you had to really be touchy-feely and share a specific event for which you felt gratitude. So, yeah. So that's an, so these, the, the choice to reach out and engage with other people or hold back crops up in lots of places. So one of the things we know as psychologists is if you want to have a good day, one thing to do is to think about somebody else who you really appreciate and feel grateful to and make their day. 34:02 by writing a note to them and explaining why you feel grateful to them. What's interesting- that here on the podcast on the Founder's Standby. So this is major. Say that again. If you wanna have a good day, reach out to somebody else and make them have a good day by explaining why you're grateful to them. What's interesting though is if you ask people, can you think about somebody you feel grateful to, but who for whatever reason you haven't reached out to express this? Almost everybody can right away think, oh yeah, I can think of somebody. Why do those people exist? 34:32 Why haven't you told them? There are lots of reasons why, but one is often, it's gonna be weird. Is this the right time? What am I gonna say? Can I really put into words? All of these steel bars in front of us that we think are so powerful, but they turn out to be pasta noodles when you actually sit down to write them. So what I have you do in my class towards the end is I have you think about this person, sit down, write a note to them. 34:59 anticipate how they're gonna feel, right? If you think that they're not gonna, you you underestimate how positive it's gonna be for them, or you overestimate how awkward or weird it's gonna be, right? That creates friction. That's a barrier to reaching out and engaging them. That's your avoidance voice shouting a little too loudly in your ear, that cringe voice, that you shouldn't do this. And we can find out whether that's calibrated. So I had you predict how the recipient would feel, how- um 35:28 the extent to which they'd be surprised to learn what you're grateful for, extent to which they'd be surprised to receive how positive or negative they would feel and also how awkward they would feel. I then, if you were willing to share with me the recipient's email address, I reached out and said, well, student of my class, um sent you a gratitude note as part of a class exercise. uh They thought of you for this. And I would love it if you could just tell me how that made you feel. Maybe terrible, maybe great. 35:58 but they go to the survey, they fill it out. And then we just compare those numbers essentially. And the students are not confused. You weren't confused that this would be positive. You thought it would be good. What was surprising or what's super robust is that it's even more positive than that. So Brenda, your little two paragraphs that seemed like nice, nice, but they were really, really nice to the person who received it. You thought they would be, uh 36:27 kind of powerful, they were really powerful. She probably printed that out. I had a student this year say in class that their recipient, who was a relative of theirs actually, their recipient asked, can I print it out and put it on the wall? Oh, that's amazing. Of course they do. Yes. It matters a lot. Surprisingly a lot. That's the important thing. Surprisingly a lot. 36:56 I could go on and on with more examples of the experiments that Professor Epley made us do in class that have marked uh my life. uh I use a lot of these things with my clients or even my students. And one of which is I do have the personal responsibility statement that we wrote at the end of our... uh 37:20 with you and it had to be short and sweet. You framed it, gave it to us. want it. If we ever want to change it, we had, you know, uh a beeline to you. You can send me a note. I'll change it for you. I'll send you new one for sure. And I framed it, framed it and printed out because otherwise you never would. Right. And then it's almost like it's an accountability manager. Right. We have Professor Epley who holds us accountable. Here, by the way, is mine. Yeah. You want to see mine? 37:48 I didn't know you were going to mention it, but yeah, here it is right here. Yeah, mine's here. And actually, because I asked my students, oops, I don't know whether you see it too well. There it is. Yeah. There it is. Signature, sorry. Sorry, because I have that screen. uh And yes, I even have some students that say, Professor McKay, but it's really hard for me to write mine when you share yours. of course, I'll share it. Yeah. 38:13 You may remember I put mine up in class. I showed you in the last class what mine was. Yeah. Yes. Yes. So yes, tell me. Yes. Go on. So the purpose of that is this is really about sustainability, I think, and resilience in organizations that the business case for ethics for being good out there isn't just that it feels good, sometimes even surprisingly good, which is really what's in the book and in a little more social. 38:43 which I describe in lots of different ways. But uh the business case for ethics is really one about resilience and sustainability. That you can be a schmuck for a little while and take money from people and succeed. You can lie and cheat and steal for a little bit. It's very hard to do that for a long time. Wow. People don't want to work with you. They don't want to work for you. uh They don't want to lend you money uh if they think you're uh unethical and shady. 39:13 And so for an organization, way to design one, for founders, the way to design one that is resilient and sustainable is to make sure that your values, your mission is front and center in front of everything that you do. so identifying a powerful, identifying an actionable mission statement, like your personal responsibility statement, this is at the organizational level, is a critical first step because everything else can be woven out of that. 39:43 Those ethics have to be kept top of mind all the time, woven into how you hire people and fire people and promote people and evaluate people and what you talk about day to day and what your norms are in the organizations, what activities you do, how you financially compensate people, what kinds of non-financial incentives you have in your organization. All those need to be tied to the mission statement and to the values that those suggest so that they're kept top of mind when you're out there in the world. So they become more of your first thought. 40:13 rather than needing to be your second thought. And the personal responsibility statement functions at an individual level that way. uh It prompts you to think about what is the thing you wanna have top of mind guiding you when you're out there in the world. So mine is to teach and research so that people are inspired to make wiser decisions and live better lives. Okay, that's what I focus on. 40:39 m Mine is always be original creative, loving, giving back, thankful, spontaneous, daring yourself while being content with enough. And my podcast is actually one of those creative outlets for me. now into my fourth season, it's been amazing. You know what I like with, you know what I didn't see, m wouldn't have seen when you wrote that, but do now is the last part being satisfied with enough. That's an important bit of self. 41:06 compassion there to recognize we do what we can do, nothing more, nothing less. And we give it all we got and that is enough. So the idea is that just like with a mission statement, if you can keep that top of mind guiding your behavior, you'll be a better organization if you design that well. Same thing is true for individuals. Well, before we go to my last three questions, which is really uh the essence of what I do with... uh 41:34 Next Act Advisors, my consulting firm around resilience, purpose, and scalable. I really wanted to give you an opportunity to let my listeners know how to connect with you. It will be in the show notes. And specifically, you do speaking, you're a keynote speaker and you can be hired in different, so can you? 41:58 share a little bit of how we can connect with you and to what do you typically like to speak about when you are um hired as a speaker? Yeah, so I do a lot of uh public speaking, which I think of as just another avenue for teaching about our research, which I think is meaningful for people and can be very powerful. The speaking agency that I use is WSB. They're in Washington, DC. They're fabulous people. And I can talk about 42:28 A few things I can talk about why we misunderstand each other and how to help people understand each other better, which is really about management and leadership, all of those essential skills. And then the work that I'm doing now about human sociality is really a lot about organizational culture, uh happiness and learning. But a lot of it's about organizational culture, I think of it as. And how we uh might act in ways 42:56 uh that don't optimize our culture in ways that make it sustainable or keep us resilient or keep us happy and motivated in organization or learning as much as we could. The individual stuff people also take out of this as well. The book is really written at the individual level for you to think about yourself and your own life and why we might just like we don't act maybe exercise as much as we ought to, why you might not be as social as you could. Thankfully, exercising sucks, it's unpleasant. So we all know that. 43:26 That's hard. reaching out and connecting with other people. know. I know. Thank you. But reaching out and connecting with other people is positive. know, like, you know, it's surprisingly positive. So that's an easy habit. That's an easy habit to make. So I talk a lot about how, you know, where these barriers come from and what you can do in my presentations, what you can do to turn these into habits to make your life consistently better, resiliently. 43:54 And then for connecting with me, do use LinkedIn. I don't use a lot of social media because it makes me miserable. But I do, I have been having fun a little bit recently using LinkedIn. So that's a way, but you can also email me. That's probably the easiest way. All right. So all of this will be in the show notes and, and your book, a little more social will be released on May 19th. There'll be a launch party. I believe it's, it's available on Amazon and bookshop. 44:23 and you have your own website. again, this will be provided in the show notes. Well, I like to do around the Robin lightning question, so my guests, all of my guests get to answer three questions. I'm passionate about resilience, purpose, and scalable or sustainable. And so I'd like to ask you, Professor Apley, what does resilience mean to you? It means being able to accept the negative things that happen in our life by 44:51 but by continuing to carry on with it. So one habit that I've picked up, I don't remember that I actually did it deliberately. I sign off all of my emails, typically, not always, but usually, and I type these out. This isn't like a form with onward. um And it's kind of a mantra I keep in my mind. uh Research is hard. There's a lot of failure. There's a lot of frustration. 45:21 Writing papers is hard, getting published is hard, speaking is hard, teaching is hard. It's all hard stuff. I mean, we're all doing lots of hard things, but they're those hard things. And there are lots of setbacks. And in academia, it gets personal because the ideas are yours, just like founders, right? These ideas are your baby. They are precious to you. And when they don't work or when they're threatened, that is hard and it's threatening. But you can't get mired in that. It's easy to get stuck in that. And so I try to... 45:50 This is just a little thing I do to keep myself focused on, all right, what's next? Now what? Onward. We're gonna carry on with this. That's resilience to me. I love it. Thank you. Purpose. What does purpose mean to you? Yeah, purpose is more, I think, the long run drive. Like, why am I doing this? um What's the meaning of my work? Which is usually not something you see right in the work itself. It is above the work. It's bigger than the work. It's what's in your personal responsibility statement, right? 46:21 My research is really oriented towards trying to identify wisdom, right? That's understanding. That's what all scientists try to do. We try to understand. I don't try to advocate. I don't tell you what to do. I try to figure out what the facts are as best I can. And so that concept of wisdom, for me, that's my purpose. Just to try to figure out wisdom. That's the long run goal, the high level goal. I think that is essential for me. It's also, it is perfectly aligned with 46:50 what I'm trying to do as a researcher. Amazing. So my second to last question, scalable or sustainable? can be anything. So scalable I struggle with. As a behavioral scientist, that is hard. It's hard to take individual stuff and increase it at scale, in part because the things that you do to increase something at scale are not the things you do to make an individual life better. So at scale, 47:18 You typically don't target people's beliefs. You navigate around them in some way. So you don't tell people they ought to play more with their neighbors. You build a playground. So they're different approaches. uh So scalable, I struggle with a little bit. try to, in my research, because I'm understanding individual minds, that's where I focus. And so I make it purposefully personal, our researches. Sustainable, though, 47:47 I think our research is really all about in many ways is that at the end of the day, at the end of our experiments are questions, dependent variables. And those dependent variables are typically these days about wellbeing, some measure of wellbeing and happiness. And that is the thing that you need for sustainability to keep things going, right? To sustain yourself. 48:17 is some positive reward. That's what sustains action. m And that's what our work focuses on, think, sustainability in part because for understanding social misunderstanding, the social misunderstanding creates friction. It ruins relationships, causes ah conflict and hostility, which is not itself sustainable. We're trying to encourage some insight into what the opposite would look 48:48 Last question, Professor Epley, did you have fun in the sandbox today? It's very fun, It's great seeing you, Brenda. Makes me regret I didn't do it uh the other times you asked, but it is a lot of work to write a book. It is exhausting. it leads my students to, my PhD students and postdoc doing research with me to contemplate homicide if I don't get to their paper soon. So anyway. Well, with that. 49:17 I let's sign off. You did enjoy yourself to my listeners. If you like this episode with Professor Epley, Nicholas Epley, sign up for the monthly release where founders, business owners and professionals um share their own experiences on building scalable, resilient, purpose-driven organizations, profits for good, and making the world a better place. So thank you until next month.

Tom Gilovich finds it fun to study the whys and wherefores of how human beings make sense of the information delivered by the world around them. And why not, he explains to interviewer David Edmonds in this Social Science Bites podcast. "We're dynamic, very complicated creatures who do all sorts of things and sometimes make you go, 'Huh?' That's interesting." He adds, "At the same time, some of the things that people do have great consequences," which means understanding how understandings come about also has great import. "A lot of the research on judgment and decision making is that there's a schism between the rational choice and the psychologically compelling choice," Gilovich continues, "and that has provided fertile ground for psychologists like me to explore it: "OK, this is what the rational analysis suggests. Why don't we do that?" And there's often some interesting psychological answers to that. Doesn't make logical sense, but it makes lots of psychological sense." In that spirit, Edmonds and Gilovich, the Irene Blecker Rosenfeld Professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychology at Cornell University, run through what Edmonds calls "the greatest hits" of Gilovich's research findings. These include the "spotlight effect," which posits that individuals often assume others pay more attention to them than they are, and its cousin, "the illusion of transparency," in which people assume others recognize their feelings and emotions accurately. They also look at regret, bias blind spots, and why third-place finishers are happier than second-place ones. Gilovich is the co-director of the Cornell Center for Behavioral Economics and Decision Research. He's written or co-written several books, ranging from the academic (the textbook Social Psychology written with Dacher Keitner, Serena Chen and Richard Nisbett), titles that bridge academia and the general public (2002's The psychology of intuitive judgment: Heuristic and biases written alongside Dale Griffin and Daniel Kahneman), and books that bring psychological insights directly to the public (such as 1999's Why smart people make big money mistakes—and how to correct them: Lessons from the new science of behavioral economics with Gary Belsky and 2015's The wisest in the room: How you can benefit from social psychology's most powerful insights with Lee Ross).  

When people think of outstanding scenery, they mainly imagine forests, lakes and mountains. But new research suggests you can get as much satisfaction out of a city building. All to discuss with Eugene Masterson, Research Fellow, Centre for Decision Research and Experimental Economics, University of Nottingham.

When people think of outstanding scenery, they mainly imagine forests, lakes and mountains. But new research suggests you can get as much satisfaction out of a city building. All to discuss with Eugene Masterson, Research Fellow, Centre for Decision Research and Experimental Economics, University of Nottingham.

In this episode, Professor Magda Osman and Dr Sarah Jenkins discuss risk communication, exploring what role the social sciences play in risk communications, whether it can ever be objective, how people perceive and tolerate risk differently, and how trade-offs and context shape the risk decisions people make. This episode was recorded on 4th August 2025. If you would like to get in touch regarding this episode, please contact research.lubs@leeds.ac.uk. A transcript of this episode is available. About the speakers: Magda Osman holds a Visiting Professor of Impact Position at Leeds University Business School, University of Leeds, and is a Research Professor at the Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge. She is a psychologist by training, with a specific interest in decision-making under risk and uncertainty, risk analysis and causal analysis, folk beliefs in the manipulation of the unconscious, as well as an interest in examining effectiveness of methods of behavioural change. Dr Sarah Jenkins is a Lecturer in Applied Decision-Making and a cognitive psychologist, with extensive experience of conducting applied research focusing on how people understand, communicate and make decisions concerning risk and uncertainty. She holds a joint post between the Centre for Decision Research at Leeds University Business School, and the Met Office, where she is applying social science techniques to deliver high-impact decision research in areas related to weather and climate.

Do you massively over-estimate how much you can accomplish in any period of time? Do you struggle to work out how long it's going to take you to complete a particular project? Friend, same. Don't worry, though, because there are some well-recognised psychological reasons for that, and plenty of advice too. There's just one problem: when it comes to projects that are linked to your sense of self-worth, time management is even trickier, and the usual strategies might not cut it. Luckily for you, your imperfect buddy is here to throw you a lifeline.Here's a helpful article with some tips about how to get better at planning your time.References:Buehler, R., Griffin, D., and Ross, M. 1994: 'Exploring the "Planning Fallacy": Why People Underestimate Their Task Completion Times', Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 67/3: 366-381.Kahneman, D. and Tversky, A. 1977: 'Intuitive Prediction: Biases and CorrectiveProcedures', Technical Report PTR-1042-7746, Defense Advanced Research ProjectsAgency - Advanced Decision Technology, Decision Research, Eugene, OR. 

Think about the times you've assumed someone's behavior revealed exactly what they were thinking. Nicholas Epley, our guest for this episode, explains this as correspondence bias and, through his book Mindwise, teaches us about the concept of correspondence bias and explains how we often believe that a person's actions correspond directly to their mental state. You'll hear about his research into social cognition and how it reveals that while humans are generally adept at reading others, we frequently overestimate our accuracy. The episode also covers practical experiments on how engaging with strangers can significantly boost our happiness, despite our fears and misconceptions, and the importance of curiosity in overcoming social anxieties and making positive first impressions. Listen and Learn: How our unique “sixth sense” of mind reading, our ability to understand, predict, and connect with others' invisible thoughts, shapes human connection and survivalWhy our ability to read other people's minds is far less accurate than we think, and what makes understanding others such a difficult challengeWhy we often overestimate how well we understand those closest to us, and how even long-term partners are not as accurate at reading each other's thoughts and feelings as they believeWhat drives our brains to form first impressions in an instant, how overconfidence shapes the way we read others, and why moment-to-moment cues like facial expressions play a bigger role in social interactions than we often realize?How can you make a great first impression without overthinking body language or tricks, simply by staying curious and genuinely interested in the person you're talking to?How correspondence bias makes us assume people's actions reflect their true thoughts and feelings, why this can lead to misjudgments, and how showing confidence, curiosity, or kindness can positively influence how others respond to youCan striking up a conversation with a stranger boost happiness more than staying to yourself, even though we usually expect the interaction to go badly?Resources: Mindwise: Why We Misunderstand What Others Think, Believe, Feel, and Want: https://bookshop.org/a/30734/9780307743565 Nicholas' website: https://www.nicholasepley.com/About Nicholas EpleyNicholas Epley is the John Templeton Keller Distinguished Service Professor of Behavior Science and Director of the Center for Decision Research at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He studies social cognition—how thinking people think about other thinking people—to understand why smart people so routinely misunderstand each other. He teaches an ethics and well-being course to MBA students called Designing a Good Life. His research has been featured by the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, CNN, Wired, and National Public Radio, among many others, and has been funded by the National Science Foundation and the Templeton Foundation. He has been awarded the 2008 Theoretical Innovation Award from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, the 2011 Distinguished Scientific Award for Early Career Contribution to Psychology from the American Psychological Association, the 2015 Book Prize for the Promotion of Social and Personality Science, and the 2018 Career Trajectory Award from the Society for Experimental Social Psychology. Epley was named a "professor to watch" by the Financial Times, one of the "World's Best 40 under 40 Business School Professors" by Poets and Quants, and one of the 100 Most Influential in Business Ethics by Ethisphere. He is the author of Mindwise: How We Understand What Others Think, Believe, Feel, and Want, and of a forthcoming book to be published in the fall of 2026 tentatively titled, Dare to connectRelated Episodes413. Validate with Caroline Fleck393. Supercommunicators with Charles Duhigg374. Developing and Deepening Connections with Adam Dorsay360. The Laws of Connection with David Robson329. The Power of Curiosity with Scott ShigeokaSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode from 2013, we look at whether spite pays — and if it even exists. SOURCES:Benedikt Herrmann, research officer at the European Commission.Steve Levitt, co-author of Freakonomics and host of People I (Mostly) Admire.Dave O'Connor, president of Times Studios.Lisi Oliver, professor of English at Louisiana State University.E.O. Wilson, naturalist and university research professor emeritus at Harvard University. RESOURCES:You Don't Know Bo: The Legend of Bo Jackson, documentary (2012)."Amputation of the nose throughout history," by G. Sperati (ACTA Otorhinolaryngologica Italica, 2009)."The Appearance of Homo Rivalis: Social Preferences and the Nature of Rent Seeking," by Benedikt Herrmann and Henrik Orzen (Center for Decision Research and Experimental Economics, 2008). EXTRAS:"What It's Like to Be Middle-Aged (in the Middle Ages)," by Freakonomics Radio (2025).

Ironically, while the core mission of HMB is to enhance communication between generations, there's yet to be an episode dedicated to the “science” of communication. Until now. Aidan & Ash welcome to the show one of the country's leading minds on the topic of why smart people routinely misunderstand each other. Dr. Nicholas Epley is the author of Mindwise: How We Understand What Others Think, Believe, Feel, and Want, and the Director of the Roman Family Center for Decision Research at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, where he studies and teaches social cognition. There's nothing intuitive about this episode - which will have you rethinking everything. Who was more convincing: Aidan or Ash? Vote at HoldMeBack.com

Show Notes  Guests: Thomas “Gus” Almonroeder, PT, DPT, PhD almonroeder.thomas@gmail.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-gus-almonroeder-b947691b0/ Tricia Widenhoefer PT widenhoefert@trine.edu www.linkedin.com/in/tricia-widenhoefer-084b41144 Guest Quotes: Gus: “We created kind of a collection of clinical vignettes…reflected patients that were in an acute care setting. We distributed kind of to our local network of therapists… ask them to review the cases… then ask the therapist to make a recommendation: Home with therapy, outpatient therapy, long term acute care, sub acute care, all the kind options that you may consider as an acute care therapist. And then we looked at the consistency among those different options. And our idea was to kind of look at how consistent is decision making among acute care therapists with making these recommendations, because we knew that's…one of the key functions of being an acute care therapist is making those recommendations… So that was kind of the crux of our study.” Rapid Responses: You know you work in acute care when: Tricia “you go home "wearing" part of your patients” Gus “you've reached 10,000 steps before noon” Links: https://journals.lww.com/jacpt/abstract/2024/07000/consistency_of_physical_therapist_discharge.3.aspx Connect with our hosts and the podcast! Leo Arguelles (LEE-O R-GWELL-IS) largue2@uic.edu Twitter @LeoArguellesPT Ashley Poole Twitter @AshleyPooleDPT Interested in being a future guest? APTA Acute Care: Website Awards Journal Access Twitter @AcuteCareAPTA Facebook APTA Acute Care Instagram @AcademyAcutePT YouTube  APTA Acute Care Podcast APTA Acute Care Resources APTA Adult Vital Signs APTA Lab Values Document Webinar Recordings

******Support the channel****** Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thedissenter PayPal: paypal.me/thedissenter PayPal Subscription 1 Dollar: https://tinyurl.com/yb3acuuy PayPal Subscription 3 Dollars: https://tinyurl.com/ybn6bg9l PayPal Subscription 5 Dollars: https://tinyurl.com/ycmr9gpz PayPal Subscription 10 Dollars: https://tinyurl.com/y9r3fc9m PayPal Subscription 20 Dollars: https://tinyurl.com/y95uvkao   ******Follow me on****** Website: https://www.thedissenter.net/ The Dissenter Goodreads list: https://shorturl.at/7BMoB Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thedissenteryt/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheDissenterYT   This show is sponsored by Enlites, Learning & Development done differently. Check the website here: http://enlites.com/   Dr. Robin Gregory is Senior Research Scientist with Decision Research in Eugene, Oregon, and Adjunct Professor at the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability at the University of British Columbia. Dr. Brooke Moore is a District Principal in Delta Schools and an Adjunct professor at the University of British Columbia. They are the authors of Sorting It Out: Supporting Teenage Decision Making.   In this episode, we focus on Sorting It Out. We talk about the goals of the book, and the most important aspects of teenage decision making. We discuss decision traps, and six decision-maker moves, including framing the decision; clarifying what matters; generating options; exploring consequences; weighing trade-offs and deciding; and staying curious and adjusting. We also talk about how teenagers can deal with mistakes. -- A HUGE THANK YOU TO MY PATRONS/SUPPORTERS: PER HELGE LARSEN, JERRY MULLER, BERNARDO SEIXAS, ADAM KESSEL, MATTHEW WHITINGBIRD, ARNAUD WOLFF, TIM HOLLOSY, HENRIK AHLENIUS, FILIP FORS CONNOLLY, DAN DEMETRIOU, ROBERT WINDHAGER, RUI INACIO, ZOOP, MARCO NEVES, COLIN HOLBROOK, PHIL KAVANAGH, SAMUEL ANDREEFF, FRANCIS FORDE, TIAGO NUNES, FERGAL CUSSEN, HAL HERZOG, NUNO MACHADO, JONATHAN LEIBRANT, JOÃO LINHARES, STANTON T, SAMUEL CORREA, ERIK HAINES, MARK SMITH, JOÃO EIRA, TOM HUMMEL, SARDUS FRANCE, DAVID SLOAN WILSON, YACILA DEZA-ARAUJO, ROMAIN ROCH, DIEGO LONDOÑO CORREA, YANICK PUNTER, CHARLOTTE BLEASE, NICOLE BARBARO, ADAM HUNT, PAWEL OSTASZEWSKI, NELLEKE BAK, GUY MADISON, GARY G HELLMANN, SAIMA AFZAL, ADRIAN JAEGGI, PAULO TOLENTINO, JOÃO BARBOSA, JULIAN PRICE, EDWARD HALL, HEDIN BRØNNER, DOUGLAS FRY, FRANCA BORTOLOTTI, GABRIEL PONS CORTÈS, URSULA LITZCKE, SCOTT, ZACHARY FISH, TIM DUFFY, SUNNY SMITH, JON WISMAN, WILLIAM BUCKNER, PAUL-GEORGE ARNAUD, LUKE GLOWACKI, GEORGIOS THEOPHANOUS, CHRIS WILLIAMSON, PETER WOLOSZYN, DAVID WILLIAMS, DIOGO COSTA, ALEX CHAU, AMAURI MARTÍNEZ, CORALIE CHEVALLIER, BANGALORE ATHEISTS, LARRY D. LEE JR., OLD HERRINGBONE, MICHAEL BAILEY, DAN SPERBER, ROBERT GRESSIS, IGOR N, JEFF MCMAHAN, JAKE ZUEHL, BARNABAS RADICS, MARK CAMPBELL, TOMAS DAUBNER, LUKE NISSEN, KIMBERLY JOHNSON, JESSICA NOWICKI, LINDA BRANDIN, NIKLAS CARLSSON, GEORGE CHORIATIS, VALENTIN STEINMANN, PER KRAULIS, ALEXANDER HUBBARD, BR, MASOUD ALIMOHAMMADI, JONAS HERTNER, URSULA GOODENOUGH, DAVID PINSOF, SEAN NELSON, MIKE LAVIGNE, JOS KNECHT, ERIK ENGMAN, LUCY, MANVIR SINGH, PETRA WEIMANN, CAROLA FEEST, STARRY, MAURO JÚNIOR, 航 豊川, TONY BARRETT, BENJAMIN GELBART, AND NIKOLAI VISHNEVSKY! A SPECIAL THANKS TO MY PRODUCERS, YZAR WEHBE, JIM FRANK, ŁUKASZ STAFINIAK, TOM VANEGDOM, BERNARD HUGUENEY, CURTIS DIXON, BENEDIKT MUELLER, THOMAS TRUMBLE, KATHRINE AND PATRICK TOBIN, JONCARLO MONTENEGRO, AL NICK ORTIZ, NICK GOLDEN, AND CHRISTINE GLASS! AND TO MY EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS, MATTHEW LAVENDER, SERGIU CODREANU, BOGDAN KANIVETS, ROSEY, AND GREGORY HASTINGS!

No episódio, Ana Frazão conversa com Flávia Ávila, Fundadora e CEO da consultoria InBehavior Lab com mais de 15 anos de experiência em estudos experimentais sobre o comportamento humano (individual e grupo) usando experimentos de laboratório, online e campo. Economista pela Unb (Universidade de Brasília) e mestre em Economia Comportamental pelo CeDEx (Center for Decision Research and Experimental Economics) da University of Nottingham na Inglaterra. Professora em Economia Comportamental e Ciências Comportamentais Aplicadas em cursos de pós-graduaçao, educaçao executiva e InBehavior Academy. Editora-chefe do site EconomiaComportamental.org, destinado a promover a área de Economia Comportamental e Experimental no Brasil desde 2014. Idealizadora e co-organizadora do livro: Guia de Economia Comportamental e Experimental (primeiro material abrangente e gratuito em português sobre as áreas de Economia Comportamental e Experimental, que pode ser baixado em economiacomportamental.org/guia. Na conversa, a Professora Flávia Ávila explica o que é a economia comportamental e como se diferencia da economia tradicional, ressaltando o importante papel de Daniel Kahneman para a consolidação da área. Na sequência, a professora explica as limitações de racionalidade, as heurísticas e os vieses, mostrando que a Economia Comportamental se preocupa igualmente com o contexto em que as decisões são tomadas, o que ressalta os aspectos emocionais, sociais e culturais dos envolvidos. Especial destaque é dado à questão da arquitetura de escolha, parte em que são exploradas as discussões sobre nudges, sludges. Outros pontos importantes da conversa dizem respeito às ciências comportamentais, às diversas aplicações da economia comportamental e aos principais benefícios para as organizações.

Originally published as Why Talking To Strangers Is Actually Good For Your Wellbeing | Nick Epley Embark on a journey of rediscovery as we revisit an episode that's sure to reignite your passion for meaningful connections. Join us as we delve into the timeless wisdom of Nick Epley, whose insights continue to resonate with listeners old and new. Do you strike up a conversation with a stranger on a plane or while waiting in line? If you don't already, you will after listening to Nick Epley in this episode. Nick talks through his extensive research about talking to people we encounter and how it actually boosts our wellbeing. While many of us may default to surface-level exchanges, Nick challenges us to embrace the depths of genuine connection. But let's not forget the elephant in the room – initiating these conversations can be a daunting task. Fear not! Nick equips us with the tools to overcome our hesitations and dive headfirst into meaningful dialogue. Nick Epley is the John Templeton Keller Professor of Behavior Science and Director of the Center for Decision Research at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. With his unparalleled expertise in social cognition, Nick sheds light on why understanding one another is often easier said than done. Nick wrote the book “Mindwise: Why We Misunderstand What Others Think, Believe, Feel, and Want” and through its pages, Nick invites us to peer into the inner workings of the human mind.  As always, hosts Kurt and Tim end the show with a Grooving Session, distilling the essence of our conversation into actionable insights. But if there is just one thing you take away from this episode, dear listeners, is never hesitant to seize the opportunity to pay a compliment. © 2024 Behavioral Grooves Topics [3:40] Welcome and speed round questions. [4:57] Why it's better to have a deep and meaningful conversation with a stranger? [7:18] Why are we reluctant to talk to strangers about something meaningful? [13:46] Why did Nick start studying undersociality? [21:06] What happens when strangers talk on a train? [29:33] How do you start a conversation with a stranger? [33:20] The benefits of a compliment. [39:21] Nick's work in the future. [43:35] The mind-blowing way to get someone else's perspective? [47:49] What music influences Nick. [51:24] Grooving Session with Kurt and Tim discussing what we learned from Nick Epley. © 2024 Behavioral Grooves Links Nicholas Epley “Mindwise: Why We Misunderstand What Others Think, Believe, Feel, and Want” by Nick Epley Gary Becker Liz Dunn at University of British Columbia Music Links Metallica “Master of Puppets” David Tolk, piano player “Amazing Grace” “All Creatures Great and Small” music   

Clint Borgen interviews Dr. Paul Slovic. Dr. Paul Slovic is President of Decision Research and Professor of Psychology at the University of Oregon. He is an expert in human judgment, decision making, risk perception and the go-to guy when trying to understand human perception toward the world's most urgent problems, like war, genocides, nuclear weapons and pandemics. (arithmeticofcompassion.org)Learn more about Dr. Slovic's work:arithmeticofcompassion.orgUniversity of Oregon, Department of Psychology Decision Research--Official podcast of The Borgen Project, an international organization that works at the political level to improve living conditions for people impacted by war, famine and poverty.borgenproject.org

Have you ever considered the transformative power of a simple hello or the profound effect of asking someone about their day? Why might our attempts at perspective-taking be inadequate compared to  the straightforward solution of ‘just ask.'Nicholas Epley is the John Templeton Keller Distinguished Service Professor of Behavioral Science, and Director of the Roman Family Center for Decision Research, at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He is also the author of a book titled, Mindwise: Why We Misunderstand What Others Think, Believe, Feel, and Want.Nicholas and Greg discuss how social nuances influence every aspect of our lives. Nicholas's expertise, combined with Greg's teaching experiences, bring to light the nuanced dance of cross-cultural social engagement and the impact of technology on our interactions. This episode isn't just about making more friends or being likable—it's about harnessing the often overlooked science of social cognition to enrich every interaction you have. Discover why the 'superpower' of social cognition might be the most underutilized tool in your personal and professional arsenal.*unSILOed Podcast is produced by University FM.*Episode Quotes:Conversation is an entirely cooperative process 16:25: Conversation itself is just an entirely cooperative process that tends to pull us together with somebody else. So, for us to have a conversation, we have to start by establishing some common ground with each other, figure out what we're going to talk about.That's inherently cooperative. We're going back and forth. We're taking turns. We're cooperating, right? And cooperation tends to pull people together. Reciprocity is, without question, the dominant social norm in social interaction. So, if I were to punch you in the face, you would probably punch me in the face back, right? That'd be a bad interaction. But if I reach out and say hello to you with sort of authentic kindness, you tend to respond back in the same way. And, it's those iterative social processes—those complicated social processes—that people tend to really underestimate the power of.Deep talk is better than small talk, but small talk is better than no talk25:43: Small talk is better than no talk in a given moment; deep talks are a little better, or not as bad as you might think it is. But when you see people reporting that having a really deep conversation with somebody is better than a shallow one, it's typically when they have both and can compare them on their own; the small talk is actually pretty good. How our social thinking keeps us from getting feedback07:50: I think a bigger problem with a lot of our social thinking is that it can create reality, which then keeps us from getting the feedback we need. So Greg, if I thought you wanted to talk to me, I'd have a conversation with you, and I'd figure out if that assessment was right. So I'd get feedback on that because I would approach you and would find out if we're in a coffee shop, I didn't think you want to talk to me or didn't look very interesting, whatever. I decided, nah, I'm not going to have this conversation. Notice I wouldn't have anything to learn from. So when it comes to social thought, sometimes, particularly when it's about whether doing engage with somebody to connect with somebody or not, our beliefs are self-fulfilling, and they can keep us from getting the feedback we need.The truth about our fear of social engagement28:05: Our fears about how social engagement is going to go, particularly when it's positive, just tend to be a little off, a little overly pessimistic, in part because we don't seem to fully appreciate that when you reach out positively to others, they tend to reach out positively to you in return, and people are happier to be seen and have somebody take some notice of them. That's just very powerful—surprisingly powerful.Show Links:Recommended Resources:Juliana SchroederEinfühlungLiz Dunn - UBC Cell Phone ResearchGuest Profile:NicholasEpley.comFaculty Profile at the University of Chicago Booth School of BusinessLinkedIn ProfileHis Work:Mindwise: Why We Misunderstand What Others Think, Believe, Feel, and WantGoogle Scholar Page

Paul Richards is a decision making expert with a particular focus on investment manager and trustee decision-making.  He is the founder of Better Decisions, and was previously Head of Governance and Decision Research at the consulting firm Redington.  He is also the host of the Decision Nerds podcast.Our conversation is an ambitious one, seeking to dive into the science of better decision making, what makes an effective Board process, the nature of corporate culture and its evolution and how it contributes to better outcomes. We start with Paul's early instinct to understand things, and how things work, and how he first became interested in the emergent area of behavioral science at the beginning of his career. Moving then to the science of decision making, Paul notes how we often try to import structures and frameworks from one context to another, which entirely ignores the subtle nature of context, the unique corporate backdrop, place in time, and the unique (and dynamic) personalities involved around the table.  We talk about nurturing conflict - the healthy kind, and how vulnerability and admitting lack of knowledge can be both disarming and empowering (c.f. the nine words that are the hardest to say but that every trustee should know). We move then to the massive area of corporate culture and what some of the Decision Nerds podcasts have revealed in that respect and the link to better investment and corporate performance. There is more information about Better Decisions here: https://www.better-decisions.co/ and about the Decision Nerds podcast here. https://decisionnerds.buzzsprout.com/Series 1 of 2024 is supported by Apollo Global Management, a leading provider of alternative asset management and retirement services solutions. Apollo seeks to provide clients excess return at every point along the risk-reward spectrum and is focused on empowering retirees, building and financing stronger businesses and driving a more sustainable future. 

Let's talk about the magic that is improvisation, or what us cool kids call "improv." It's an art form that's all about unleashing your creativity and performing without a script or plan. Sure, you may have heard of it as a side-splitting comedy act, but improv goes a lot deeper than that. From acting to business to mental health, improv skills can be applied in various areas of life. Enter Kelly Leonard, the VP of Creative Strategy, Innovation, and Business Development at the infamous Second City in Chicago. Kelly, who over the decades has produced hundreds of original revues with comedians such as Stephen Colbert, Tina Fey, and Seth Meyers (to name a few) has a unique understanding of behavioral science through the lens of improv.  Regaling us with lessons and stories from his career and book, ‘Yes And', we learn how to utilize improv to help us adapt, empathize, communicate, trust, and collaborate better. We are reminded that saying ‘yes' to new ideas and experiences sparks creativity and can lead to beneficial outcomes. From deepening our relationships with others by practicing active listening and learning to accept and appreciate new ideas, regardless of their origin. It also teaches us to think on our feet and work together to create innovative solutions to problems.Listen and Learn:  How Stephen Colbert came to write a blurb for Kelly's book, Yes, and: How Improvisation Reverses No, But Thinking and Improves Creativity and Collaboration Why so many successful comedy performers have an improv background  How improv skills can help us to empathize, communicate and collaborate The idea of the ‘Yes And' exercise  Why Kelly prefers to use the word ensemble vs. team  Improv's positive impact on caregiver burden and depression An introduction to the ‘I Am Somebody Who' exercise Why adopting a Yes And mentality helps create a psychologically safe environment How improv can be applied in therapy  If improv were an animal, what animal would it be?  What's next for Kelly's work in science and the arts  Resources:  Learn more about Kelly: https://www.secondcity.com/people/kelly-leonard+ Get your copy of Yes, And: How Improvisation Reverses No, But Thinking and Improves Creativity and Collaboration: https://bookshop.org/a/30734/9780062248541 Check out The Second City website: https://www.secondcity.com/ Listen to Kelly's podcast, Getting to Yes And: https://www.secondcityworks.com/podcast About Kelly Leonard Kelly Leonard is the Executive Director of Learning and Applied Improvisation at Second City Works. His book, “Yes, And: Lessons from The Second City” was released to critical acclaim in 2015 by HarperCollins and was praised by Michael Lewis in Vanity Fair who called it “...an excellent guide to the lessons that have bubbled up in Second City's improv workshops.” Kelly is a popular speaker on the power of improvisation to transform people's lives. He has presented at The Aspen Ideas Festival, The Code Conference,TEDx Broadway, Chicago Ideas Festival, The Stanford Graduate School of Business and for companies such as Coca Cola, Microsoft, Twitter, Memorial Sloan Kettering and DDB Worldwide. Kelly co-created an initiative with the Center for Decision Research at the Booth School at the University of Chicago, The Second Science Project, that looks at behavioral science through the lens of improvisation. He also hosts the podcast, “Getting to Yes, And,” for Second City Works and WGN radio that features interviews with academics, authors and leaders such as Brene Brown, Adam Grant, Michael Lewis, Lindy West, Ash Carter and Amy Edmondson.For over twenty years, Kelly oversaw Second City's live theatrical divisions where he helped generate original productions with such talent as Tina Fey, Stephen Colbert, Amy Poehler, Seth Meyers, Steve Carell, Keegan Michael Key, Amy Sedaris, Adam McKay and others. In 2019, Arts Alliance Illinois awarded Kelly and his wife Anne Libera with their Creative Voice Award.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Let's talk about the magic that is improvisation, or what us cool kids call "improv." It's an art form that's all about unleashing your creativity and performing without a script or plan. Sure, you may have heard of it as a side-splitting comedy act, but improv goes a lot deeper than that. From acting to business to mental health, improv skills can be applied in various areas of life.  Enter Kelly Leonard, the VP of Creative Strategy, Innovation, and Business Development at the infamous Second City in Chicago. Kelly, who over the decades has produced hundreds of original revues with comedians such as Stephen Colbert, Tina Fey, and Seth Meyers (to name a few) has a unique understanding of behavioral science through the lens of improv.   Regaling us with lessons and stories from his career and book, ‘Yes And', we learn how to utilize improv to help us adapt, empathize, communicate, trust, and collaborate better. We are reminded that saying ‘yes' to new ideas and experiences sparks creativity and can lead to beneficial outcomes. From deepening our relationships with others by practicing active listening and learning to accept and appreciate new ideas, regardless of their origin. It also teaches us to think on our feet and work together to create innovative solutions to problems. Listen and Learn:  How Stephen Colbert came to write a blurb for Kelly's book, Yes, and: How Improvisation Reverses No, But Thinking and Improves Creativity and Collaboration Why so many successful comedy performers have an improv background  How improv skills can help us to empathize, communicate and collaborate The idea of the ‘Yes And' exercise  Why Kelly prefers to use the word ensemble vs. team  Improv's positive impact on caregiver burden and depression An introduction to the ‘I Am Somebody Who' exercise Why adopting a Yes And mentality helps create a psychologically safe environment How improv can be applied in therapy  If improv were an animal, what animal would it be?  What's next for Kelly's work in science and the arts  Resources:  Learn more about Kelly: https://www.secondcity.com/people/kelly-leonard+ Get your copy of Yes, And: How Improvisation Reverses No, But Thinking and Improves Creativity and Collaboration: https://bookshop.org/a/30734/9780062248541 Check out The Second City website: https://www.secondcity.com/ Listen to Kelly's podcast, Getting to Yes And: https://www.secondcityworks.com/podcast About Kelly Leonard  Kelly Leonard is the Executive Director of Learning and Applied Improvisation at Second City Works. His book, “Yes, And: Lessons from The Second City” was released to critical acclaim in 2015 by HarperCollins and was praised by Michael Lewis in Vanity Fair who called it “...an excellent guide to the lessons that have bubbled up in Second City's improv workshops.” Kelly is a popular speaker on the power of improvisation to transform people's lives. He has presented at The Aspen Ideas Festival, The Code Conference,TEDx Broadway, Chicago Ideas Festival, The Stanford Graduate School of Business and for companies such as Coca Cola, Microsoft, Twitter, Memorial Sloan Kettering and DDB Worldwide.  Kelly co-created an initiative with the Center for Decision Research at the Booth School at the University of Chicago, The Second Science Project, that looks at behavioral science through the lens of improvisation. He also hosts the podcast, “Getting to Yes, And,” for Second City Works and WGN radio that features interviews with academics, authors and leaders such as Brene Brown, Adam Grant, Michael Lewis, Lindy West, Ash Carter and Amy Edmondson. For over twenty years, Kelly oversaw Second City's live theatrical divisions where he helped generate original productions with such talent as Tina Fey, Stephen Colbert, Amy Poehler, Seth Meyers, Steve Carell, Keegan Michael Key, Amy Sedaris, Adam McKay and others. In 2019, Arts Alliance Illinois awarded Kelly and his wife Anne Libera with their Creative Voice Award.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In today's conversation, I am joined by Dr. Nick Epley, Director of the Center for Decision Research at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. I was introduced to Nick by the amazing Ayelet Fishbach, who has been on The Brainy Business twice before. Nick studies social cognition—how thinking people think about other thinking people—to understand why smart people so routinely misunderstand each other. He teaches an ethics and well-being course to MBA students called Designing a Good Life (sounds like a perfect fit around here, and we do talk about this in the episode). His research has appeared in more than two dozen empirical journals, been featured by the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, CNN, Wired, NPR, and more.  As Nick will share with us today...you may not realize it, but you were born with an extraordinary ability to understand what others think, feel, believe, want, and know. You are a mind reader! It's a sixth sense you use every day, in every personal and professional relationship you have. Today, Nick will share a bit of what scientists have learned about our ability to understand others and the surprising mistakes we so routinely make. Show Notes: [00:45] In today's conversation, I am joined by Dr. Nick Epley, director of The Center of Decision Research at the University of Chicago, Booth School of Business. Nick studies social cognition. [02:52] You may not realize it, but you were born with an extraordinary ability to understand what others think, feel, believe, want, and know. You are a mind reader.  [05:02] Nick shares about himself and his background. He is a professor of behavioral science at the University of Chicago.  [07:32] There are systematic gaps between our beliefs about someone else and reality. If we can understand what those gaps are we can understand why they exist.  [09:38] The quality of our social relationships is a critical determinant of our happiness, probably the most important. Other people are the single biggest source of our happiness as well as our misery.  [11:55] One of the big barriers to people being more social in their daily lives is that they underestimate how social others are.  [13:35] We get that risk-reward trade-off with other people wrong. We think it is riskier to reach out and engage than it is.  [15:05] Failing to realize that other people are social is a barrier to us. [17:43] One of the common things we find is that people are often surprised at how much they learned, how enjoyable the conversation was, and how much they have in common with the other person.  [20:22] Conversations have a magnetic quality to them. It draws people together and surprises people.  [22:02] If you don't like small talk…stop having it. When you take an interest in other people they reveal interesting stuff and take an interest in you.  [24:18] Take an interest in another person - that is how you have good conversations.  [26:26] If you care about somebody then you ask them questions that matter to them. Treat other people like they are good friends.  [28:09] When people imagine having a meaningful conversation with a stranger, they think the other person is not going to want to hear about it or care about it. When they get into it and open up to each other it generally goes way better than people expect.  [29:56] Having a culture where people are open, honest, and willing to engage and connect with one another, they feel connected to the place because they are connected to each other is the kind of culture that every organization wants to have and helps get the job done.  [31:56] People's reluctance to reach out and engage with others is exactly the kind of barrier that organizations would want to get rid of.  [33:38] The things that basic psychology has to teach people in business is the same thing we have to teach people in their everyday lives.   [36:02] If you are bringing people into your organization, think about interviewing with your culture in mind.  [38:46] When you make connection activities routine, common, easy, and part of the habits so people aren't thinking about it, you design it with the context so it just happens this way that is how they spread through organizations and you sustain them.  [41:30] Often organizations don't choose to make these types of opportunities a priority.   [43:52] Typing and texting lack the emotion and the thinking behind those words that you get from a person's voice.  [45:32] Share kind thoughts with other people.  [46:35] Think about somebody you feel grateful to and write them a note. Try to connect with a stranger. [49:17] Melina's closing thoughts [50:36] Take the time for real human connections, even small ones each day and see what happens.  Thanks for listening. Don't forget to subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Android. If you like what you heard, please leave a review on iTunes and share what you liked about the show.  I hope you love everything recommended via The Brainy Business! Everything was independently reviewed and selected by me, Melina Palmer. So you know, as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. That means if you decide to shop from the links on this page (via Amazon or others), The Brainy Business may collect a share of sales or other compensation. Let's connect: Melina@TheBrainyBusiness.com The Brainy Business® on Facebook The Brainy Business on Twitter The Brainy Business on Instagram The Brainy Business on LinkedIn Melina on LinkedIn The Brainy Business on Youtube Join the BE Thoughtful Revolution – our free behavioral economics community, and keep the conversation going! Learn and Support The Brainy Business: Check out and get your copies of Melina's Books.  Get the Books Mentioned on (or related to) this Episode: Mindwise, by Nick Epley Nudge, by Richard Thaler & Cass Sunstein Get It Done, by Ayelet Fishbach Both/And Thinking, by Wendy Smith & Marianne Lewis Happier Hour, by Cassie Holmes Connect with Nick:  Nick's Website Top Recommended Next Episode: Vulnerability Loops (ep 229) Already Heard That One? Try These:  Get It Done: Surprising Lessons from the Science of Motivation with Ayelet Fishbach (ep 186) How to Make 2023 Your Best Year Ever with Ayelet Fishbach and Cassie Holmes (ep 249) NUDGES & Choice Architecture (ep 35) Herding (ep 19)  Focusing Illusion (ep 89) The Brainy Benefits of Gratitude (ep 236) You Have More Influence Than You Think, Vanessa Bohns (ep 197) Both/And Thinking with Dr. Wendy Smith (ep 261) Herding (ep 19)  The Power of Us with Dr. Dominic Packer (ep 178) Using Behavioral Science to Build Connections, an interview with Jon Levy, author of You're Invited (ep 150) Reciprocity: The Amazing Power of Giving (ep 238) Only 1% of People Blow the Whistle at Work—How to Fix That, with Nuala Walsh (ep 153) Habits (ep 256) Other Important Links:  Brainy Bites - Melina's LinkedIn Newsletter Undersociality: miscalibrated social cognition can inhibit social connection Why Your Social Life Is Not What It Should Be Go Ahead, Ask for Help. People Are Happy to Give It. You Should Actually Send That Thank You Note You've Been Meaning to Write Small talk is boring. Our research shows how you can do better. The Unexpected Power of Random Acts of Kindness

Nicholas Epley is the John Templeton Keller Distinguished Service Professor of Behavioral Science, and Director of the Center for Decision Research, at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He studies social cognition—how thinking people think about other thinking people—to understand why smart people so routinely misunderstand each other. He teaches an ethics and happiness course to MBA students called Designing a Good Life. His research has appeared in more than two dozen empirical journals, been featured by the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, CNN, Wired, and National Public Radio, among many others, and has been funded by the National Science Foundation and the Templeton Foundation. He has been awarded the 2008 Theoretical Innovation Award from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, the 2011 Distinguished Scientific Award for Early Career Contribution to Psychology from the American Psychological Association, the 2015 Book Prize for the Promotion of Social and Personality Science, and the 2018 Career Trajectory Award from the Society for Experimental Social Psychology. Epley was named a “professor to watch” by the Financial Times, one of the “World's Best 40 under 40 Business School Professors” by Poets and Quants, and one of the 100 Most Influential in Business Ethics in 2015 by Ethisphere. He is the author of Mindwise: How We Understand What Others Think, Believe, Feel, and Want.Support the show

In a world of increasing polarization, Kelly Leonard is working to bridge the divide and bring people together by teaching the power of improv. In this episode you will learn: 1. The importance of play, especially as we get older. 2. The power of "Yes, And" to create agreement and understanding. 3. The importance of a shared humanity that includes people who may not think or vote like we do. "The world we live in right now, no one wants to work together. It's never been this bad, in my experience. If we could just enter rooms with curiosity instead of blame, if we could enter rooms with a 'Thank You, Because' orientation, I think we have a shot." - Kelly Leonard Kelly Leonard is the Executive Director of Learning and Applied Improvisation at Second City Works. His book, “Yes, And: Lessons from The Second City” was released to critical acclaim in 2015 by HarperCollins and was praised by Michael Lewis in Vanity Fair who called it “...an excellent guide to the lessons that have bubbled up in Second City's improv workshops.” Kelly is a popular speaker on the power of improvisation to transform people's lives. He has presented at The Aspen Ideas Festival, The Code Conference, TEDx Broadway, Chicago Ideas Festival, The Stanford Graduate School of Business and for companies such as Coca Cola, Microsoft, Twitter, Memorial Sloan Kettering and DDB Worldwide. Kelly co-created an initiative with the Center for Decision Research at the Booth School at the University of Chicago, The Second Science Project, that looks at behavioral science through the lens of improvisation. He also hosts the podcast, “Getting to Yes, And,” for Second City Works and WGN radio that features interviews with academics, authors and leaders such as Brene Brown, Adam Grant, Michael Lewis, Lindy West, Ash Carter and Amy Edmondson. For over twenty years, Kelly oversaw Second City's live theatrical divisions where he helped generate original productions with such talent as Tina Fey, Stephen Colbert, Amy Poehler, Seth Meyers, Steve Carell, Keegan-Michael Key, Amy Sedaris, Adam McKay and others. In 2019, Arts Alliance Illinois awarded Kelly and his wife Anne Libera with their Creative Voice Award. Twitter.com/KLSecondCity Paul Vato is an on camera and voice actor, improvisor, podcaster and entrepreneur. Connect with Paul Vato: PaulVato.com • VATO.tv • y.at/

Do you strike up a conversation with a stranger on a plane or while waiting in line? If you don't already, you will after listening to Nick Epley in this episode. Nick talks through his extensive research about talking to people we encounter and how it actually boosts our wellbeing.    While many of us prefer engaging in some small talk with strangers, Nick advocates for the benefits of having a deep and meaningful conversation with people. The problem is, how do we actually start such a conversation with the person who just sat down next to us? Fear not, Nick delves into why we're reluctant and how we can overcome our hesitation.   Nick Epley is the John Templeton Keller Professor of Behavior Science and Director of the Center for Decision Research at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He studies social cognition — how thinking people think about other thinking people — to understand why smart people so routinely misunderstand each other. Recently Nick has written the book “Mindwise: Why We Misunderstand What Others Think, Believe, Feel, and Want” and he talks in his interview about what he's working on next.   As always, hosts Kurt and Tim end the show with a light-hearted Grooving Session to summarize what we have learnt from our guest. I'm sure you will agree that Nick's interview leaves us with lots of helpful insights. But if there is just one thing you take away from this episode, great listeners, is never hesitant to seize the opportunity to pay a compliment.   © 2022 Behavioral Grooves   Topics (3:40) Welcome and speed round questions. (4:57) Why it's better to have a deep and meaningful conversation with a stranger? (7:18) Why are we reluctant to talk to strangers about something meaningful? (13:46) Why did Nick start studying undersociality?  (21:06) What happens when strangers talk on a train? (29:33) How do you start a conversation with a stranger? (33:20) The benefits of a compliment. (39:21) Nick's work in the future. (43:35) The mind-blowing way to get someone else's perspective? (47:49) What music influences Nick. (51:24) Grooving Session with Kurt and Tim discussing what we learned from Nick Epley.   Links Nicholas Epley: www.nicholasepley.com “Mindwise: Why We Misunderstand What Others Think, Believe, Feel, and Want” by Nick Epley: https://amzn.to/3IodtLV Gary Becker: https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/economic-sciences/1992/becker/facts/  Liz Dunn at University of British Columbia: https://psych.ubc.ca/profile/elizabeth-dunn/  Episode 220: How Do You Become Influential? Jon Levy Reveals His Surprising Secrets: https://behavioralgrooves.com/episode/how-to-be-influential-jon-levy/ Behavioral Grooves Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/behavioralgrooves   Musical Links Metallica “Master of Puppets”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnKhsTXoKCI  David Tolk, piano player “Amazing Grace”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_X24B_2TjPQ  “All Creatures Great and Small” music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hLXxQPkAGk   

¿Qué hay para mi dentro del Libro Resumen de Lecturas Recomendadas del programa Conocimiento Experto Un Pequeño Empujon de Richard H. Thaler? Mehora tu Toma de Decisiones Financieras y Profesionales y Personales entendiendo los Principios de la Economia Conductual. Adquiere el Libro: https://amzn.to/3ug4oRg Grupo de Facebook IMPACTO EXPERTO: https://www.facebook.com/groups/impactoexperto Monetiza tus Redes Sociales: https://impactoexperto.com/ Participa del Reto 60/100 para ser una Mejor Versión: https://conocimientoexperto.com/reto60100 Accede a mi sito oficial y desarrolla tu modelo de negocio: https://www.salvadormingo.com/ Accede al Programa Principios Experto: https://conocimientoexperto.com/principios Accede a nuestro grupo privado en Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/conocimientoexperto Mis programas: * Programa Principios Experto: https://conocimientoexperto.com/principios * Libro Conocimiento: https://www.conocimientoexperto.org/unavidaconproposito * Programa Posicionamiento de Expertos en Internet: https://conocimientoexperto.com/programaexperto * Más contenidos gratuitos: https://www.conocimientoexperto.org * Aplicación Móvil Conocimiento Experto: https://www.conocimientoexperto.org/apps/ * Programa Conocimiento Experto Elite: https://conocimientoexperto.com/elite Mis redes: * Sígueme En Instagram en: https://www.instagram.com/salvadormingo/ * Sígueme en Facebook en: https://www.facebook.com/Conocimientoexperto * Sígueme en Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/SalvadorMingoConocimientoExperto * Sígueme en Twitter en: https://twitter.com/s_mingo El mensaje de Nudge es mostrarnos cómo podemos animarnos, con un ligero empujón o dos, a tomar mejores decisiones. El libro comienza explicando las razones de las decisiones erróneas que tomamos en la vida cotidiana. Va dirigido a: - Cualquier persona que quiera llevar una vida más sana y disciplinada - Cualquier persona interesada en cómo los países y las empresas pueden influir en las decisiones de las personas. Edición Diciembre 2017 Richard H. Thaler Es Catedrático de Economía y Ciencias del Comportamiento en la Escuela de Negocios de la Universidad de Chicago; Donde Dirige El Center for Decision Research. Durante El Año 2015 Fue Presidente de la American Economic Association. Además de Un Pequeño Empujón; Ha Escrito los Libros Quasi Rational Economics; the Winner'S Curse y la Psicología Económica. En 2017 Recibió El Premio Nobel de Economía por Sus Contribuciones Pioneras en El Campo de la Economía Conductual y las Finanzas. Enfoque Desarrollo Profesional, Finanzas Conductuales y Decisiones Economicas Se Firme Salvador Mingo Conocimiento Experto #Nudge #EconomiaConductual #DecisionesFinancieras

¿Qué hay para mi dentro del Libro Resumen de Lecturas Recomendadas del programa Conocimiento Experto Un Pequeño Empujon de Richard H. Thaler? Mehora tu Toma de Decisiones Financieras y Profesionales y Personales entendiendo los Principios de la Economia Conductual.Adquiere el Libro: https://amzn.to/3ug4oRgGrupo de Facebook IMPACTO EXPERTO: https://www.facebook.com/groups/impactoexpertoMonetiza tus Redes Sociales: https://impactoexperto.com/Participa del Reto 60/100 para ser una Mejor Versión: https://conocimientoexperto.com/reto60100Accede a mi sito oficial y desarrolla tu modelo de negocio:https://www.salvadormingo.com/Accede al Programa Principios Experto: https://conocimientoexperto.com/principiosAccede a nuestro grupo privado en Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/conocimientoexpertoMis programas:* Programa Principios Experto: https://conocimientoexperto.com/principios* Libro Conocimiento: https://www.conocimientoexperto.org/unavidaconproposito* Programa Posicionamiento de Expertos en Internet: https://conocimientoexperto.com/programaexperto* Más contenidos gratuitos: https://www.conocimientoexperto.org* Aplicación Móvil Conocimiento Experto: https://www.conocimientoexperto.org/apps/* Programa Conocimiento Experto Elite: https://conocimientoexperto.com/eliteMis redes:* Sígueme En Instagram en: https://www.instagram.com/salvadormingo/* Sígueme en Facebook en: https://www.facebook.com/Conocimientoexperto* Sígueme en Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/SalvadorMingoConocimientoExperto* Sígueme en Twitter en: https://twitter.com/s_mingoEl mensaje de Nudge es mostrarnos cómo podemos animarnos, con un ligero empujón o dos, a tomar mejores decisiones. El libro comienza explicando las razones de las decisiones erróneas que tomamos en la vida cotidiana.Va dirigido a:- Cualquier persona que quiera llevar una vida más sana y disciplinada- Cualquier persona interesada en cómo los países y las empresas pueden influir en las decisiones de las personas.Edición Diciembre 2017Richard H. Thaler Es Catedrático de Economía y Ciencias del Comportamiento en la Escuela de Negocios de la Universidad de Chicago; Donde Dirige El Center for Decision Research. Durante El Año 2015 Fue Presidente de la American Economic Association. Además de Un Pequeño Empujón; Ha Escrito los Libros Quasi Rational Economics; the Winner'S Curse y la Psicología Económica. En 2017 Recibió El Premio Nobel de Economía por Sus Contribuciones Pioneras en El Campo de la Economía Conductual y las Finanzas.Enfoque Desarrollo Profesional, Finanzas Conductuales y Decisiones EconomicasSe FirmeSalvador MingoConocimiento Experto#Nudge#EconomiaConductual#DecisionesFinancieras

This episode explores how to make the infernally difficult challenge of habit formation a little easier, with guest Richard H. Thaler, who won the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences in 2017 for his pioneering work in the fields of behavioral economics and finance. Thaler is the Charles R. Walgreen Distinguished Service Professor of Behavioral Science and Economics at the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business, where he also serves as the director of the Center for Decision Research. He is also the co-author, with Cass R. Sunstein, of Nudge: the Final Edition.In this episode, Dan and Richard discuss what a nudge is as well as its opposite – which Thaler and Sunstein call sludge. They also discuss other fascinating concepts, including: choice architecture, mental accounting, libertarian paternalism, bounded rationality, and how the lessons of behavioral economics can lead to a happier lifeThe Anti-Diet Challenge kicks off today in the Ten Percent Happier app. If you're not already a Ten Percent Happier subscriber, you can join us by starting a free trial that'll give you access to the challenge, along with our entire app. Click here to get started.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Why is it that, as the number of people suffering increases, the less we seem to care? How psychic numbing is affecting the way we relate and act upon injustices domestically or internationally? Are we valuing human life in a consistent way? What's the role of media and social media platforms in this post-truth era regarding our empathy towards the pain of Others? An interview with Dr. Paul Slovic & Dr. Scott Slovic, co-editors of the Arithmetic of Compassion and co-editors of the book Numbers and Nerves, on how our brains work and how we measure and value our human relationships. Listen to related episodes: 40. Pauline Stoltz on Transnational Memories & Violent Conflicts in Indonesia 71. Hunger Ward: A Gender Lens Review 76 War Journalism's Effect On Us Recommended links to this episode: The Arithmetic of Compassion Website Numbers and Nerves (Book) Dr. Paul Slovic received his B.A. degree from Stanford University, and his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in psychology from the University of Michigan. In 1976, Dr. Slovic founded the research institute Decision Research with Sarah Lichtenstein and Baruch Fischhoff, where he currently serves as President. He has also been a professor of psychology at the University of Oregon since 1986. He and his colleagues worldwide have developed methods to describe risk perceptions and measure their impacts on individuals, industry, and society. His most recent work examines “psychic numbing” and the failure to respond to global threats from genocide and nuclear war and Covid 19. Dr. Scott Slovic is University Distinguished Professor of Environmental Humanities at the University of Idaho, USA. He lectures and publishes widely in the environmental humanities. His recent co-edited books include Ecocritical Aesthetics: Language, Beauty, and the Environment and The Routledge Handbook of Ecocriticism and Environmental Communication. Much of his current research and teaching focuses on how information is collected, communicated, and received in the contexts of humanitarian and environmental crises.

Saira Shah hosted the first ISF Webinar on RISK, on the 11th of November, 2020. We think of ourselves as rational beings, but the way we perceive risk is rarely rational. When emotions run high, our judgement can go out the window. And as the current pandemic goes to show, there are some things that trigger our fear more than others. This event will investigate the ways we perceive danger and make decisions based on those perceptions. We'll be speaking to thinkers and experts in the field, and participants will get a chance to ask questions. Together, we'll try to understand whether we can get better at evaluating the increasingly complex risks we face. She was joined by: Paul Slovic. Founder and President of Decision Research and Professor of Psychology at the University of Oregon, Paul studies human judgment, decision making, and risk analysis: arithmeticofcompassion.org; www.decisionresearch.org; The Perception of Risk (Risk, Society and Policy): Slovic, Paul. Tali Sharot. Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at UCL, where she directs the Affective Brain Lab. Her research combines Psychology, Behavioral Economics and Neuroscience to reveal the forces that shape our decisions and beliefs: www.affectivebrain.com Tali Sharot (Author of The Optimism Bias) Alice Morrison. A professional adventurer who takes risks for a living. Described as ‘Indiana Jones for girls’, she’s cycled from Cape Town to Cairo, run the Marathon of the Sands and the Everest Trail race and was the first woman to trek the 1500 kilometres of the Draa river in Morocco. She currently lives with an extended Moroccan family in a tiny village in the Atlas Mountains. https://www.alicemorrison.co.uk/ Saira Shah. Author, former reporter with Channel 4 News and a veteran documentary filmmaker whose films have garnered multiple awards, including five Emmys, two BAFTAs and three Royal Television Society awards. In her best-known film, Beneath the Veil (2001), Saira travelled undercover into Afghanistan to document life under the brutal Taliban regime.

What food choices should we be making to try and reduce our carbon footprint? In this episode, Dr Astrid Kause and Professor Wändi Bruine de Bruin discuss their recent study which found that even consumers who are engaged with environmental issues are often ill-informed and don't make the most effective choices when it comes to reducing the climate impact of our food. This podcast episode was recorded in January 2020. If you would like to get in touch regarding this podcast, please contact research.lubs@leeds.ac.uk. About the speakers: Dr Astrid Kause is a Post-doctoral Researcher in the Centre for Decision Research at Leeds University Business School. Her current focus is on human judgements and decisions in the environmental and climate domain. Professor Wändi Bruine de Bruin is Provost Professor of Public Policy, Psychology, and Behavioral Science at the University of Southern California and also a Visiting Professor at Leeds University Business School. Her research aims to understand and inform how, across the life span, people make decisions about their health, their well-being, and their environmental impacts. A transcript of this episode is available at: https://business.leeds.ac.uk/downloads/download/177/podcast_episode_5_-_transcript You can read the journal article this episode is based on here: http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/151209/8/VOR%20Kause_2019_Environ._Res._Lett._14_114005.pdf

From laughter, to emergency evacuations. In this episode, Hannah Preston speaks to Dr Natalie van der Wal to discuss Natalie's two different areas of current research: laughter-induced therapy, and testing communication strategies to save lives in emergency evacuations. This podcast episode was recorded in July 2019. If you would like to get in touch regarding this podcast, please contact research.lubs@leeds.ac.uk.   A transcript of this episode is available at: https://business.leeds.ac.uk/downloads/download/168/podcast_transcript_-_episode_4 About the presenters: Natalie van der Wal is a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Research Fellow at the Centre for Decision Research, Leeds University Business School. Her mission is to improve safety by preventing risky crowd behaviours during emergency situations. Dr van der Wal is specialised in the computational modelling of cognitive and affective processes in groups as well as evidence-based emergency communication research. Her current project - EVACUATION - is funded by the European Commission, through a Marie Sklowdowska-Curie Fellowship. https://cdr.leeds.ac.uk/project-evacuation/ Hannah Preston is a Research Support Officer at Leeds University Business School. She is editor of the School's Research and Innovation Blog, and producer of the Research and Innovation Podcast.

For this special edition episode covering the COVID-19 pandemic, the Present Value team connected with some of Cornell’s top minds to discuss various aspects of the crisis. Dean Andrew Karolyi, Dean Lynn Wooten, Professors Li Chen, Vishal Gaur, and Kaitlin Woolley discuss the impact of COVID-19 on financial markets, crisis leadership, supply chain disruptions and retail operations, as well as personal motivation amidst social distancing. Andrew Karolyi is the Deputy Dean and College Dean for Academic Affairs at the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business. He is a professor of finance and holder of the Harold Bierman Jr. Distinguished Professorship in the College’s Johnson Graduate School of Management. He is also a professor of economics in Cornell's College of Arts and Sciences. Lynn Wooten is the David J Nolan Dean and Professor of Management and Organizations at Cornell University’s Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management. Li Chen is an Associate Professor of Operations, Technology and Information Management at the SC Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University. Vishal Gaur is the Emerson Professor of Manufacturing Management and an Associate Professor of Operations, Technology and Information Management at the SC Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University. Kaitlin Woolley is an Assistant Professor of Marketing and Co-Director of the Center for Behavioral Economics and Decision Research at the SC Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University. Links from the Episode at presentvaluepodcast.com Faculty Profile: Andrew Karolyi Faculty Profile: Lynn Wooten Faculty Profile: Li Chen Faculty Profile: Vishal Gaur Faculty Profile: Kaitlin Woolley Research: A New Approach to Measuring Financial Contagion

In our conversation with Nick Epley, we discover how little we know ourselves, how much less we know other people, and yet how incredibly good we think we are at both. We learn about the power of context in shaping our feelings, the importance of reciprocity, the magic of gratitude, and how all of these play a role in  “designing a good life.”   Nick Epley is a Professor of Behavior Science and Director of the Center for Decision Research at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He teaches an ethics and happiness course to MBA students called “Designing a Good Life” and he studies social cognition to understand why smart people so routinely misunderstand each other.

In our conversation with Nick Epley, we discover how little we know ourselves, how much less we know other people, and yet how incredibly good we think we are at both. We learn about the power of context in shaping our feelings, the importance of reciprocity, the magic of gratitude, and how all of these play a role in  “designing a good life.”   Nick Epley is a Professor of Behavior Science and Director of the Center for Decision Research at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He teaches an ethics and happiness course to MBA students called “Designing a Good Life” and he studies social cognition to understand why smart people so routinely misunderstand each other.

Ben and Jay open a new decade with an improvisational theatre, organizational learning, and human behavior rock star, Kelly Leonard.  Kelly is the Executive Director of Insights and Applied Improvisation at Second City Works, overseeing The Second Science Project with the Center for Decision Research at the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business.  He's the author of the critically acclaimed book “Yes, And”, a multiple TEDx speaker, and host of the podcast “Getting to Yes, And”.  Kelly talks about the connection between improv and innovation, improv and general business skills, improv and behavioral science, improv and caregiving.  You get the idea – the principles of improv are connected deeply to basic principles of functioning better as a human being.Twitter handles:  @KLsecondcity @JayGerhart @TheBenReport Subscribe/listen to "Getting to Yes, And" podcastBuy Kelly's book hereKelly's TEDx Talks:Learning Lesson Through Improv Embracing Your FailuresExploring The Idea of Strategic DiscomfortReferences:Caring Across Generations  @aijenpooSupport the show (https://healthpodcastnetwork.com/)

------------------Support the channel------------ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thedissenter SubscribeStar: https://www.subscribestar.com/the-dissenter PayPal: paypal.me/thedissenter PayPal Subscription 1 Dollar: https://tinyurl.com/yb3acuuy PayPal Subscription 3 Dollars: https://tinyurl.com/ybn6bg9l PayPal Subscription 5 Dollars: https://tinyurl.com/ycmr9gpz PayPal Subscription 10 Dollars: https://tinyurl.com/y9r3fc9m PayPal Subscription 20 Dollars: https://tinyurl.com/y95uvkao ------------------Follow me on--------------------- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thedissenteryt/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheDissenterYT Anchor (podcast): https://anchor.fm/thedissenter Dr. Paul Slovic is a founder and President of Decision Research and Professor of Psychology at the University of Oregon, where he studies human judgment, decision making, and risk analysis. He and his colleagues worldwide have developed methods to describe risk perceptions and measure their impacts on individuals, industry, and society. He publishes extensively and serves as a consultant to industry and government. Dr. Slovic is a past President of the Society for Risk Analysis. He's the recipient of several awards, and he was also elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2015 and the National Academy of Sciences in 2016. In this episode, we discuss decision-making processes in humans, as well as some important biases and heuristics that affect the ways we think. And we also apply this knowledge to how people deal with issues like climate change, medical and environmental problems (like vaccines and OGMs), genocide, nuclear power, and nuclear weapons. We go through a lot of the basics, talking about how biases and heuristics work, slow and fast thinking, and bounded relationality. We then use that to discuss risk perception. Finally, we talk about teaching people about how their minds work, and also the universality (or lack thereof) of these cognitive mechanisms. -- Follow Dr. Slovic's work: The Arithmetic of Compassion: https://bit.ly/2UWKNVV Decision Research: https://bit.ly/2ZG8Yqm Faculty page: https://bit.ly/2Dxh0rQ Researchgate profile: https://bit.ly/2XP7lFF Books on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2L0jUMg -- A HUGE THANK YOU TO MY PATRONS: KARIN LIETZCKE, ANN BLANCHETTE, SCIMED, PER HELGE HAAKSTD LARSEN, LAU GUERREIRO, RUI BELEZA, MIGUEL ESTRADA, ANTÓNIO CUNHA, CHANTEL GELINAS, JIM FRANK, JERRY MULLER, FRANCIS FORD, HANS FREDRIK SUNDE, BRIAN RIVERA, ADRIANO ANDRADE, YEVHEN BODRENKO, SERGIU CODREANU, ADAM BJERRE, ŁUKASZ STAFINIAK, AIRES ALMEIDA, BERNARDO SEIXAS, AND HERBERT GINTIS! A SPECIAL THANKS TO MY PRODUCERS, YZAR WEHBE and ROSEY!

With more and more scientists, students, and protesters calling attention to climate change, why aren't these warnings having a greater impact on our everyday decisions and actions? In this episode we talk with Astrid Kause, Post-Doctoral Researcher with the Centre for Decision Research at the University of Leeds, about how people understand and trust information related to climate change. Specializing in the science of communication, Astrid shares some insights about ways that we can affect this understanding through communication. We discuss some of the key differences between communicating climate risks and others types of risk, and just how difficult it can be to translate this information into something that we can relate to and understand. As we explore different examples of communicating climate risks to inform everyday decision making, we also ask what is the role of the scientific community in supporting the public to take action around climate change.

Thomas Gilovich is the Irene Blecker Rosenfeld Professor of Psychology at Cornell University and co-director of the Cornell Center for Behavioral Economics and Decision Research. He specializes in the study of everyday judgment and reasoning, psychological well-being, and self-assessment. In addition to his articles in scientific journals, Dr. Gilovich is the author of How We Know What Isn’t So (Free Press), Why Smart People Make Big Money Mistakes (Simon and Schuster, with Gary Belsky), Social Psychology (W.W. Norton, with Dacher Keltner, Serena Chen, and Richard Nisbett), and The Wisest One in the Room (The Free Press, with Lee Ross). Dr. Gilovich is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, the Association for Psychological Science, the Society of Experimental Social Psychology, and the Society for Personality and Social Psychology. He received his B.A. in Psychology from the University of California at Santa Barbara and his PhD in Psychology from Stanford University. In this episode we dive into the psychology behind why people are happier when they invest in experiences over material possessions. Being one of 4 principles to live by to advance personal happiness, we focus on things people can simply DECIDE to do today, to make themselves happier.

Kelly Leonard is the Executive Director of Insights and Applied Improvisation at The Second City and Second City Works. His book, “Yes, And: Lessons from The Second City” was released to critical acclaim in 2015 by HarperCollins and was praised by Michael Lewis in Vanity Fair who called it “...an excellent guide to the lessons that have bubbled up in Second City’s improv workshops.” Kelly is a popular speaker on the power of improvisation to transform people’s lives. He has presented at The Aspen Ideas Festival, The Code Conference,TEDx Broadway, Chicago Ideas Festival, The Stanford Graduate School of Business and for companies such as Coca Cola, Microsoft, Memorial Sloan Kettering and DDB Worldwide. Kelly co-created and co-directs a new initiative with the Center for Decision Research at the Booth School at the University of Chicago, The Second Science Project, that looks at behavioral science through the lens of improvisation. He also hosts the podcast, “Getting to Yes, And,” for Second City Works and WGN radio that features interviews with thought leaders such as Simon Sinek, Adam Grant, Gretchen Rubin, Dan Pink and Brene Brown. For over twenty years, Kelly oversaw Second City’s live theatrical divisions where he helped generate original productions with such talent as Tina Fey, Stephen Colbert, Amy Poehler, Seth Meyers, Steve Carell, Keegan Michael Key, Amy Sedaris and others. He lives in Chicago with his wife, Anne Libera and their children Nick and Nora. Twitter: @KLsecondcity

What do Tina Fey, Facebook, Uber, Steve Carell, and Hilton all have in common? Improvisational comedy training. Starting as a dishwasher in 1988, Kelly Leonard is now the Executive Director of Insights and Applied Improvisation at The Second City. It's no wonder that Kelly is a popular speaker on the power of improvisation to transform people’s lives. His book, “Yes, And: Lessons from The Second City” was released to critical acclaim in 2015 by Harper Collins. He has presented at The Aspen Ideas Festival, TEDx Broadway, the Chicago Ideas Festival, The Stanford Graduate School of Business and for companies such as Coca Cola, Microsoft and DDB Worldwide. Kelly co-created and co-directs a new initiative with the Center for Decision Research at the Booth School at the University of Chicago that looks at behavioral science through the lens of improvisation. He also hosts the podcast, “Getting to Yes, And,” for Second City and WGN radio that features interviews with thought leaders such as Adam Grant, Simon Sinek, Angela Duckworth, Gretchen Rubin, Robert Sutton and more. An expert at asking the question, "What if we did it this way," Kelly joins Innovation Crush to talk about their evolution as a business and how improv often leads to the best innovation.

How does pro- and anti-social behavior spread among individuals and groups? What is the role of social coherence among peers in affecting it? Is the combination of punishment and norms always helpful in improving compliance and what are the potential downsides? Dr. Dimant and Director Yokum discuss these questions. About our guest: Eugen Dimant is a postdoctoral researcher in the Philosophy, Politics, and Economics Program and the Behavioral Ethics Lab at the University of Pennsylvania as well as an external fellow of the Centre for Decision Research & Experimental Economics (CeDEx) at the University of Nottingham. Prior to this, Eugen was a Lab Fellow at Harvard University's Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics (under Lawrence Lessig), as well as a visiting researcher at George Mason University's, Interdisciplinary Center for Economic Science(Invitation: Dan Houser) and the Center and Laboratory for Behavioral Operations and Economics (LBOE) at the University of Texas at Dallas.

My guest today is Paul Slovic, a professor of psychology at the University of Oregon and the president of Decision Research. Decision Research is a collection of scientists from all over the nation and in other countries that study decision-making in times when risks are involved. He study the psychology of risk and decision making. Current interests are motivating action to prevent genocides and nuclear war. The topic is his paper Perception of Risk. In this episode of Trend Following Radio we discuss: The psychometric paradigm of risk perception Balancing risk vs. reward The concept of affect heuristics How the media sways the public's risk assessment Fast vs. slow thinking Risk in the context of decision making Jump in! --- I'm MICHAEL COVEL, the host of TREND FOLLOWING RADIO, and I'm proud to have delivered 10+ million podcast listens since 2012. Investments, economics, psychology, politics, decision-making, human behavior, entrepreneurship and trend following are all passionately explored and debated on my show. To start? I'd like to give you a great piece of advice you can use in your life and trading journey… cut your losses! You will find much more about that philosophy here: https://www.trendfollowing.com/trend/ You can watch a free video here: https://www.trendfollowing.com/video/ Can't get enough of this episode? You can choose from my thousand plus episodes here: https://www.trendfollowing.com/podcast My social media platforms: Twitter: @covel Facebook: @trendfollowing LinkedIn: @covel Instagram: @mikecovel Hope you enjoy my never-ending podcast conversation!

This time on Trend Following Radio, Michael Covel talks with Paul Slovic. Paul is president of Decision Research and a professor of psychology at the University of Oregon, and today he talks with Michael about the science behind risk perception. To demonstrate how people tend to conflate actual risk with their perceptions of risk, Michael and Paul discuss a topic that’s always been a hot button issue in the public consciousness, nuclear power. In the early days of this industry, people were rightfully concerned with the possible mismanagement of such a potentially dangerous technology – concerns seemingly crystallized by the partial meltdown at Three Mile Island in 1979. Similar concerns continue to be raised today, particularly in light of the Fukushima disaster of 2011. But as Paul explains, neither of these tragedies can completely outweigh the obvious benefits of nuclear power. It’s a case of risk perception to overcome the actual risk posed. The conversation also focuses on the role of the media in influencing people’s decision-making processes. Why is it, you might ask, that the media spends so much more time pushing negative stories than positive ones? The answer, according to Paul, goes back to biology. It’s a survival mechanism in human beings that we’re affected far more by negative stimuli than positive stimuli. This makes sense when you consider the external dangers we’ve faced in our evolution. So today, we tend to harp on the bad things that happen while ignoring the good. In this episode of Trend Following Radio: The psychometric paradigm of risk perception Balancing risk vs. reward The concept of affect heuristics How the media sways the public’s risk assessment Fast vs. slow thinking Risk in the context of decision making Want a FREE Trend Follоwing DVD? Find it here.

June 13 (Bloomberg) -- Bloomberg View columnist Barry Ritholtz interviews Professor Richard Thaler of University of Chicago Booth School, Thaler is the director of the Center for Decision Research, and is the co-director (with Robert Shiller} of the Behavioral Economics Project at the National Bureau of Economic Research. Thaler has written several books and published a number of articles in prominent journals such as the American Economics Review, his latest book is called Misbehaving. They discuss behavioral economics. This interview aired on Bloomberg Radio.

Today on The Gist, Paul Slovic from Decision Research offers insight into panic psychology. Plus, whiskey sommelier Heather Greene guides Mike through an in-studio tasting: Tullamore Dew, Angel’s Envy, and Brenne. She’s the author of Whiskey Distilled: a Populist Guide to the Water of Life. For the Spiel, is the opera the The Death of Klinghoffer unconscionable slander or a mere trifle? Get The Gist by email as soon as it’s available: slate.com/GistEmail Subscribe to the podcast in iTunes: itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/slate…id873667927?mt=2 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Richard Thaler is renowned for his extremely influential contributions to the emerging field of behavioral economics over the last three decades. He has made it his habit to look for data in unusual places. Here he draws on the behavior of New York City taxi cab drivers, game show participants, and National Football League teams to see what can be learned about human behavior. Thaler is Professor of Behavioral Science and Economics, and Director of the Center for Decision Research, Graduate School of Business, University of Chicago. Series: "UC Berkeley Graduate Lectures" [Public Affairs] [Business] [Show ID: 20380]

Richard Thaler is renowned for his extremely influential contributions to the emerging field of behavioral economics over the last three decades. He has made it his habit to look for data in unusual places. Here he draws on the behavior of New York City taxi cab drivers, game show participants, and National Football League teams to see what can be learned about human behavior. Thaler is Professor of Behavioral Science and Economics, and Director of the Center for Decision Research, Graduate School of Business, University of Chicago. Series: "UC Berkeley Graduate Lectures" [Public Affairs] [Business] [Show ID: 20380]

Stephen Korow explains how Decision Research's newest products interact with users through Excel, rather than proprietary interfaces.