On Wisdom

Though there is a lot of talk about diversity in the workplace, “age diversity” is often overlooked. Might there even be an emerging mission-critical role for wise elders in the world’s most cutting-edge tech companies? Hospitality maverick and Airbnb Strategic Advisor Chip Conley joins Igor and Charles to discuss the U-Curve of happiness, the surprises and challenges of mentoring billionaire CEOs and State Governors, the potential of intergenerational housing, the emergence of a new generation of wisdom workers, and his new project to build the world’s first midlife wisdom school - The Modern Elder Academy. Igor seeks new solutions for the stressed 'sandwich generation', Chip highlights the importance of curiosity at work and how mentoring and interning often go hand-in-hand, and Charles picks Chip’s brain on how to make wisdom more hip and sexy. Welcome to Episode 27.Special Guest: Chip Conley.Links:Chip Conley: Becoming a Modern Elder | TED TalkWisdom at Work: The Making of a Modern Elder: Conley, Chip: 9780525572909: Amazon.com: BooksThe Real Roots of Midlife Crisis - The AtlanticThe Sandwich Generation | Pew Research CenterMind Matters: Cognitive and Physical Effects of Aging Self-Stereotypes | The Journals of Gerontology: Series B | Oxford AcademicSuccessful Aging at Work and Beyond: A Review and Critical Perspective | Emerald InsightStanford Center on Longevity – Redesigning Long LifeModern Elder Academy

Bad things happen to all of us. But why do some people grow wiser, while others simply grow bitter? What do scientists do to reliably measure wisdom in the laboratory? And might this research suggest solutions to some of the most pressing problems of our time? Igor and Charles welcome one of today's leading wisdom scientists - Judith Glück, who discusses the MORE Model of Life Experience, different ways of reflecting on personal experiences, collaborative doctors, compassionate teachers, and pervasive foolishness across the entire political spectrum. Igor ponders potential paths to wiser politics in the face of the world's uncertainties, Judith reminds us that our choice of confidants is critical if we are to extract wisdom from challenging experiences, and Charles is surprised to learn that neither the left nor the right has a monopoly on championing unwise leaders. Welcome to Episode 26.Special Guest: Judith Glück.Links:Judith Glück - University of KlagenfurtVideo - Wisdom Research Forum 2015: "MORE life experience" by Judith Glück Max Planck Institute for Human DevelopmentWisdom: The 5 principles of a successful life - Judith GlückThe Cambridge Handbook of Wisdom edited by Robert J. Sternberg, Judith Glück - 2019The MORE Life Experience Model: A Theory of the Development of Personal Wisdom - Glück, Bluck (2014)More on the MORE Life Experience Model: What We Have Learned (So Far) - Glück, Bluck, Weststrate (2019)Hard-Earned Wisdom: Exploratory Processing of Difficult Life Experience is Positively Associated with Wisdom - Glück, Weststrate (2017)Measuring Wisdom: Existing Approaches, Continuing Challenges, and New Developments - Glück (2017)Wisdom and Value Orientations: Just a Projection of Our Own Beliefs? - Glück, Schrottenbacher (2019)Applying Wisdom to Contemporary World Problems - Sternberg, Nusbaum, Glück (2019)University of Klagenfurt Blog - “We live in a world that needs considerably more wisdom than it currently exhibits.”Project.life

Is the “business-as-usual” approach to science in crisis? Does the public have a good grasp of how scientific knowledge is really generated? And might scientists be as much prey to self-serving biases as the rest of us mortals? Simine Vazire joins Igor and Charles to discuss the thorny complexity of seeking reliable knowledge about the world and about ourselves, the perils of being a whistleblower in the competitive world of modern science, and the on-going scientific credibility revolution. We discuss meta-scientists, the Open Science movement, and the power of preprints to bust open the black box of peer review. Igor tries to unpack the dialectic of motives among the ‘data policemen,’ Simine issues a call-to-arms for a grassroots-powered future for the scientific community, and Charles learns that the planet of self-knowledge is in a galaxy still far, far away. Welcome to Episode 25.Special Guest: Simine Vazire.Links:Simine VazireIntellectual humility: the importance of knowing you might be wrong - VoxFalse-Positive Psychology: Undisclosed Flexibility in Data Collection and Analysis Allows Presenting Anything as Significant - Joseph P. Simmons, Leif D. Nelson, Uri Simonsohn, 2011Let’s Add Kindness to Science - Shira Gabriel - MediumThe Society for the Improvement of Psychological SciencePsychology's Replication Crisis Is Real, Many Labs 2 Says - The AtlanticDaryl Bem proved ESP is real. Which means science is broken - SlateFeeling the future: experimental evidence for anomalous retroactive influences on cognition and affect. - PubMed - NCBIMost Americans trust military, scientists to act in public interest | Pew Research CenterThe association between exaggeration in health related science news and academic press releases: retrospective observational study | The BMJFrom Protoscience to Proper Science: The Path ahead for Psychology | Science | The GuardianSometimes I'm Wrong: Flip Yourself - Part I - Simine Vazire BlogThe Black Goat – A podcast about doing scienceWisdom and Value Orientations: Just a Projection of Our Own Beliefs? - Glück, Schrottenbacher (2019)

Are people being reasonable when they act irrationally? Doesn’t rationality and reasonableness mean the same thing? Charles and Igor kick of the new decade by diving into a messy mix of behavioral economics, nudges, moral philosophy and legal studies, to examine what standards guide people’s decisions. Charles asks Igor about core standards that guide people when they try to make a good decision. Igor unpacks how the standard of a rational agent evolved in the 20th century and what implications it has had for modern economics and politics. Charles wonders if there are any reasonable people left on the Clapham omnibus in London. Igor discusses his new work assessing how most people define rationality and reasonableness, showing that irrational behavior may be a consequence of focusing on reasonableness instead. Welcome to Episode 24.Links:Folk standards of sound judgment: Rationality Versus Reasonableness | Science AdvancesPublic Reason (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)Neoliberalism - WikipediaThe Hedgehog and the Fox | Princeton University PressNudge : Richard H. Thaler & Cass SunsteinSelf-Interest, Sacrifice, and Climate Change: (Re-)Framing the British Columbia Carbon Tax - MIT Press Scholarship

Does that which doesn’t kill you make you weaker? Should we always follow our emotions? Is life a battle between good people and bad people? And critically, what might the adoption of these three popular, but unwise, ideas be doing to a rising generation of young adults? Jonathan Haidt joins Igor and Charles to discuss the three great untruths of modern life, the nature of antifragility, the 'great awokening,' rising violence on US university campuses, and the origin story of the Heterodox Academy. Igor suggests that diversity can help some projects while hindering others, Jon shares his ultimate conflict-resolving ninja skill, and Charles learns that conservative voters come in radically different shapes and sizes. Welcome to Episode 23.Special Guest: Jonathan Haidt.Links:Jon Haidt's Home PageHeterodox AcademyThe Coddling of the American MindJonathan Haidt: Can a divided America heal? | TED TalkA Conflict of Visions - Thomas SowellHow to Win Friends and Influence People - Dale CarnegieMore in Common - Publications - The Perception Gap / Hidden TribesReparations, systemic racism, and white Democrats’ new racial liberalism (On the Great Awokening) - VoxThe Authoritarian Dynamic - Karen StennerE Pluribus Unum: Diversity and Community in the Twenty-first Century - Robert D. PutnamThe emotional dog and its rational tail: a social intuitionist approach to moral judgment - Haidt (2001)The Coddling of the American Mind - International CoddlingWorld Happiness Report 2019 - Chapter 5: The Sad State of Happiness in the United States and the Role of Digital Media - Jean M. Twenge The Happiness Hypothesis: Putting Ancient Wisdom to the Test of Modern Science: Amazon.co.uk: Jonathan Haidt: 8601300074849: BooksThe Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion: Amazon.co.uk: Jonathan Haidt: 0884607571077: Books

Patients always receive treatment in agreement with the best scientific evidence available, right? Well, no. Not really. Clinical practitioners seem to suffer from many of the cognitive biases that affect the rest of us, and treatment decisions are often much less science-based that we might like to think. Scott Lilienfeld joins Igor and Charles to discuss evidence-based practice in psychotherapy, the importance of doubting, clinical psychology’s dirty little secret, Scarlett Johansson’s brain, confirmation bias, how science really works, and why people just can’t let go of the idea that a full moon triggers werewolf-style behaviour. Igor reveals he learnt his English from TV detective ‘Columbo’, Scott discusses the fine art of planting seeds of doubt in conversations, and Charles learns from Abraham Lincoln that intellectual humility can ultimately be a path to earned intellectual confidence. Welcome to Episode 22.Special Guest: Scott Lilienfeld.Links:The Bias Blind Spot: Perceptions of Bias in Self Versus Others - Emily Pronin, Daniel Y. Lin, Lee Ross, 2002The Psychology of Intellectual Humility - LearyAre Self-Report Cognitive Empathy Ratings Valid Proxies for Cognitive Empathy Ability? Negligible Meta-Analytic Relations With Behavioral Task Performance - Murphy & Lilienfeld (2019) Evidence-Based Practice: The Misunderstandings Continue | Psychology TodayEpistemic Humility: An Overarching Educational Philosophy for Clinical Psychology Programs - Lilienfeld, Lynn, O'Donohue, Latzman (2017) Intellectual humility: the importance of knowing you might be wrong - Vox50 Great Myths of Popular Psychology: Shattering Widespread Misconceptions about Human Behavior | Introduction to Psychology | Psychology | Subjects | WileyFrontiers | Fifty psychological and psychiatric terms to avoid: a list of inaccurate, misleading, misused, ambiguous, and logically confused words and phrases | PsychologyLucy TRAILER 1 (2014) - Luc Besson, Scarlett Johansson Movie HD - YouTubeElizabeth F. Loftus – UCI School of Social EcologyScott Lilienfeld: The Search for Successful Psychopathy - YouTubeEvidence at Emory - Psychology - YouTubeBright Scientists, Dim Notions - The New York Times (2007)

We live in confusing times. Politics is polarizing. Opinions clash on many topics leading to heated discussions. Take environmental change and what to do about it, the best ways to achieve prosperity, or the threats and opportunities of our globalized economy. Are we ready to admit that we often actually don’t understand what’s going on? Mark Alfano joins Igor and Charles to discuss the importance of ‘intellectual humility’ when seeking a more accurate grasp of reality, the perils of poorly designed virtue education programmes, Nietzsche and his take on the intellectual virtues, and the training of machine-learning algorithms to mine our digital footprints for signs of virtuous behaviour. Igor raises concerns that embracing uncertainty may hobble vital action, Mark talks of the dangers of creaking open your social media newsfeed too wide, and Charles learns that fostering contempt for oneself and one’s group may be essential on the path to truth. Welcome to Episode 21.Special Guest: Mark Alfano.Links:Mark Alfano's WebsiteI Know You Are, But What Am I?: Anti-Individualism in the Development of Intellectual Humility and Wu-Wei - Robinson & Alfano (2016)Nietzsche's Moral Psychology : Mark Alfano (author) : 9781107074156 : Blackwell'sDevelopment and validation of a multidimensional measure of intellectual humility - Alfano et al (2017)A cross-cultural assessment of the semantic dimensions of intellectual humility - Christen, Alfano, Robinson (2017)How ‘Intellectual Humility’ Can Make You a Better Person -- Science of UsWisdom in Context - Igor Grossmann (2017)The Strengths of Wisdom Provide Unique Contributions to Improved Leadership, Sustainability, Inequality, Gross National Happiness, and Civic Discourse in the Face of Contemporary World Problems - Grossmann & Brienza (2018)Wisdom, bias, and balance: Toward a process-sensitive measurement of wisdom-related cognition - Brienza, Kung, Santos, Bobocel, Grossmann (2018) — Preprint available at https://psyarxiv.com/p25c2Situation-Based Contingencies Underlying Wisdom-Content Manifestations: Examining Intellectual Humility in Daily Life | The Journals of Gerontology: Series B | Oxford Academic - Zachry, Phan, Blackie, Jayawickreme (2018)Constructing and Validating a Scale of Intellectual Humility @ The Intellectual Humility Capstone Conference (2015) - YouTubeOnline Personalization Creates Echo Chamber to Affirm Biases - The New York TimesAlessandra Tanesini – Philosopher, Sailor, Wine buffThe Puzzle of Humility and Disparity (2020) | Daniel Howard-Snyder, Dennis Whitcomb, and Heather Battaly - (2020)

What exactly is ‘awe’ and does it bring us, as individuals or as a society, any benefit? Dacher Keltner joins Igor and Charles to discuss why Canadians feel differently about awe than the Chinese, how to take an ‘awe walk’, why emotions vary across historical time, and the importance of experiencing diverse emotions and how to balance them, while the 'Dacher-Guesses-Emotions' game reveals the alarmingly fine line between disgust and desire. Igor digs into controversies over different theories of emotion, Dacher talks of inequality and elation as the new frontiers of social psychology, and Charles learns that awe may play a key role in the very process of scientific discovery itself. Welcome to Episode 20.Special Guest: Dacher Keltner.Links:Dacher Keltner | UC PsychGreater Good: The Science of a Meaningful LifeBerkeley Social Interaction LaboratoryMapping Emotion - Alan CowenDacher Keltner: Why Awe Is Such an Important Emotion - YouTubeThe Science of Happiness Podcast | Greater GoodApproaching awe, a moral, spiritual, and aesthetic emotion - Keltner & Haidt (2003)Awe and Scientific Explanation - Valdesolo, Park & Gottlieb (2016)Awe as a scientific emotion - Gottlieb, Keltner, Lombrozo (2018)Awe, the Small Self, and Prosocial Behavior - PIff, Dietze, Feinberg, Stancato, Keltner (2015)Awe and humility. - PubMed - NCBI - Stellar, gordon, Anderson, Piff, McNeil, Keltner (2018)Awe in nature heals: Evidence from military veterans, at-risk youth, and college students. - PsycNET - Anderson, Monroy, Keltner (2018)Emotional complexity: Clarifying definitions and cultural correlates. - PsycNET - Grossmann, Huynh, Ellsworth (2016)Wise reasoning benefits from emodiversity, irrespective of emotional intensity. - PsycNET - Grossmann, Oakes, Santos (2019)TEDxBerkeley (On Compassion) - Dacher Keltner An Awe Walk in Muir Woods - MindfulWhy Do We Feel Awe? | Greater GoodExploring the powerful emotion of awe: How it can be awe-some and aw-ful | CBC RadioJennifer Stellar: How Culture Shapes the Experience of Awe - YouTubeLani Shiota: How Awe Transforms the Body and Mind - YouTubePatterns of Cognitive Appraisal in Emotion - Smith & EllsworthThe Power Paradox: How We Gain and Lose Influence: Dacher Keltner: 9781594205248: Amazon.com: BooksBorn to Be Good: The Science of a Meaningful Life: Dacher Keltner: 8601401183044: Amazon.com: BooksThe Compassionate Instinct: The Science of Human Goodness: Dacher Keltner, Jason Marsh, Jeremy Adam Smith: 9780393337280: Amazon.com: Books

Can an individual really change a culture? Adam Grant joins Igor and Charles to discuss cultures of non-conformity and giving in the workplace, the perils of cognitive entrenchment, the critical role of culture carriers, and why we should be managing our attention rather than our time. Igor delights in learning of the astoundingly high frequency of dancers among Nobel prize winners, Adam suggests that moral arguments still trump bottom-line arguments in the boardroom, and Charles learns that the secret route to culture-change might be found in asking your boss for advice. Welcome to Episode 19.Special Guest: Adam Grant.Links:Adam Grant | Books, Podcast, TED Talks, Newsletter, ArticlesAre you a giver or a taker? | Adam Grant - TED TalkThe surprising habits of original thinkers | Adam Grant - TED TalkAdam Grant - The New York Times ColumnIn the Company of Givers and Takers - Harvard Business ReviewWorkLife with Adam Grant, a TED podcast

How did politics get so damn polarised? Jay Van Bavel joins Igor and Charles to discuss political polarisation, the partisan brain, the inexorable rise of superheroes in dark times, the misperceptions of polarisation levels, and how to reach out to other tribes. Igor highlights the partisanship-transcending benefits of a Watchmen-style alien invasion, Jay proposes the judicious use of ‘off-ramps’ when engaging with loved-ones from across the political divide, and Charles learns that even the abstract purity of Mathematics is not immune from the tentacles of partisanship when guns are involved. Welcome to Episode 18.Special Guest: Jay Van Bavel.Links:Social Perception and Evaluation LabThe dangers of the partisan brain | Jay Van Bavel | TEDxSkoll - YouTubeThe Partisan Brain: An Identity-Based Model of Political Belief - ScienceDirectEmotion shapes the diffusion of moralized content in social networks - Brady, Wills, Jost, Tucker and Van Bavel (2016)An Ideological Asymmetry in the Diffusion of Moralized Content on Social Media Among Political Leaders - Brady, Wills, Burkart, Jost, Van Bavel (2018)How to go viral: stick to your morals but add a hint of emotion | WIRED UKWhat Brexit can teach us about the psychology of fear - VoxLetters to Young Scientists | Science | AAAS