Your Brain On Climate

Yes you probably WOULD walk by on the other side, wouldn't you, and don't say you wouldn't, because you would.  Alas, a trio of brain wirings add up to the so-called Bystander Effect: our tendency to stand in a crowd of people watching someone flail in a canal, hoping it's not us that has to get our frock wet to jump in and save them.  In this episode Dave learns all about the Bystander Effect with Dr Gerdien de Vries from TU Delft. What is it? Why is it? And can working out what'll make us jump in the canal, make us more likely not to stand by and watch the world burn?  Check out Gerdien's excellent climate psychology talk here. Owl noises: -- 05:47: the sad story of Kitty Genovese and why as Gerdien says, it's not entirely right. -- 09:59: you really should know what cognitive dissonance is by now, but if not here's a primer from the always excellent folks at the Decision Lab. Your Brain on Climate is a podcast about human psychology vs the climate crisis: what we think, why we think it, and how it all adds up to a planet-sized emergency.  Contact the show:  @brainclimate on Twitter, or hello@yourbrainonclimate.com. Support the show on Patreon: www.patreon.com/yourbrainonclimate. The show is hosted by me, Dave Powell, who you can find @powellds on Twitter.  Original music by me, and I twiddle all the production knobs too. Show logo by Arthur Stovell at www.designbymondial.com.   

Time travel! No not like Marty McFly, but in our heads.  Backwards via memories, albeit imperfectly. And forwards, to make plans for the future and think about all the ways they could go wrong and then make new plans and then etc.  Foresight is profoundly human and completely innate to your brain: just try and sit still with your thoughts for a bit, and you'll see how often you think about what comes next.  Without foresight, no skyscrapers, art, podcasts or health service. No anything we call home, really. But also no climate crisis.  Because it turns out that just like our memories, our ability to see and guard against bad things in the future is distinctly imperfect - cf, the global pandemic - and that's got us into a whole heap of trouble.  What's to be done? Joining Dave to talk all things foresight is Dr Adam Bulley. He's a cognitive scientist and one-third of the authors of The Invention of Tomorrow: A Natural History of Foresight. Follow Adam on Twitter @adamdbulley.Owl noises: -- 06:41: A great New Yorker article about Elizabeth Loftus's pioneering work on memory.-- 12:54: More about the patient who was scared of shaking hands. -- 35:22: Hyberbolic discounting, via the superb crew at Decision Lab. -- 40:23: Hal Hershfield says you make better decisions if you see your older self. -- 42:37: An extract from Tali Sharot's book, The Optimism Bias. -- 47:31: The book is Premonition, by Michael Lewis, and here's a review. Your Brain on Climate is a podcast about human psychology vs the climate crisis: what we think, why we think it, and how it all adds up to a planet-sized emergency.  Contact the show:  @brainclimate on Twitter, or hello@yourbrainonclimate.com. Support the show on Patreon: www.patreon.com/yourbrainonclimate. The show is hosted by me, Dave Powell, who you can find @powellds on Twitter.  Original music by me, and I twiddle all the production knobs too. Show logo by Arthur Stovell at www.designbymondial.com.   

All I need to say to you is "Your Brain on Climate is a lovely cake of a podcast" and you'll drool and tell all your friends to subscribe immediately.  Or something. No look: our brains LOVE metaphors. We think in stories and our brains like making connections between different ideas to make sense of the world - particularly things we can't always touch and feel, like climate change.  Metaphors can constrain, divert or unlock our creativity, so we'd better get smart about the metaphors we use.  Because rest assured, there are some very clever metaphor-wangers out there. Joining Dave this week is Simon Lancaster, political speechwriter and author of the essential book Connect!.  He tells Dave all about the brain chemistry at work behind a compelling metaphor, and why the wiliest storytellers can use metaphor to have us for Brexit. Sorry, breakfast. You can find Simon @bespokespeeches on Twitter, or via his website here. Owl noises: -- 11:18 - here's what Wikipedia has to say about neurons firing together / wiring together. -- 22:45 - brace yourself, it's that Brexit Party rally from Newport. -- 33.24 - interesting exploration of the bystander effect and climate change. -- 47:50 - Paul Zak, the vampire neuroscientist, and why you shouldn't let him into your bedroom. Your Brain on Climate is a podcast about human psychology vs the climate crisis: what we think, why we think it, and how it all adds up to a planet-sized emergency.  Contact the show:  @brainclimate on Twitter, or hello@yourbrainonclimate.com. Support the show on Patreon: www.patreon.com/yourbrainonclimate. The show is hosted by me, Dave Powell, who you can find @powellds on Twitter.  Original music by me, and I twiddle all the production knobs too. Show logo by Arthur Stovell at www.designbymondial.com.   

We play when we're kids to try new things and learn how the world works, and when we think no-one's looking we do it as adults too. Play's  important for our development and so you should probably do it or you'll turn out a wrong'un. But Dave's guest today says play is also a way to smash the Very Serious Rules of how to think about climate change - rules the following of which demonstrably are not working.  If play = creativity, and creativity = necessary, is it time to lark about more in the name of saving the planet? Joining Dave this episode is Lucy Hawthorne. She's a creativity facilitator who uses Lego - yes, Lego - to teach adults a thing or two about how to think sideways about climate change and what to do about it. She even sent some in the post to Dave.  Find Lucy at Catalysts Club and Climate Play.  Owl noise: Find out more about Stuart Brown's eight categories of play.Your Brain on Climate is a podcast about human psychology vs the climate crisis: what we think, why we think it, and how it all adds up to a planet-sized emergency.  Contact the show:  @brainclimate on Twitter, or hello@yourbrainonclimate.com. Support the show on Patreon: www.patreon.com/yourbrainonclimate. The show is hosted by me, Dave Powell, who you can find @powellds on Twitter.  Original music by me, and I twiddle all the production knobs too. Show logo by Arthur Stovell at www.designbymondial.com.   

Right then. Everything you perceive - including what climate change is to you -  is a construction of your brain.  And your brain is winging it.  That's the reality of human consciousness, and everything I thought it was is completely wrong. So how do our brains perceive things, like buses? Are there even buses? (Yes, there are buses.) Have our conscious noggins evolved enough to cope with the reality of climate change?   If not, er - can they, sharpish? And can the very fact that there even is consciousness guide how we might think about protecting life itself? Stand by for more 'Dave is patiently corrected by a genius' moments than usual, as I'm joined by Professor Anil Seth - cognitive neuroscientist, philosopher, and all-round wise and lovely chap. Anil's bestselling book, Being You, explains all about what consciousness is - what it is, how it works, and how it makes us perceive the world.  Find Anil on Twitter @anilkseth. Extra reading as highlighted by the owl noises: -- 19:42: Jakob von Uexküll and his idea of 'umwelt' - every animal inhabits a world of its own. -- 19:59: Ed Yong's book, 'An Immense World'. -- 24:30: Check out Anil's Perception Census. Check it out now. Do it. -- 40:30: Stroboscopically induced visual hallucinations? Yes please. Your Brain on Climate is a podcast about human psychology vs the climate crisis: what we think, why we think it, and how it all adds up to a planet-sized emergency.  Contact the show:  @brainclimate on Twitter, or hello@yourbrainonclimate.com. Support the show on Patreon: www.patreon.com/yourbrainonclimate. The show is hosted by me, Dave Powell, who you can find @powellds on Twitter.  Original music by me, and I twiddle all the production knobs too. Show logo by Arthur Stovell at www.designbymondial.com.   

We love it when someone gets what's coming to them - whether it's an individual we know personally and dislike, someone from a group we hate, or someone we just generally think is a wrong'un. That's schadenfreude - literally, "joy damage". Grubby, wonderful feeling. But what does schadenfreude do for us, psychologically? Is it a good and useful thing or a harmful thing? And can it be harnessed - or should it be feared - when trying to do something about the climate crisis? Joining Dave this episode is Dr Aaron Balick - pyschotherapist, author, academic and all round nice chap. He specialises in applying psychological phenomena to everyday life. You can follow him on twitter @DrAaronB.  Extra reading as highlighted by the owl noises: -- 06:03: A YouTube explainer, involving icebergs, of Freud's ideas about the ego, id, and super-ego. -- 19:41: More on Freud's ideas about projection and  transference. Your Brain on Climate is a podcast about human psychology vs the climate crisis: what we think, why we think it, and how it all adds up to a planet-sized emergency.  Contact the show:  @brainclimate on Twitter, or hello@yourbrainonclimate.com. The show is hosted by Dave Powell, who you can find @powellds on Twitter.  All original music throughout the show and audio production is by Dave, because he's far too much of a control freak to let anyone else loose on it. Show logo by Arthur Stovell at www.designbymondial.com.   

When things get scary, we like hero(+ine)s. We kind of automatically create them - like there was always a hero-shaped hole in our stories that was just waiting for someone to pop into. Why? Are we really hardwired to look for heroes? Do they all wear capes? And for something as complex and fiddly and *wibbles hands expansively in the air* as climate change, is it a good or a bad thing that we cast Greta, David Attenborough and whoever comes next as a climate hero?  Do we need new types of heroes? Or maybe none at all? Joining Dave this week is Al Kennedy, expert in superheroes as a thing, and a deep thinker on how and why  hero stories work. You can follow him on twitter @housetoastonish.  Extra reading as highlighted by the owl noises: -- 13:57: Scott Allison and George Goethals define 'hero', actually at a bit more length than I suggest in the show, oh well.  -- 21.51: Massive at the time, but you may be too young to remember what an Inconvenient Truth was. -- 23:03: Severn Cullis-Suzuki addresses the world at the Rio Summit in 1992. -- 33:33: I appear as a guest on Al's splendid Desert Island Discworld podcast. Your Brain on Climate is a podcast about human psychology vs the climate crisis: what we think, why we think it, and how it all adds up to a planet-sized emergency.  Contact the show:  @brainclimate on Twitter, or hello@yourbrainonclimate.com. The show is hosted by Dave Powell, who you can find @powellds on Twitter.  All music throughout the show and audio production is by Dave, because he's far too much of a control freak to let anyone else loose on it. Show logo by Arthur Stovell at www.designbymondial.com.   

What disgusts you? For starters, I bet, other people's oozings, or rotten meat, or other such things that hint at the Unclean. But you might also say corruption, or pollution. Or a particular politician, or a group of people. Or perhaps... even climate change itself? It's one of our most base, guiding emotional responses to the world, so in this episode we find out all about disgust -  how it shapes societies, defines what's right and wrong, and affects how we think about who's to blame for a changing climate, and what to do about it. Joining Dave this week is Professor Yoel Inbar from the University of Toronto. Yoel's an expert in disgust and how it shapes morals, politics and societies, and a very funny and warm fellow to boot. You can follow him on Twitter at @yorl. Extra reading as highlighted by the owl noises: -- 11:10: Plutchik's wheel of emotions idea. -- 12:30: More on Jonathan Haidt's musings on elevation. Your Brain on Climate is a podcast about human psychology vs the climate crisis: what we think, why we think it, and how it all adds up to a planet-sized emergency.  Contact the show:  @brainclimate on Twitter, or hello@yourbrainonclimate.com. The show is hosted by Dave Powell, who you can find @powellds on Twitter.  All music throughout the show and audio production is by Dave, because he's far too much of a control freak to let anyone else loose on it. Show logo by Arthur Stovell at www.designbymondial.com.   

Dr. Philippa Holloway, an expert in psychogeography and exploring unconventional places, joins the host to discuss the impact of our environment on our emotions. They explore the rich history and meanings within the Chernobyl exclusion zone, the concept of psychogeography, and how our surroundings shape our behavior and actions. They also discuss the upcoming release of Philippa's novel, 'The Half Life of Snails', which explores the legacy of Chernobyl and its effects on people's behaviors and emotions.

An episode all about one of the weirdest but most important of all human brain-oddnesses: pluralistic ignorance. When you think something and lots of other people also think that thing but none of you think anyone else agrees with you, so nothing changes. Got that?Dave is joined by Professor Deborah Prentice from Princeton University to get his noggin around this deeply human trait. On the menu: just how common is it that we think we’re alone in an idea when we’re not? Is pluralistic ignorance to blame for imposter syndrome? And should climate campaigners  fear or embrace it?Extra reading as highlighted by the owl noises: -- 05.07: Deborah's 1993 study into drinking and pluralistic ignorance -- 18.37: Racial attitudes and pluralistic ignorance (1976 study) -- 22.01: Nudge theory explainer Your Brain on Climate is a podcast about human psychology vs the climate crisis: what we think, why we think it, and how it all adds up to a planet-sized emergency.  Contact the show:  @brainclimate on Twitter, or hello@yourbrainonclimate.com. The show is hosted by Dave Powell, who you can find @powellds on Twitter.  All music throughout the show and audio production is by Dave, because he's far too much of a control freak to let anyone else loose on it. Show logo by Arthur Stovell at www.designbymondial.com.   YBOC will return in early 2022.