Predicting Human Behavior is Highly Contingent

2min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

Predicting human behavior, whether it is about committing suicide, being a school shooter, or making decisions like Putin invading Ukraine, is complex and nearly impossible. People themselves often don't understand their own actions. A study involving 160 social science teams used various causal variables to predict life outcomes of at-risk families over 15 years, including child GPA, material hardship, and employment. Despite using statistical tools and AI machine learning, the results were deemed underwhelming due to the complexity and unpredictability of human behavior.

We all want to be happier, but our brains often get in the way. When we’re too stuck in our heads we obsess over our inadequacies, compare ourselves with others and fail to see the good in our lives. In The Science of Happiness, world-leading psychologist and happiness expert Bruce Hood demonstrates that the key to happiness is not self-care but connection. He presents seven simple but life-changing lessons to break negative thought patterns and re-connect with the things that really matter.

Alter Your Ego
Avoid Isolation
Reject Negative Comparisons
Become More Optimistic
Control Your Attention
Connect With Others
Get Out of Your Own Head

Grounded in decades of studies in neuroscience and developmental psychology, this book tells a radical new story about the roots of wellbeing and the obstacles that lie in our path. With clear, practical takeaways throughout, Professor Hood demonstrates how we can all harness the findings of this science to re-wire our thinking and transform our lives.

Dr. Bruce Hood is an award-winning Professor of Developmental Psychology at Bristol University and the author of several books including SuperSense, The Self Illusion, The Domesticated Brain, and Possessed. His course, The Science of Happiness, is the most popular course at Bristol University. He has appeared extensively on TV and radio, including co-hosting the BBC podcast The Happiness Half Hour in 2021. He is a Fellow of the American Psychological Society, the Royal Institution of Great Britain and the British Psychological Society.

Shermer and Hood discuss: psychedelic drugs • defining the “good life” or “happiness” • measuring emotions • happiness as social contagion • eudaimonia (the pursuit of meaning) versus hedonism (the pursuit of pleasure) • genetics and heritability • cultural components • WEIRD people • The Big Five (OCEAN) • marriage and health • exercise and stress reduction • what the ancient Greeks got right about living the good life • how failure may actually be a key to more happiness • how to live the life you want—not necessarily the life expected of you.