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Modern Life Numbs You. Here’s The Neuroscience Of Waking Up | Tali Sharot

Sep 9, 2024

Tali Sharot, a cognitive neuroscience professor at University College London and MIT, dives into the phenomenon of habituation and its effects on our joy and relationships. She discusses the brain's response to constant stimuli and how breaking routines can rekindle excitement in life. Sharot emphasizes the relationship between creativity and slower habituation while warning against emotional numbing in societal issues like dishonesty. She offers strategies to disrupt this trend, advocating for varied experiences and mindful interactions to enhance emotional awareness.

49:35

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Tali Sharot

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Quick takeaways

Habituation leads to diminished emotional responses to both positive and negative stimuli, affecting our joy and societal awareness.

Implementing variety in daily routines and taking breaks can disrupt habituation, restoring excitement and enhancing personal development.

Dishonesty habituates similarly to emotions; recognizing and addressing even minor deceit can prevent the escalation of dishonest behavior.

Deep dives

Understanding Habituation

Habituation is described as our tendency to gradually respond less to stimuli that are constant or frequent in our lives. This phenomenon can affect how we perceive both positive and negative experiences, leading to a diminished emotional response over time. For example, one may initially feel joy from a new car but eventually revert to baseline happiness shortly after acquiring it. The downside is that habituation can result in individuals becoming desensitized to negative social issues, such as sexism or racism, making it harder to recognize and address these problems that persist in society.

Embrace Variety to Spark Joy and Meaning

02:16

Embrace Change to Enhance Growth and Resilience

03:02

Embrace Change for Creativity

01:20

Consume Content Mindfully, Not Just Frequently

03:08

Intro

5min

Understanding Habituation: The Science of Diminished Response

2min

The Power of Change: Breaking Habituation

19min

The Connection Between Habituation and Creativity

6min

Navigating Attraction and Truth in Relationships

14min

Understanding Lies and Societal Desensitization

8min

Embracing Variety: The Science of Disengagement and Re-engagement

2min

Acknowledgments and Promotions of Related Content

2min

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It’s so easy, especially these days, to numb out. To get bored. To move through life on autopilot. There is even a scientific term for this: habituation.

Today we’re talking to a researcher who co-authored a new book about the neuroscience of habit and how to wake up again. To make things exciting. Or as she says, to “re-sparkle”.

Tali Sharot is a professor of cognitive neuroscience at University College London and MIT. She’s written several books including The Optimism Bias and The Influential Mind. Her latest, co-written with Cass Sunstein, is called Look Again: The Power of Noticing What Was Always There.

In this episode we talk about:

What habituation is and what’s going on in the brain when it happens
How it negatively impacts the joy we feel in life – and inversely – how it can make us stop noticing the bad stuff
Key strategies for disrupting habituation and introducing change and variety into your life
The interesting relationship between creativity and people who habituate slowly
How habituation impacts our relationships
Why it’s important to break up the good experiences, but swallow the bad whole.
How to wake up from a “technologically induced coma”
How people emotionally habituate to dishonesty and lying
And lastly, we talk about the dangers of habituating to a slow, incremental rise in tyranny – and how dis-habituation entrepreneurs can help

Related Episodes:

#345 How to Change Your Habits | Katy Milkman

How Turning Habits Into Rituals Can Help You At Home, At Work, And When You’re Anxious | Michael Norton

Making and Breaking Habits, Sanely | Kelly McGonigal

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