The Empathy Gym
Psychologist Jamil Zaki argues that empathy isn’t a fixed trait. This week: how to exercise our empathy muscles.
Hidden Brain
The Cowboy Philosopher
In 2009, an old man died in a California nursing home. His obituary included not just his given name, but a long list of the pseudonyms he’d been known to use. In this episode, which we originally released in 2019, we trace the life of Riley Shepard, a hillbilly musician, writer, small-time con man and, perhaps, a genius.
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Radical Acceptance
Last week, we looked at the hidden beliefs that can leave us feeling stuck in life. This week, in the second part of our conversation with behavioral scientist Dave Evans, we talk about radical acceptance. Dave shares why accepting reality as it is can be so difficult — and why it’s an essential first step in
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Designing a Life that Matters
We tell ourselves that meaning comes from impact, passion, or finding the “one right path.” But these beliefs can leave us feeling stuck — even when our lives look perfectly fine on paper. Behavioral scientist Dave Evans describes a new approach, borrowed from design thinking, to help us build lives that feel more alive, flexible, and real.
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Do You Feel Loved?
What’s the difference between being loved and feeling loved?
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How to Change the World
Does power truly flow from the barrel of a gun? Political scientist Erica Chenoweth, who studied more than 100 years of revolutions and insurrections, says the answer is counterintuitive.
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The Debt Trap
We like to think that good financial decisions come down to discipline and basic math. But the psychology of money turns out to be deeply complicated.
When It’s Okay to Lie
Should you tell a harsh truth if it will only cause pain? Or is it sometimes kinder to keep someone in the dark?
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Group Think
How do the groups you identify with shape your sense of self? Do they influence the beer you buy? The way you vote? In this favorite episode from 2021, psychologist Jay Van Bavel explains how our group loyalties affect us more than we realize, and can even shape our basic senses of sight, taste and smell. Then,
Rethinking Depression
We tend to see depression as an illness to eliminate, evidence that something has gone wrong in the brain. But what if low mood serves a purpose?
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