Podcast appearances and mentions of Michael I Norton

You can't relax on a free evening because rest isn't the default state you fall back into once demands stop — it's an active shift your nervous system has to make, and years of staying switched on can wear down your ability to make it. Add a quiet belief that rest has to be earned, and even the time you do have starts to feel like something you need to justify. In this episode, Brett Ingram breaks down why your body treats "on" as its baseline, walks through two studies on just how uncomfortable stillness really is for most people, and gives you a single 60-second practice for rebuilding the capacity to come down. What You'll Learn in This Episode Why rest isn't the default you return to when demands stop — it's an active nervous system shift, and shifts are skills that can go rusty How years of staying "switched on" trains your body to treat activation, not calm, as its resting baseline The quiet belief — rest has to be earned — that turns downtime into something you feel guilty taking What the University of Virginia "shock" study reveals about how uncomfortable most people find sitting alone with their own thoughts Why people who believe leisure is wasteful enjoy it less, even while they're doing it Three honest questions to ask yourself the moment you notice you can't settle The 60-second daily practice for rebuilding your capacity to rest — no meditation app required Episode Timestamps [00:00] Cold open — the free evening you can't relax into [01:00] Introduction — what optYOUmize means by real optimization [02:00] Naming the pattern — why this isn't a willpower problem [04:00] The two nervous system modes: activation and recovery [06:00] The belief that rest has to be earned [09:00] Study one — the electric shock experiment [11:00] Study two — why "wasteful" leisure doesn't land [13:00] Three questions to ask when you can't settle [17:00] The 60-second practice [18:00] Closing reflection and the Ferris Bueller line Episode Summary Most advice about rest starts from the wrong assumption: that if you clear your calendar, calm will fill the space automatically. Brett Ingram spends this episode dismantling that assumption, starting with a scene a lot of listeners will recognize — a cleared evening, nothing owed to anyone, and a low hum of restlessness that shows up anyway. The episode opens by ruling out the obvious explanation. This isn't a willpower problem, and telling someone to "try harder to relax" is a contradiction most people have already tested and failed on a vacation somewhere. The real explanation, Brett argues, is that rest is not the resting state you assume it is. It's an active shift the nervous system has to make between two modes: an activated mode that gets you through deadlines and demands, and a restorative mode that actually repairs and recovers. A healthy life moves between them — [the rhythm between activation and recovery] — but years spent mostly in the activated mode teach your body to treat "on" as the default, not the exception. When the demands finally stop, the system doesn't glide down. It idles high, because high is the only setting it remembers well. That's the physical layer. The second layer is the story people carry about what rest means. Brett names a quiet equation most of us absorbed without ever agreeing to it: rest is what you get after — after the list is done, after you've earned it. "Rest is not a reward for completion," he says, "and in modern life, completion never actually arrives." The list refills. The inbox regenerates overnight. If rest has to be earned first, it never comes, and any rest taken early starts to feel like something stolen. Two pieces of research anchor the episode and take it well past personal anecdote. The first comes from a set of studies led by psychologist Timothy Wilson at the University of Virginia, published in Science in 2014. Participants were left alone in a plain room for six to fifteen minutes with nothing to do but think — no phone, no task. Given the option to press a button that delivered a mild electric shock they'd already said they'd pay to avoid, about two-thirds of men and a quarter of women pressed it anyway rather than sit with their own thoughts. One man pressed it 190 times. The takeaway isn't that something is wrong with you if reaching for your phone in the first ninety seconds of quiet feels compulsive — it's one of the more universal human reflexes there is. The second study, led by Gabriela Tonietto and Selin Malkoc and published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology in 2021, found that people who believe leisure is fundamentally wasteful enjoy their leisure less — even while they're doing it — and that the same belief correlates with lower reported happiness and higher stress, anxiety, and depression. Put the two studies together and the picture sharpens: a nervous system trained to stay up, a mind that finds stillness genuinely uncomfortable, and a belief that rest isn't worth taking even when it's available. Brett's answer isn't another system to optimize. It's three questions to run when you notice you can't settle — am I resting or just less stimulated, what kind of tired am I, and what's the smallest amount of nothing I can tolerate — followed by a practice deliberately built to be too small to fail: once a day, take sixty seconds of time you'd normally fill and simply don't fill it. Not thirty minutes. Sixty seconds. The goal, as he puts it, "is not to be excellent at resting. The goal is to let some of your life be unoptimized on purpose." Resources Mentioned "Just Think: The Challenges of the Disengaged Mind" — Timothy Wilson et al., Science, 2014 — the study on people choosing electric shocks over sitting alone with their thoughts — Read the study "Viewing Leisure as Wasteful Undermines Enjoyment" — Gabriela Tonietto, Selin A. Malkoc, Rebecca Walker Reczek, and Michael I. Norton, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 2021 — Read the study Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986) — Referenced for the closing line: "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." Frequently Asked Questions Why can't I relax even when I finally have free time? Because rest isn't the default state your body returns to when demands stop — it's an active shift the nervous system has to make, and that shift is a skill. If you've spent years mostly in an activated, switched-on mode, your body starts treating that as baseline, so when the pressure lifts, your system keeps idling high instead of settling down. Is feeling restless during downtime a sign of anxiety? Not necessarily. Low-level restlessness when demands stop is a common, well-documented pattern, not a diagnosis. If the inability to switch off is constant, heavy, or accompanied by dread, that's worth discussing with a professional — but for most people it's simply a nervous system and belief system that adapted to years of low-grade activation. Why do I feel guilty when I'm not being productive? Many people absorb an unspoken rule that rest has to be earned — through completing tasks, being useful, or "deserving" a break. Because that list never actually finishes, rest taken before it's "earned" can feel like theft, which shows up as guilt on an otherwise free evening. What's the difference between resting and just being less stimulated? Scrolling, half-watching a show, or refreshing the news lowers stimulation but doesn't shift your body into genuine recovery — it just distracts. Brett's test: after the activity, do you feel more like yourself, or just less wound up? Genuine rest passes that test; numbing doesn't. What was the study about people choosing electric shocks over sitting quietly? In a set of 2014 studies led by psychologist Timothy Wilson at the University of Virginia, participants left alone with nothing to do for six to fifteen minutes were given the option to shock themselves. About two-thirds of men and a quarter of women chose the shock rather than sit with their own thoughts — evidence of just how uncomfortable undirected stillness is for most people. How do I actually start practicing rest if it feels uncomfortable? Start absurdly small. Once a day, take sixty seconds of time you'd normally fill — the wait for coffee, the first minute in the car — and simply don't fill it. The discomfort in that first minute isn't a sign it's not working; it's the sensation of a rusty capacity being used again. Keep Exploring If this episode resonated, these are worth your time: Time Rhythm & Rest Pillar — A full guide to building a sustainable rhythm between effort and recovery → [INSERT PILLAR URL] Why We Sleep Wrong — And What It's Costing You Beyond Tiredness — Goes deeper on the biology of recovery and why cutting it short costs more than tiredness → [INSERT LINK] The Optimization Paradox: Why More Doesn't Mean Better — Explores why turning every part of life into something to improve can backfire — including rest itself → [INSERT LINK] Enjoyed This Episode? The best way to support optYOUmize is to subscribe and leave a review — it takes about two minutes and makes a real difference in helping more people find the show. Apple Podcasts · Spotify · Amazon Music · YouTube Leave a Review →

If you enjoy this episode, we're sure you will enjoy more content like this on The Occult Rejects.  In fact, we have curated playlists on occult topics like grimoires, esoteric concepts and phenomena, occult history, analyzing true crime and cults with an occult lens, Para politics, and occultism in music. Whether you enjoy consuming your content visually or via audio, we've got you covered - and it will always be provided free of charge.  So, if you enjoy what we do and want to support our work of providing accessible, free content on various platforms, please consider making a donation to the links provided below.  Thank you and enjoy the episode!Links For The Occult Rejectshttps://linktr.ee/theoccultrejectsOccult Research Institutehttps://www.occultresearchinstitute.org/Substackhttps://substack.com/@theoccultrejects?r=7auau0&utm_campaign=profile&utm_medium=profile-pageCash Apphttps://cash.app/$theoccultrejectsVenmo@TheOccultRejectsBuy Me A Coffeebuymeacoffee.com/TheOccultRejectsPatreonhttps://www.patreon.com/TheOccultRejectsBibliographyCore Eye Anatomy, Retina, Optic Nerve, and Visual PathwaysBelliveau, A. P., & Somani, A. N. “Pupillary Light Reflex.” StatPearls. 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McGaugh. “Mechanisms of Emotional Arousal and Lasting Declarative Memory.” Trends in Neurosciences 21, no. 7, 1998: 294–299.McGaugh, James L. “Memory—A Century of Consolidation.” Science 287, no. 5451, 2000: 248–251.McGaugh, James L. “The Amygdala Modulates the Consolidation of Memories of Emotionally Arousing Experiences.” Annual Review of Neuroscience 27, 2004: 1–28.Seligman, Rebecca, and Laurence J. Kirmayer. “Dissociative Experience and Cultural Neuroscience: Narrative, Metaphor and Mechanism.” Culture, Medicine, and Psychiatry 32, 2008: 31–64.Seligman, Rebecca, Ryan A. Brown, and Laurence J. Kirmayer. “Theory and Method at the Intersection of Anthropology and Cultural Neuroscience.” Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience 5, no. 2–3, 2010: 130–139.Whitehouse, Harvey. Arguments and Icons: Divergent Modes of Religiosity. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.Whitehouse, Harvey. Modes of Religiosity: A Cognitive Theory of Religious Transmission. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press, 2004.Ritual, Synchrony, Social Bonding, and Embodied MeaningHobson, Nicholas M., Juliana Schroeder, Jane L. Risen, Dimitris Xygalatas, and Michael I. Norton. “The Psychology of Rituals: An Integrative Review and Process-Based Framework.” Personality and Social Psychology Review 22, no. 3, 2018: 260–284.Jackson, Joshua Conrad, Brock Bastian, and others. “Synchrony and Physiological Arousal Increase Cohesion and Cooperation in Large Naturalistic Groups.” Scientific Reports 8, 2018.McCauley, Robert N., and E. Thomas Lawson. Bringing Ritual to Mind: Psychological Foundations of Cultural Forms. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002.Rappaport, Roy A. Ritual and Religion in the Making of Humanity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999.Turner, Victor. The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-Structure. Chicago: Aldine, 1969.Xygalatas, Dimitris. Ritual: How Seemingly Senseless Acts Make Life Worth Living. New York: Little, Brown Spark, 2022.Xygalatas, Dimitris, et al. “Extreme Rituals Promote Prosociality.” Psychological Science 24, no. 8, 2013: 1602–1605.Meditation, Prayer, Trance, and AbsorptionFox, Kieran C. R., Matthew L. Dixon, Savannah Nijeboer, et al. “Functional Neuroanatomy of Meditation: A Review and Meta-Analysis of 78 Functional Neuroimaging Investigations.” Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews 65, 2016: 208–228.Jerath, Ravinder, John W. Crawford, Vernon A. Barnes, and Kyler Harden. “Self-Regulation of Breathing as a Primary Treatment for Anxiety.” Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback 40, 2015: 107–115.Lutz, Antoine, John D. Dunne, and Richard J. Davidson. “Meditation and the Neuroscience of Consciousness.” In The Cambridge Handbook of Consciousness, edited by Philip David Zelazo, Morris Moscovitch, and Evan Thompson. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007.Tellegen, Auke, and Gilbert Atkinson. “Openness to Absorbing and Self-Altering Experiences (‘Absorption'), a Trait Related to Hypnotic Susceptibility.” Journal of Abnormal Psychology 83, no. 3, 1974: 268–277.Vago, David R., and David A. Silbersweig. “Self-Awareness, Self-Regulation, and Self-Transcendence: A Framework for Understanding the Neurobiological Mechanisms of Mindfulness.” Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 6, 2012.Darkness, Sensory Deprivation, Ganzfeld, and Visual InstabilityCaputo, Giovanni B. “Strange-Face-in-the-Mirror Illusion.” Perception 39, no. 7, 2010: 1007–1008.Caputo, Giovanni B. “Visual Perception During Mirror-Gazing at One's Own Face in Patients with Depression.” The Scientific World Journal, 2014.Caputo, Giovanni B. “Strange-Face Illusions During Eye-to-Eye Gazing in Dyads.” Imagination, Cognition and Personality 38, no. 1, 2018: 51–77.Metzger, Wolfgang. “Optische Untersuchungen am Ganzfeld.” Psychologische Forschung 13, 1930: 6–29.Shenyan, O., et al. “Visual Hallucinations Induced by Ganzflicker and Ganzfeld Differ in Frequency, Complexity, and Content.” Scientific Reports 14, 2024.Wackermann, Jiří, Peter Pütz, and Carsten Allefeld. “Ganzfeld-Induced Hallucinatory Experience, Its Phenomenology and Cerebral Electrophysiology.” Cortex 44, no. 10, 2008: 1364–1378.Zuckerman, Marvin, and Nathan Cohen. “Sources of Reports of Visual and Auditory Sensations in Perceptual-Isolation Experiments.” Psychological Bulletin 61, no. 1, 19Also want to remind people about the website, if you're into reading we have tons of information by multiple contributors, and we got t-shirts up on the site if you're interested. Fun fact, the art is all based on the eyeball. 

When you think of Alun Wyn Jones, you probably think of leadership, loyalty, and a rugby career built on sheer will. But behind the caps, the tackles, and the intensity, there's a habit that mattered more than any stat: He built what he believed in, and he protected it like it was his.In this episode, we go beyond the legend to explore the mindset that made Alun Wyn Jones not just a great player, but a builder of culture. We talk about the IKEA Effect, the psychological principle that says we value what we build, and how Alun embodied that every day, through effort, not ego.We explore:Why working hard is more than grit, it's a form of ownershipHow investing in yourself changes the way you show upWhat true leadership looks like when no one's watchingWhy buy-in is earned through action, not talkThe hidden cost of letting others build for youWhether you're trying to lead better, show up stronger, or build something that matters, this episode is for you. Because high performance isn't about flashy moments. It's about building something worth fighting for.Listen to the full episode with Alun Wyn Jones: https://pod.fo/e/2b6885Here is more information on the studies referenced: The IKEA Effect (Michael I. Norton, Daniel Mochon, Dan Ariely 2012)

A while back, we asked you to share your money struggles, and we heard from many of you! In today's episode, we booked a session with financial therapist Megan McCoy to answer your burning financial questions — everything from navigating financial differences among friends and talking to an avoidant partner about money plans, to making big career decisions and learning how to curb spending. As promised, here are some of the research studies and articles discussed in this episode: “Spending Money on Others Promotes Happiness,” by Elizabeth W. Dunn, Lara B. Aknin, and Michael I. Norton, as well as Dunn’s TED Talk on the same topic “If Money Doesn’t Make You Happy Then You Probably Aren’t Spending It Right,” by Elizabeth W. Dunn “Heads or Tails: The impact of a coin toss on major life decisions and subsequent happiness,” by Steven D. Levitt “Harvard Study of Adult Development” and an awesome TED Talk by Robert Waldinger, the project’s director Take the Klontz Money Script test to measure your core money beliefs. If you liked this episode, share it with a friend. And to get even more Uncomfortable, subscribe to our newsletter!

A while back, we asked you to share your money struggles, and we heard from many of you! In today's episode, we booked a session with financial therapist Megan McCoy to answer your burning financial questions — everything from navigating financial differences among friends and talking to an avoidant partner about money plans, to making big career decisions and learning how to curb spending. As promised, here are some of the research studies and articles discussed in this episode: “Spending Money on Others Promotes Happiness,” by Elizabeth W. Dunn, Lara B. Aknin, and Michael I. Norton, as well as Dunn’s TED Talk on the same topic “If Money Doesn’t Make You Happy Then You Probably Aren’t Spending It Right,” by Elizabeth W. Dunn “Heads or Tails: The impact of a coin toss on major life decisions and subsequent happiness,” by Steven D. Levitt “Harvard Study of Adult Development” and an awesome TED Talk by Robert Waldinger, the project’s director If you liked this episode, share it with a friend. And to get even more Uncomfortable, subscribe to our newsletter!

A while back, we asked you to share your money struggles, and we heard from many of you! In today's episode, we booked a session with financial therapist Megan McCoy to answer your burning financial questions — everything from navigating financial differences among friends and talking to an avoidant partner about money plans, to making big career decisions and learning how to curb spending. As promised, here are some of the research studies and articles discussed in this episode: “Spending Money on Others Promotes Happiness,” by Elizabeth W. Dunn, Lara B. Aknin, and Michael I. Norton, as well as Dunn’s TED Talk on the same topic “If Money Doesn’t Make You Happy Then You Probably Aren’t Spending It Right,” by Elizabeth W. Dunn “Heads or Tails: The impact of a coin toss on major life decisions and subsequent happiness,” by Steven D. Levitt “Harvard Study of Adult Development” and an awesome TED Talk by Robert Waldinger, the project’s director If you liked this episode, share it with a friend. And to get even more Uncomfortable, subscribe to our newsletter!

Numerous organizations, including courts, are embracing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.  With that increasing acceptance, we are also seeing increasing resistance, and it is important to address that resistance directly.  On the December episode we discussed the question “can hiring criteria, particularly for managers and supervisors, be objective?”  This month we are going to explore the growing question “Is Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion a Zero-Sum Proposition for White employees?” Michael Norton from Harvard University, and Samuel Summers from Tufts University, surveyed 417 citizens on their conception of racism in America.[1]  Several of their conclusions are worth noting:   · Overall anti-Black bias has been declining over the years. · White responses perceived that anti-Black bias has been declining at a rate even faster than that shown in responses from the group overall. · Black respondents perceived anti-White bias is almost non-existent. · White respondents perceive that anti-White bias has been growing since the year 2000. · Whites now see anti-White racism is a bigger problem than anti-Black bias, and · Anti-White racism is seen as a zero-sum condition.   This is encapsulated in a quote by ex-U.S. Senator and ex-U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions who said: “Empathy for one party is always prejudice against another.”   Today's Panelists   Stacy Fields who is the Court Administrator for the Municipal Court in Crestwood, Missouri. Stacey has worked in the judiciary for 12 years. She has been a member of NACM for 5 years and serves on the Conference Development Committee. She also serves as Vice President of the Metropolitan St. Louis Association for Court Administration (MSLACA) and on the board of the Missouri Association for Court Administration as Professional Development Director. Zenell Brown who is Executive Court Administrator for the 3rd Circuit Court in Detroit, Michigan. As a Court Administrator, Zenell has garnered respect for her ethical leadership and innovation. She has built her approach on three pillars: communication, leadership responsibility and accountability, and diversity and inclusion. She has shared her “Justice for All” leadership and organizational wisdom at local, state, and national level conferences for court managers and teams. Zenell continues to add to her current credentials of Juris Doctor (Wayne State University Law School), Public Service Administration Graduate Certificate (Central Michigan University), Court Administration Certificate (Michigan State University), and Certified Diversity Professional (National Diversity Council-Diversity First).      Kristie Collier -Tucker who is Court Administrator and Clerk of Court for the Municipal Court in Union City, Georgia. Kristie is responsible for all court operations, including the implementation of policies and procedures of the Court Services department. Union City Municipal Court is a high-volume court, holding more than 20 sessions per month including specialty dockets such as a Under 21 Court, a docket that focuses on defendants who are under 21 at the time of the violation. This docket is an effort to reduce recidivism and improve driver awareness. The court utilizes alternative sentencing principles in all court activities by establishing partnerships with other programs. Kristie received a Bachelor of Arts in Early Childhood Education from South Carolina State University, an ABA approved Paralegal Certificate and Bachelor of Science in Administrative Management from Clayton State University and a MBA with a Human Resources Concentration from Ashford University. [1] Michael I. Norton & Samuel R. Sommers, “White See Race as a Zero-Sum Game that They are Now Losing,” Association of Psychological Science, 2011.

Para que servem os impostos? Quando surgiu a ideia de criar os Impostos? Existirão sistemas tributários perfeitos?‘A segunda profissão mais antiga do mundo deve ser a de cobrador de impostos', diz Hugo van der Ding. E a economista Joana Pais vai aproveitar para falar da História dos Impostos ao longos dos tempos. Acredite ou não, essa viagem passa por lareiras, janelas e problemas de saúde à conta disso; e depois, a Joana faz uma viragem em direção àqueles que ‘até' gostam de pagar impostos por causa da confiança que têm em quem os rodeia (não apenas nos governantes), às diferentes complexidades dos sistemas tributários chegando, imagine só, aos impostos mais ‘bonzinhos' como os que taxam o vício. Um episódio divertido sobre Impostos? É possível. Para o comprovar, venha ouvir.REFERÊNCIAS E LINKS ÚTEIS:Dados sobre carga fiscal e outras medidas:Taxing Wages 2022 Impact of COVID-19 on the Tax Wage in OECD Countries (2022). OCDE.Taxing High Incomes. A comparison of 41 countries (2019). European Policy Information Center (Epicenter).European Values Survey Efeitos dos impostos:Oates, Wallace E., and Robert M. Schwab (2015). The Window Tax: A Case Study in Excess Burden. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 29 (1): 163-80.Diamond P e E Saez (2011). The Case for a Progressive Tax: From Basic Research to Policy Recommendations. Journal of Economic Perspectives 25(4): 165-90.Mankiw, N. Gregory, Matthew Charles Weinzierl, and Danny Ferris Yagan (2009). Optimal taxation in theory and practice. Journal of Economic Perspectives 23(4): 147-174. Impostos na Escandinávia:Kleven, Henrik Jacobsen. 2014. How Can Scandinavians Tax So Much? Journal of Economic Perspectives,28 (4): 77-98.Europa vs. EUA:A Alesina , E Glaeser e B Sacerdote (2001).  Why Doesn't the United States Have a European-Style Welfare State? Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, 2001, No. 2.Benabou, Roland and Tirole, Jean (2005).Belief in a Just World and Redistributive Politics, National Bureau of Economic Research, Working Paper 11208.Complexidade:People systematically overlook subtractive changes (2021). Adams, G. S., Converse, B. A., Hales, A. H. & Klotz, L. E. Nature 592, 258–261 (2021).Impostos sobre o açúcar:Christopher Conlon Nirupama L. Rao Yinan Wang (2021). WHO PAYS SIN TAXES? UNDERSTANDING THE OVERLAPPING BURDENS OF CORRECTIVE TAXES. NBERGonçalves, J., & Pereira dos Santos, J. (2020). Brown sugar, how come you taste so good? The impact of a soda tax on prices and consumption. Social Science & Medicine, 264, [113332]. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.113332 Questões comportamentais:Cait Lamberton, Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, and Michael I. Norton (2014). Eliciting Taxpayer Preferences Increases Tax Compliance. Harvard Business School. Working Paper 14-106.Li, Sherry Xin and Eckel, Catherine C. and Grossman, Philip J. and Larson, Tara (2013). Who's in Charge? Donor Targeting Enhances Voluntary Giving to Government. BIOS JOANA PAISJoana Pais é professora de Economia no ISEG da Universidade de Lisboa. Obteve o seu Ph.D. em Economia na Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona em 2005. Atualmente é coordenadora do programa de Mestrado em Economia e do programa de Doutoramento em Economia, ambos do ISEG, e membro da direção da unidade de investigação REM - Research in Economics and Mathematics. É ainda coordenadora do 

"If we keep doing what we've always done - we can't expect brilliance to appear." In the 3rd episode of our brand new mini-series 'Fun and Wellbeing,' My co-host, Dr. Mike Rucker and I geek out about whether work can be fun. Feeling like you have control of your time and have enough time each day is a predictor of happiness. It's known as 'time affluence.' When we have the autonomy to choose the activities we spend our time on - at work and at home - our happiness quotient increases. In this conversation we explore: How taking time for fun and pleasure promotes productivity. The difference between 'algorithmic work' and 'knowledge work' and why we need to make the rules of the work game clear. What counts as work and some quick and easy tips on how to change your mindset about it in order to encourage creativity. Do prescribed 'fun' activities at work, work? How to reframe our thoughts, reclaim autonomy, and look for opportunities that invigorate to have more fun. Why protecting and reclaiming your time are key activities for increasing your fun quotient. Join the discussion by sharing your thoughts via the Spotify Q&A feature! This week's point to ponder: Do you have fun with your work tasks? Tell us about it! Resources mentioned in this episode: How to Thrive: Optimism and Creating Jolts of Joy John Cleese on Creativity in Management - You Tube Time Poverty & Time Affluence Having Too Little or Too Much Time is Linked to Lower Subjective Well-BeingSharif, Marissa, Cassie Mogilner, and Hal Hershfield (2021), Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Giving Time Gives You TimeMogilner, Cassie, Zoë Chance, and Michael I. Norton (2012), "Giving Time Gives You Time," Psychological Science Time Will Tell: The Distant Appeal of Promotion and Imminent Appeal of PreventionMogilner, Cassie, Jennifer L. Aaker, and Ginger L. Pennington (2008), “Time Will Tell: The Distant Appeal of Promotion and Imminent Appeal of Prevention,” Journal of Consumer Research What Do Happy People Do?Robinson, J.P., Martin, S. What Do Happy People Do?. Soc Indic Res 89, 565–571 (2008). Ready for calm after the chaos? Join Ellen's new mini online program "

We're used to the rituals of athletes such as tennis player Nadal, who places his hair behind his ear, pulls his nose and adjusts his shorts while bouncing the ball before every point.  People have accused him of using this as a way to break the momentum of his opponents. But Nadal says that these routines are for his psychological benefits. And the research would suggest that this is true, for many of us, not just athletes. Rituals give us a sense of control when we're facing uncertainty. Research by Harvard psychologists Francesca Gino and Michael I. Norton suggest that engaging in rituals mitigates grief caused by both life-changing losses (e.g. such as the death of a loved one) through to the more mundane ones (e.g. losing a lottery).For more from us follow these links: My book Defining You - How to Build Your Unique Personal Profile and Unlock Your True Potential can be found at via these links and in all good book stores:https://bit.ly/DefiningYou2ndEdhttps://amzn.to/2lFMwOrIf you are curious about who you are, your brain and the influences in your life then please dip into my more recent book  Mirror Thinking – How Role Models Make Us Human. https://bit.ly/MirrThinkhttps://bit.ly/MirrorUSACanhttps://bit.ly/2ylrc7H Connect with us/ask us any questions on:Instagram:www.instagram.com/fiona_murdenTwitter:https://twitter.com/fionamurdenFacebook:https://facebook.com/fionamurdenOr for LouInstagram:www.instagram.com/loupylou78Twitter:https://twitter.com/louisejones78 Read more about Why Rituals Workhttps://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-rituals-work/  

We look at three studies on money and happiness to find out when money can buy happiness and when it doesn't. Find the graphs mentioned in the full article by Michael Plant & Julian Hazell: https://www.givingwhatwecan.org/post/2021/06/can-money-buy-happiness-a-review-of-new-data/ Watch the video on our YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/JLfKZCzkBDs  00:00 - Introduction 00:48 - Kahneman and Deaton study 01:18 - Killingsworth study 03:00 - Killingsworth reformatted 04:40 - Are you spending money right? 05:38 - Spending money on others 06:30 - Conclusion STUDIES MENTIONED: - Daniel Kahneman and Angus Deaton (2010): https://www.princeton.edu/~deaton/downloads/deaton_kahneman_high_income_improves_evaluation_August2010.pdf - Matthew A. Killingsworth (2021): https://www.pnas.org/content/118/4/e2016976118 - Elizabeth W. Dunn, Daniel T. Gilbert, Timothy D. Wilson (2010): https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/danielgilbert/files/if-money-doesnt-make-you-happy.nov-12-20101.pdf - Elizabeth W. Dunn, Lara B. Aknin, Michael I. Norton (2008): https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18356530/

Paul talks with Michael who has a kitchen design just a little too tight. Or as Paul says “ten pounds of sausage in an eight pound wrapper.” Paul also talks about The IKEA Effect which is a common psychological delusion that all kitchen designers must face daily from their customers. For those curious: The IKEA effect was identified and named by Michael I. Norton of Harvard Business School, Daniel Mochon of Yale, and Dan Ariely of Duke, who published the results of three studies in 2011. In these studies, researchers found that consumers valued their own work product far above what would be considered reasonable or rational. For example, the majority of people attempting origami for the first time irrationally rated their own creations above those of origami masters.

In this installment of a series on liberalism, Benjamin Klutsey, the director of academic outreach at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, sits down with Juliana Schroeder to discuss the psychology underlying how trust and distrust are generated as well as practical ways to better facilitate productive interactions, even across severe cultural, ideological, or other divides. Dr. Schroeder is a professor in the Management of Organizations group at the Haas School of Business and a faculty affiliate in the Social Psychology Department, the Cognition Department, and the Center for Human-Compatible AI at UC Berkeley. She also co-founded and directs the Psychology of Technology Institute, which supports and advances scientific research studying the psychological consequences and antecedents of technological advancements. Her research examines the psychological processes underlying how people think about the minds of those around them, and how their judgments then influence their social judgments, decisions, and interactions. She has received funding from the National Science Foundation and awards from the Association for Psychological Science and the American Psychological Association. Want more? Check out Discourse Magazine for more pieces on classical liberalism, politics, economics, and culture. Resources Shannon White, Juliana Schroeder, and Jane L. Risen, When Enemies become Close, https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5c171ac1710699e060ed3d94/t/5f6a300a0c80ed485d74a75b/1600794637679/White%2C+Schroeder%2C+%26+Risen+2020+JPSP.pdf Juliana Schroeder and Jane L. Risen, Befriending the enemy: Outgroup friendship longitudinally predicts intergroup attitudes in a coexistence program for Israelis and Palestinians, https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5c171ac1710699e060ed3d94/t/5c7b0015b208fcd4071df492/1551564822844/befriending-the-enemy.pdf Seeds of Peace, https://www.seedsofpeace.org/ Braver Angels, https://braverangels.org/ Living Room Conversations, https://livingroomconversations.org/ Psychology of Technology Institute, https://www.psychoftech.org/ Juliana Schroeder, Michael Kardas, and Nicholas Epley, The Humanizing Voice: Speech Reveals, and Text Conceals, a More Thoughtful Mind in the Midst of Disagreement, https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5c171ac1710699e060ed3d94/t/5c7aff6ae4966b9aba01f4d6/1551564652086/the-humanizing-voice.pdf Alicea Lieberman and Juliana Schroeder, Two social lives: How differences between online and offline interaction influence social outcomes, https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5c171ac1710699e060ed3d94/t/5d5acd294a8ef600016e778a/1566231850150/TwoSocialLives_LiebermanSchroeder.pdf Jamie E. Guillory PhD Jeffrey T. Hancock PhD Christopher Woodruff MD, FRCPC, and Jeffrey Keilman MD, Text Messaging Reduces Analgesic Requirements During Surgery, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/pme.12610 The Flipside, https://www.theflipside.io/ The Factual, https://www.thefactual.com/ All Sides, https://www.allsides.com/unbiased-balanced-news Daniel H. Stein, Juliana Schroeder, Nicholas M. Hobson, Francesca Gino, and Michael I. Norton, When Alterations Are Violations: Moral Outrage and Punishment in Response to (Even Minor) Alterations to Rituals, https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5c171ac1710699e060ed3d94/t/5fda6b470917ce2aa86a82d8/1608149834372/When+alterations+are+violations+-+proofs.pdf Juliana Schroeder, Jane L. Risen, Francesca Gino, and Michael I. Norton, Handshaking Promotes Deal-Making by Signaling Cooperative Intent, https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5c171ac1710699e060ed3d94/t/5c7aff16e2c4834c1a2bee7c/1551564567399/handshaking-promotes-deal-making-by-signaling-cooperative-intent.pdf James A. Coan, Hillary S. Schaefer, Richard J. Davidson, Lending a Hand: Social Regulation of the Neural Response to Threat, https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2006.01832.x Robert Talisse, Too Much of a Good Thing, https://www.discoursemagazine.com/politics/2020/11/06/too-much-of-a-good-thing/ Danielle Allen, A Matter of Trust, https://www.discoursemagazine.com/culture-and-society/2020/12/04/a-matter-of-trust/

Hardware stores and home improvement shows often promote do-it-yourself projects. And while it’s challenging to make your own projects look as good as the ones on TV or in glossy brochures, building something yourself can be a very rewarding experience. The trouble is, the DIY approach can sometimes cloud your perceptions of the value of your project.In this episode of Choiceology with Katy Milkman, we look at how putting personal effort into something—be it a hand-knit scarf, a new deck, or even a small business—can lead people to overestimate the value of that effort.Michael Ojo is a web developer and pilot influencer. He runs a popular YouTube channel called MojoGrip, where he shares his love of aviation. It’s also where he documented a project near and dear to him: the building of his first kit airplane, the Sling TSI. You’ll hear the story of Michael’s epic project. Everything from the steep learning curve, to the technical challenges, to the trials and tribulations of building a complicated piece of machinery in the midst of a pandemic. And then, the big question: will it fly?Next, Mike Norton joins Katy to discuss the science behind why people tend to place a higher value on their own projects, using research that, among other experiments, observed volunteers as they completed simple origami projects and then had them auctioned off against origami made by an expert. The results were surprising, and quite charming, as you’ll hear from our re-enactment of the experiment.Michael I. Norton is the Harold M. Brierley Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School and co-author of the book Happy Money: The Science of Smarter Spending.Finally, Katy discusses the ways in which you can leverage this effect to boost happiness and satisfaction, while avoiding the pitfalls of overvaluing your own handiwork.Choiceology with Katy Milkman is an original podcast from Charles Schwab. For more on the series, visit schwab.com/podcast.If you enjoy the show, please leave a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating or review on Apple Podcasts.Important Disclosures:All expressions of opinion are subject to change without notice in reaction to shifting market conditions.The comments, views, and opinions expressed in the presentation are those of the speakers and do not necessarily represent the views of Charles Schwab.Data contained herein from third-party providers is obtained from what are considered reliable sources. However, its accuracy, completeness or reliability cannot be guaranteed.All corporate names are for illustrative purposes only and are not a recommendation, offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy any security.Investing involves risk, including loss of principal. (0321-1YAM)

The coronavirus is keeping us from experiencing some of the deepest and most meaningful rituals of our lives, from graduations to weddings to funerals. What is this doing to us psychologically? How important are rituals to our mental health and well-being? Dr. Michael I. Norton, a professor of business administration at the Harvard Business School, talks about the many rituals he has studied and their roles within our lives. Episode Links APA COVID-19 Information and Resources Michael I. Norton, PhD

The way you spend your money can actually make you happier! So prove Mike Norton and co-author, Elizabeth Dunn, in the book, Happy Money: The Science of Smarter Spending.   Michael I. Norton is the Harold M. Brierley Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School, and a member of Harvard’s Behavioral Insights Group. He holds a B.A. in Psychology and English from Williams College and a Ph.D. in Psychology from Princeton University. In other words, he’s crazy smart.  Find out more about Mike here: https://michaelnorton.com/ Tell Paul he’s funny here: http://paulollinger.com

Akin and Dan are joined by a guest in this episode to discuss the IKEA effect - the phenomena that causes individuals to overvalue self-made products. Their guest is Bruce Daisley, author of 'The Joy of Work: And 25 Ways to Find It' and host of 'Eat Sleep Work Repeat', a Apple #1 Business Podcast on happiness and work culture. We hope you enjoy! - Research Paper: 'The IKEA effect: When labor leads to love' by Michael I. Norton, Daniel Mochon & Dan Ariely

This week Brian talks to Michael I. Norton, co-author of the book Happy Money: The Science of Smarter Spending, about why Mike says changing how we spend our money makes us happier.

The Harvard Business School associate professor of business administration sits down to discuss improving your online dating experience through virtual dates. Michael I. Norton also explains to Ask the Cyber-Dating Expert’s Julie Spira how such dates can make for better real-life matches.His work has been featured in media outlets such as the Economist, Financial Times, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post. Call in at 646-929-0012 at 2pm/ET, 11am/PT for dating advice and to learn more about dating, love and romance in a Web 2.0 World.

The Harvard Business School associate professor of business administration sits down to discuss improving your online dating experience through virtual dates. Michael I. Norton also explains to Ask the Cyber-Dating Expert’s Julie Spira how such dates can make for better real-life matches.His work has been featured in media outlets such as the Economist, Financial Times, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post. Call in at 646-929-0012 at 2pm/ET, 11am/PT for dating advice and to learn more about dating, love and romance in a Web 2.0 World.