How Did You Get Interested in Psychology?

5min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

i became interested in psychology largely because my brother howard is severely artistic. I really admire people who could work with thosewth disabilities and problems, and i'm not actually one of them,. So i lookd ak ibenloking t origins morality in babies and young children as research. And over many years, i've been interested in mysterious pleasures like a soi it's not a huge puzzle why we like good food and sex and being around those we love and being respected. The details are fastening to work out, but it's not such a mystery why, through natural selection, we have these appetites.

We go to movies that make us cry, or scream, or gag. We poke at sores, eat spicy foods, immerse ourselves in hot baths, run marathons. Some of us even seek out pain and humiliation in sexual role-play. Why do we so often seek out physical pain and emotional turmoil? Where do these seemingly perverse appetites come from? In his latest book, The Sweet Spot: The Pleasures of Suffering and the Search for Meaning, Bloom aims to understand how people find meaning in their lives, and, moreover, to explore what he calls, “the sweet spot” — the proper balance between pleasure and suffering. As one of the world’s leading psychologists, drawing on groundbreaking findings from psychology and brain science, Bloom shows how the right kind of suffering sets the stage for enhanced pleasure.