You Are Not So Smart

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You Are Not So Smart is a show about psychology that celebrates science and self delusion. In each episode, we explore what we've learned so far about reasoning, biases, judgments, and decision-making.

22.12.2025

329 - Point Taken - Steven Franconeri

Dr. Steven Franconeri explains the powerful insights and opportunities offered by a game he and his team created for having better disagreements about just about anything, but especially about the sort of topics that often lead to arguments, fights, and terrible holiday dinners. Kitted Executive Academy Point Taken The Visual Thinking Lab Steven Franconeri How Minds Change David McRaney’s Twitter David McRaney’s BlueSky YANSS Twitter Show Notes Newsletter Patreon Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

52 Min.
08.12.2025

328 - Shape - Jordan Ellenberg (rebroadcast)

We sit down with Jordan Ellenberg, a world-class geometer, who takes us on a far-ranging exploration of the power of geometry, which turns out to help us think better about practically everything His writing has appeared in Slate, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Boston Globe, and he is the New York Times bestselling author of How Not to Be Wrong – but in this episode we will discuss his new book, Shape: The hidden geometry of information, biology, strategy, democracy and everything else. Kitted Executive Academy Jordan Ellenberg’s Website Jordan Ellenberg’s Academic Website Jordan Ellenberg’s Twitter Shape How Minds Change David McRaney’s Twitter David McRaney’s BlueSky YANSS Twitter Show Notes Newsletter Patreon Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

1 Std. 11 Min.
24.11.2025

327 - The Trolley Solution - Joshua Greene

Philosopher, neuroscientist, and psychologist, Joshua Greene tells us how the brain generates morality and how his research may have solved the infamous trolley problem, and in so doing created a way to encourage people to contribute to charities that do the most good, and, in addition, play quiz games that can reduce polarization and possibly save democracy. Kitted Executive Academy Pods Fight Poverty Give Directly Giving Multiplier Joshua Greene's Website Moral Tribes The Trolley Problem in Real Life A Buddhist Monk Faces The Trolley Problem Alief vs Belief Tango Tango Quiz Game Research Charitable Giving Research How Minds Change David McRaney’s Twitter David McRaney’s BlueSky YANSS Twitter Show Notes Newsletter Patreon Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

1 Std. 19 Min.
10.11.2025

326 - The Origin of Language - Madeleine Beekman

We sit down with Dr. Madeleine Beekman, a professor emerita of evolutionary biology and behavioral ecology at the University of Sydney, Australia, whose new book, The Origin of Language, presents a completely new and fascinating theory for how language emerged in homo sapiens, in human beings, in you and me and the rest of us. Madeleine Beekman How Minds Change David McRaney’s Twitter YANSS Twitter Show Notes Newsletter Patreon Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

46 Min.
27.10.2025

325 - Cognitive Dissonance - Part Two (rebroadcast)

In this episode we welcome Dr. Sarah Stein Lubrano, a political scientist who studies how cognitive dissonance affects all sorts of political behavior. She’s also the co-host of a podcast about activism called "What Do We Want?" and she wrote a book titled Don’t Talk About Politics which is about how to discuss politics without necessarily talking about politics. Sarah Stein Lubrano's Website Sarah Stein Lubrano's Substack Sarah Stein Lubrano's Twitter Kitted How Minds Change David McRaney’s Twitter YANSS Twitter Show Notes Newsletter Patreon Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

58 Min.
13.10.2025

324 - Cognitive Dissonance - Part One (rebroadcast)

In this episode, the story of a doomsday cult who predicted the exact date and circumstances of the end of the world, and what happened when that date passed and the world did not end. Also, we explore our drive to remain consistent via our desire to reduce cognitive dissonance. When you notice you’ve done something you believe is wrong, then you will either stop doing that thing or stop believing it is wrong. And if you believe something is true but you come across some information that disconfirms that belief, you’ll either change your belief, challenge the validity of the challenging information, or go looking for confirmation you were right all along. Previous Episodes Kitted Shop The Story of Kitted How Minds Change David McRaney’s BlueSky David McRaney’s Twitter YANSS Twitter YANSS Facebook Show Notes Newsletter Patreon Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

58 Min.
29.09.2025

323 - Job Therapy - Tessa West (rebroadcast)

Are you unhappy at your job? Are you starting to consider a change of career because of how your current work makes you feel? Do you know why? According to our guest in this episode, Dr. Tessa West, a psychologist at NYU, if you are currently contemplating whether you want to do the work that you do everyday you should know that although this feeling is common, psychologists who study this sort of thing have discovered that our narratives for why we feel this way are often just rationalizations and justifications. In fact, it turns out that the way we psychologically evaluate the jobs we think we might not want to do anymore is nearly identical to how we evaluate romantic relationships we feel like we might no longer want to be a part of. The feelings are usually undeniable, but our explanations for why we feel the way we feel can be wildly inaccurate, and because of that, our resulting behavior can be, let’s say, sub-optimal. We sometimes stay far longer than we should or make knee-jerk decisions we later regret or commit to terrible mistakes that could have been avoided. Job Therapy Tessa West's Website Tessa West's Twitter How Minds Change David McRaney’s Twitter YANSS Twitter Kitted Shop Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

55 Min.
15.09.2025

322 - Intellectual Humility - Tenelle Porter

Can intellectual humility be measured? What influences it and affects it, limits it and enhances it? What even is it, scientifically speaking? We explore all of this and then play an episode of How to Be A Better Human featuring psychologist Tenelle Porter telling comedian Chris Duffy how she is researching how to conduct better research into intellectual humility. Previous Episodes Transcript at TED How to Be A Better Human The Gateway Drugs to Intellectual Humility Tenelle Porter's Research Tenelle Porter's Website The Illusion of Explanatory Depth Kitted Shop The Story of Kitted How Minds Change David McRaney’s BlueSky David McRaney’s Twitter YANSS Twitter Show Notes Newsletter Patreon Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

1 Std. 8 Min.

Alle anzeigen (326)

David McRaney

Moderation

4,7

von 5

50 Bewertungen

Interesting

01.02.2017

bnashat

Always interesting to listen to.
Excellent long-form podcast

07.05.2015

concerned citizen31

The host always takes you on an informative, yet engaging tour of a relevant and enlighting topic. Highly recommended.
Sehr interessanter Podcast

03.03.2014

D. T. W.

Hervorragender Podcast. Entspricht dem, was man sich nach dem Lesen des Blogs verspricht. Klasse Interviews, stellt auch meistens den Bezug zum alltäglichen Leben her. Empfehlenswert für jeden, der sich ein wenig für Psychologie interessiert, ohne das ganze übermässig akademisch angehen zu wollen.
Höchst interessanter Podcast

11.07.2012

Manuel Krämer

Auch wenn hin und wieder mehr gesprochen wird als nötig, ist dieser Podcast sehr empfehlenswert.

You Are Not So Smart is a show about psychology that celebrates science and self delusion. In each episode, we explore what we've learned so far about reasoning, biases, judgments, and decision-making.