On Wisdom

48: A Joyous Journey from Black-and-White to Grey (with Tom Gilovich)

August 1st, 2022  |  48 mins 26 secs

amos tversky, basketball, bias blind spot, black and white thinking, cosmic insignificance, critical thinking, daniel kahneman, emotions, george loewenstein, happiness, hot hand effect, i-frame, less ross, meaning, nick chater, nudges, oliver burkeman, philosophy, psychology, purpose, reasoning, richard nisbett, s-frame, social science, spotlight effect, tom gilovich, well being, wisdom

Is "the spectrum" a more helpful way to think about the world than "categories"? Tom Gilovich joins Igor and Charles to discuss the perils of black-and-white thinking, the evolving data on the hot hand phenomenon, the science of regret, why foxes are wiser than hedgehogs, and the freedom that comes from learning that we are of less interest to other people than we think. Igor considers the limits of psychological nudging in tackling society’s structural problems, Tom shares the perspective that leads him to be so unrelentingly joyful, and Charles learns that even scientists have to work hard to avoid being typecast. Welcome to Episode 48.

47: Charting Pandemic Waters: A Common Wisdom Model for Uncertain Times (with Howard Nusbaum) - Rebroadcast

July 20th, 2022  |  1 hr 2 mins

adversity, alfred binet, artificial intelligence, balance of self- and other-oriented interests, candace vogler, centre for practical wisdom, common wisdom model, cortex-adaptability, dialectal thinking, emotions, epistemic humility, happiness, howard nusbaum, iq, jingle-jangle fallacy, keith stanovich, meaning, metacognition, moral-grounding, nancy snow, perspectival insight, perspectivism, philosophy, propositional logic, psychology, purpose, pursuit of truth, reasoning, shared humanity, social science, social-cognitive processing, toronto wisdom task force, university of chicago, valerie tiberius, value-action gap, values, well being, wisdom, wisdom measurement

(First Broadcast - 21st June 2020)

What is the value of wisdom in the time of the global pandemic? Does the community of behavioural scientists studying wisdom agree on anything about the nature of wisdom? Can we say what we now know about wisdom and, conversely, what do we know we don’t yet know? Howard Nusbaum joins Igor and Charles to discuss the recently assembled Toronto Wisdom Task Force and the resulting Common Wisdom Model, meta-cognition, the thorny issue of moral-grounding, and sage advice regarding how to measure wisdom in the lab. Igor stresses the importance of building solid theoretical foundations for the field in the context of the pandemic, Howard reflects on the viability of evil wisdom, and Charles learns that we had better pay close attention today to the values we program into the decision-making robots of tomorrow.

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.

45: Wisdom at Work (with Barry Schwartz) - Rebroadcast

June 7th, 2022  |  59 mins 20 secs

aristotle, barry schwartz, character, feedback, free-rider, freelancers, idea technology, incentives, money, practical wisdom, rules, salary, virtue ethics, wisdom, work, workplace

(First Broadcast - 28th December 2018)

Can we design our workplaces to generate wiser behaviour? Why do we work anyway, and would we still work if we didn’t get paid? Do employers even want their employees to develop wisdom? Barry Schwartz joins Igor and Charles to discuss how Aristotle’s Practical Wisdom applies in the 21st Century, the reasons why we work, idea technology, the unintended consequences of rules-based systems, and the moral dangers and limits of incentives. Igor proposes the idea of algorithm-based wise machines, Barry suggests companies hire for character rather than skill, and Charles learns why, in wiser work places, the cost of free-riders may well be a price worth paying.

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.