182: Paul Bloom on The Joy of Suffering and the Downside of Empathy
The Psychology Podcast with Scott Barry Kaufman
Release Date: 01/16/2020
206: Chloé Valdary on Love & Race
The Psychology Podcast with Scott Barry Kaufman
Today it is great to have Chloé Valdary on the podcast. After spending a year as a Bartley Fellow at the Wall Street Journal, Chloe developed the Theory of Enchantment, an innovative framework for socioemotional learning, character development and interpersonal growth that uses pop culture as an educational tool in the classroom and beyond.
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205: Robert Sutton on Good Leaders vs. Bad Leaders
The Psychology Podcast with Scott Barry Kaufman
Today it’s great to have Robert Sutton on the podcast. Sutton is Professor of Management Science and Engineering and Professor of Organizational Behavior by courtesy at Stanford. He co-founded the Stanford Technology Ventures Program (STVP) and the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design which everyone calls the d.school. Sutton received his PhD in Organizational Psychology from the University of Michigan and has served on the Stanford faculty since 1983.
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204: Chip Conley on Wisdom, Midlife, and Peak Experience
The Psychology Podcast with Scott Barry Kaufman
Today it's great to have Chip Conley on the podcast. Chip is a New York Times best-selling author who helped Airbnb's founders turn their fast-growing tech start-up into a global hospitality brand. In his book Wisdom at Work: The Making of a Modern Elder, he shares his unexpected journey at midlife, from CEO to intern, learning about technology as Airbnb's Head of Global Hospitality and Strategy, while also mentoring CEO Brian Chesky.
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203: Creating a Living Masterpiece with Michael Gervais
The Psychology Podcast with Scott Barry Kaufman
Today it’s great to have Dr. Michael Gervais on the podcast. Dr. Gervais is a world-renowned high-performance psychologist and industry visionary. Over the course of 20 years, working with world leading performers, Dr. Gervais has developed a psychological framework that allows people to thrive in pressure packed environments.
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202: Uncancellable with Katie Herzog and Jesse Singal
The Psychology Podcast with Scott Barry Kaufman
Today it’s great to have Katie Herzog and Jesse Singal on the podcast. Together, Herzog and Signal co-host the Blocked and Reported Podcast.
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201: Keeping it Real with Ayishat Akanbi
The Psychology Podcast with Scott Barry Kaufman
I’m really excited to have Ayishat Akanbi on the podcast today. Ayishat is a writer and fashion stylist based in London. Personal reflection has guided her approach of reminding us of our commonalities instead of our differences. Not just for social awareness but also self-awareness, Ayishat resists the black and white thinking that can lead to divisive socio-political discourse and is comfortable “in the grey”.
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200: Richard Haier on the Nature of Human Intelligence
The Psychology Podcast with Scott Barry Kaufman
Today it’s great to have Dr. Richard Haier on the podcast. Dr. Haier is Professor Emeritus in the School of Medicine at the University of California, Irvine. His research investigates structural and functional neuroanatomy of intelligence using neuroimaging.
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199: How Politics Became Our Identity with Lilliana Mason
The Psychology Podcast with Scott Barry Kaufman
Today it’s great to have the political psychologist Lilianna Mason on the podcast. Dr. Mason is associate professor of Government and Politics at the University of Maryland, College Park, and author of Uncivil Agreement: How Politics Became Our Identity.
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198: Geoffrey Miller on Signaling, Mating, and Morality
The Psychology Podcast with Scott Barry Kaufman
In this episode, I talk with Geoffrey Miller, an American evolutionary psychologist, researcher, and author about elements of evolutionary psychology such as virtue signaling, altruism, sexual selection, and their role in the evolution of human nature.
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197: From Learned Helplessness to Learned Hopefulness with Martin Seligman
The Psychology Podcast with Scott Barry Kaufman
Today it’s great to have Dr. Martin Seligman on the podcast. Dr. Seligman is a leading authority in the fields of positive psychology, resilience, learned helplessness, depression, optimism, and pessimism.
info_outlineToday it's great to have Paul Bloom on the podcast. Dr. Bloom is the Brooks and Suzanne Ragen Professor of Psychology and Cognitive Science at Yale University. His research explores how children and adults understand the physical and social world, with special focus on morality, religion, fiction, and art. He is past-president of the Society for Philosophy and Psychology, and co-editor of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, one of the major journals in the field. Dr. Bloom is also author or editor of seven books, including Against Empathy: The Case for Rational Compassion
In this wide-ranging and provocative episode we discuss:
- Paul's graduate research with Steven Pinker
- Is language the result of biological evolution or cultural evolution?
- What "hardwired" really means
- Why innate mechanisms require environmental input
- The necessity of bias
- Some potential downsides of empathy
- The case for rational compassion
- Cognitive empathy vs. affective empathy
- Did Hitler have the capacity for empathy?
- The joy of suffering
- Why do we choose to suffer?
- The fundamental human need for exploration
- The human need to overcome challenges
- Would some people be content watching Netflix and smoking pot all day?
- The relationship between income and happiness
- The importance of spending money well
- The psychology of expectation and pleasure
- If someone offer you more money, should you take it?
- Relief vs. pleasure
- Does enjoying something depend on how much we think we will enjoy something?
- Art and authenticity
- Art and value judgements
- Would Tarzan believe in God?
- Are babies basically good?
- Why religion is so pervasive
- Are babies moral?
- How a powerful moral sense is responsible for an extraordinary amount of evil in the world
- Is moral grandstanding always bad?
- Why not everything is virtue signaling