Berkeley Talks How do we make better decisions? (revisiting)
Dec 26, 2025
Join Linda Wilbrecht, a psychology and neuroscience expert on adolescent development; Marika Landau-Wells, a political science specialist on threat perception; Wes Holliday, a philosophy scholar on voting methods; and Nobel laureate Saul Perlmutter, known for his work in physics, as they explore decision-making across fields. Wilbrecht reveals how adolescents excel in uncertain situations. Landau-Wells discusses the complex effects of threat perception on policy. Holliday advocates ranked voting for better outcomes, while Perlmutter emphasizes teaching critical thinking in science.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
Adolescents Thrive In Uncertainty
- Adolescents learn especially well in uncertain, volatile environments.
- Linda Wilbrecht found teens sometimes outperform children and adults when outcomes are uncertain.
Safety Cues Reshape Threat Learning
- Safety cues change how threats are learned by altering dopamine signaling in the amygdala.
- This mechanistic finding explains when threat learning generalizes versus stays specific.
Threat Framing Drives Policy Choices
- Perceived threat type shapes national security choices and policy priorities.
- Marika Landau-Wells shows different threat framings (ideology, existential bombing, contamination) produce different strategies.