On Wisdom

50: Morality Meets World (with Joshua Greene)

October 9th, 2022  |  57 mins 28 secs

culture, dual process theory, effective altruism, emotions, giving multiplier, happiness, joshua greene, meaning, moral tribes, no cognitive miracles principle, pandemic, philosophy, psychology, purpose, reasoning, social psychology, society, trolley problems, wisdom, wisdom of repugnance, yuck factor

To give to both your favourite charity and a super-effective charity recommended by experts, visit Giving Multiplier:
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Can insights from moral psychology increase donations to more effective charities? Joshua Greene joins Igor and Charles to discuss ventilator allocation and other pandemic-related trolley problems, deep pragmatism, the dual process theory of moral judgement, and the power of the veil of ignorance. Igor gets excited about the role of metacognition for wisdom, Joshua reveals in what contexts we feel more comfortable pushing a fat man off a bridge, and Charles learns that when it comes to unfamiliar moral problems, we should not expect cognitive miracles! Welcome to Episode 50.

To give to both your favourite charity and a super-effective charity recommended by experts, visit Giving Multiplier:
https://givingmultiplier.org/invite/ONWISDOM

49: Wise Goals (with Ayelet Fishbach)

August 31st, 2022  |  47 mins 44 secs

assessment, ayelet fishbach, culture, emotions, goals, habits, happiness, meaning, philosophy, psychology, purpose, reasoning, self-regulation, social psychology, society, wendy wood, wisdom

What does goal-setting have to do with wisdom and how do we pick wise goals? Ayelet Fishbach joins Igor and Charles to discuss the dangers of moving too swiftly from planning-mode to action-mode, how to compromise across multiple goals, and why we need to rethink our relationships with vegetables! Igor underscores the importance of thinking of wisdom as a process rather than an outcome, Ayelet encourages us to change our situation rather than ourselves, and Charles learns the benefits of approaching a choice as if you’d make it 100 times. Welcome to Episode 49.

46: Antifragility, Gut Feelings, and the Myth of Pure Evil (with Jonathan Haidt) - Rebroadcast

June 27th, 2022  |  58 mins 20 secs

antifragility, authoritarian conservatives, buddhism, chris martin, culture, dale carnegie, donald trump, edmund burke, emotions, evergreen state college, greg lukianoff, happiness, heraclitus, heterodox academy, jonathan haidt, karen stenner, laissez-faire conservatives, manichaeism, marcus aurelius, meaning, middlebury college, moral foundations theory, more in common, narrowcasting, nassim nicholas taleb, national review magazine, nicholas rosenkranz, philosophy, polarization, psychology, purpose, reasoning, richard schweder, robert putnam, ronald reagan, social psychology, social science, society, status quo conservatives, stoicism, the coddling of the american mind, the great awokening, the happiness hypothesis, the perception gap, the righteous mind, thomas sowell, well being, wisdom

(First Broadcast - 4th November 2019)

Does that which doesn’t kill you make you weaker? Should we always follow our emotions? Is life a battle between good people and bad people? And critically, what might the adoption of these three popular, but unwise, ideas be doing to a rising generation of young adults? Jonathan Haidt joins Igor and Charles to discuss the three great untruths of modern life, the nature of antifragility, the 'great awokening,' rising violence on US university campuses, and the origin story of the Heterodox Academy. Igor suggests that diversity can help some projects while hindering others, Jon shares his ultimate conflict-resolving ninja skill, and Charles learns that conservative voters come in radically different shapes and sizes.

44: A Special Announcement

May 24th, 2022  |  1 min 48 secs

culture, emotions, happiness, meaning, philosophy, psychology, purpose, reasoning, social psychology, society, wisdom

Igor and Charles return with a special announcement for On Wisdom listeners ...

43: Invisible to Ourselves: A Life of a Psychological Scientist (with Richard Nisbett)

December 4th, 2021  |  1 hr 11 mins

actor-observer bias, amos tversky, analytic perception, culture, daniel kahneman, emotions, happiness, holistic perception, intelligence, iq, job interviews, lee ross, meaning, mental processes, philosophy, psychology, purpose, reasoning, richard nisbett, social psychology, society, wisdom

A disturbing thought - might it be impossible for us to directly observe the workings of our minds? Richard Nisbett joins Igor and Charles to discuss a life lived on the cutting edge of behavioral sciences in the second part of the 20th Century. He shares tales from his groundbreaking research into our faulty mindware, discussing various biases, cultural differences in cognitive processes, our inability to directly observe our mental processes, and why job interviews are not only unhelpful but potentially harmful to our ability to hire the best person for the job. Igor is keen to learn about the human beings behind some of the 20th Century’s academic idols in social psychology like Daniel Kahneman, Amos Tversky and Lee Ross, Richard explains why important work and interesting work are not necessarily the same thing, and Charles struggles to make sense of when we do and don’t intervene to help strangers in peril. Welcome to Episode 43.

42: Reflections on Wisdom in the World after Covid

October 23rd, 2021  |  37 mins 36 secs

acknowledge uncertainty, agency, anand menon, authoritarianism, autobiographical memory, barry schwartz, bipartisanship, care for elders, career disruptions, compassion, connectedness, control, coronavirus, covid-19, critical thinking, cultural change, despair, economic hardship, educational inequality, follow rules, forecast, gratitude, hope, improved communication, intellectual humility, intimate relation, irrationality, loneliness, long-term orientation, michael bond, mistrust, nature, nicholas christakis, optimism, patience, perspective-taking, pessimism, political conflict, political cooperation, political engagement, predictions, prosocial behavior, resilience, science interest, self-distancing, shared humanity, social awareness, social inequality, social support, society, solidarity, structural change, sympathy, togetherness, trust, wac2020, wisdom, work-life balance, worldaftercovid

On Wisdom dissects the latest research emerging from the field of wisdom research and discusses what it might mean for each of us and for society in terms of reasoning and living more wisely in the 21st Century.

41: Wisdom for Negative Consequences (Pt. I) - Social Support, Sympathy & Compassion, Acknowledging Uncertainty, and Balancing Diverse Interests

October 4th, 2021  |  35 mins 14 secs

acknowledge uncertainty, agency, authoritarianism, autobiographical memory, barbara fredrickson, bipartisanship, care for elders, career disruptions, compassion, connectedness, control, coronavirus, covid-19, critical thinking, cultural change, despair, dilip jeste, economic hardship, educational inequality, follow rules, forecast, gratitude, hope, improved communication, intellectual humility, intimate relation, irrationality, katie mclaughlin, loneliness, long-term orientation, mistrust, nature, optimism, patience, perspective-taking, pessimism, political conflict, political cooperation, political engagement, predictions, prosocial behavior, resilience, science interest, self-distancing, shared humanity, social awareness, social inequality, social support, society, solidarity, structural change, sympathy, togetherness, trust, valerie tiberius, wac2020, wisdom, work-life balance, worldaftercovid

On Wisdom dissects the latest research emerging from the field of wisdom research and discusses what it might mean for each of us and for society in terms of reasoning and living more wisely in the 21st Century.

40: World After Covid series: Negative Consequences (Part II) - Autobiographical Memory, Estrangement, Political Conflict, and Prejudice

August 4th, 2021  |  38 mins 14 secs

acknowledge uncertainty, agency, authoritarianism, autobiographical memory, bipartisanship, care for elders, career disruptions, compassion, connectedness, control, coronavirus, covid-19, critical thinking, cultural change, david rooney, despair, douglas kenrick, economic hardship, educational inequality, follow rules, forecast, gratitude, hope, improved communication, intellectual humility, intimate relation, irrationality, jeffrey zacks, loneliness, long-term orientation, mistrust, nature, optimism, patience, paula niedenthal, perspective-taking, pessimism, political conflict, political cooperation, political engagement, predictions, prosocial behavior, resilience, science interest, self-distancing, shared humanity, social awareness, social inequality, social support, society, solidarity, structural change, sympathy, togetherness, trust, wac2020, wisdom, work-life balance, worldaftercovid

On Wisdom dissects the latest research emerging from the field of wisdom research and discusses what it might mean for each of us and for society in terms of reasoning and living more wisely in the 21st Century.

39: World After Covid series: Negative Consequences (Part I) - Social Inequality, Loneliness, Economic Hardships, and Despair

July 11th, 2021  |  30 mins 30 secs

acknowledge uncertainty, agency, authoritarianism, autobiographical memory, azim shariff, bipartisanship, care for elders, career disruptions, compassion, connectedness, control, coronavirus, covid-19, critical thinking, cultural change, despair, economic hardship, educational inequality, follow rules, forecast, gratitude, hope, improved communication, intellectual humility, intimate relation, irrationality, loneliness, long-term orientation, mistrust, nature, nicholas christakis, optimism, patience, perspective-taking, pessimism, political conflict, political cooperation, political engagement, predictions, prosocial behavior, resilience, roy baumeister, science interest, self-distancing, shared humanity, social awareness, social inequality, social support, society, solidarity, structural change, sympathy, togetherness, trust, veronica benet martinez, wac2020, wisdom, work-life balance, worldaftercovid

On Wisdom dissects the latest research emerging from the field of wisdom research and discusses what it might mean for each of us and for society in terms of reasoning and living more wisely in the 21st Century.

38: World After Covid series: Wisdom for Positive Consequences (Pt. II) - Critical Thinking, Intellectual Humility, Political Cooperation, and Solidarity

June 30th, 2021  |  43 mins 12 secs

acknowledge uncertainty, agency, authoritarianism, autobiographical memory, bipartisanship, care for elders, career disruptions, compassion, connectedness, control, coronavirus, covid-19, critical thinking, cultural change, david dunning, david passig, despair, economic hardship, educational inequality, follow rules, forecast, gratitude, hope, improved communication, intellectual humility, intimate relation, irrationality, jennifer lerner, loneliness, long-term orientation, mark schaller, mistrust, nature, optimism, patience, perspective-taking, pessimism, political conflict, political cooperation, political engagement, predictions, prosocial behavior, resilience, science interest, self-distancing, shared humanity, social awareness, social inequality, social support, society, solidarity, structural change, sympathy, togetherness, trust, wac2020, wisdom, work-life balance, worldaftercovid

On Wisdom dissects the latest research emerging from the field of wisdom research and discusses what it might mean for each of us and for society in terms of reasoning and living more wisely in the 21st Century.