You Are Not So Smart

4.6 (168)
SCIENCE
TWICE MONTHLY

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.

4 DAYS AGO

304 - Nobody's Fool - Dan Simons and Christopher Chabris (rebroadcast)

In an era in which we have more information available to us than ever before, when claims of “fake news” might themselves be, in fact, fake news, Daniel Simons and Christopher Chabris, authors of The Invisible Gorilla, are back to offer us a vital tool to not only inoculate ourselves against getting infected by misinformation but prevent us from spreading it to others – a new book titled Nobody's Fool.

51 min
23/12/2024

303 - The Dress - Decoder Ring

In this episode we return to The Dress and the psychological lessons offered by one of the most viral moments in the history of the internet via an episode of Decoder Ring in which David McRaney shares some insights from his book, How Minds Change, with Willa Paskin, the host of Decoder Ring.

44 min
09/12/2024

302 - A More Beautiful Question - Warren Berger

In this episode we sit down with Warren Berger, the author of A More Beautiful Question – and a man who has made a career out of classifying, categorizing, and making sense of all the many varieties of questions we ask, when we are likely to ask them, and how that can lead to all manner of outcomes, some positive, some negative.

1h 2m
25/11/2024

301 - Cognitive Dissonance - Part Two

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 that’s coming out in May of 2025 titled don’t talk about politics which is about how to discuss politics without necessarily talking about politics.

58 min
11/11/2024

300 - Cognitive Dissonance - Part One

In this episode, the story of a doomsday cult that 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.

57 min
28/10/2024

299 - Debunkbot

Our guests in this episode are the scientists who created Debunkbot, a GPT-powered, large language model, conspiracy-theory-debunking AI that is highly effective at reducing conspiratorial beliefs. In the show you’ll hear all about what happened when they placed Debunkbot inside the framework of a scientific study and recorded its interactions with thousands of participants.

1h 9m
14/10/2024

298 - Tribal - Michael Morris

In this episode we sit down with renowned cultural psychologist Michael Morris to discuss his new book, Tribal, in which he makes the case for seeing humans as an "us" species, not a "them" species.

1h 34m
30/09/2024

297 - Project Alpha - Brian Brushwood (rebroadcast)

Brian Brushwood tells us how he put together the most recent season of The World's Greatest Con, his podcast about incredible scams and over the top chicanery. This season is all about how two teenagers pulled off an incredible hoax called Project Alpha, a con job and a publicity stunt meant to improve scientific rigor and methodology when it comes to studying the possibility of the existence of psychic phenomena.

1h 10m

See All (301)

David McRaney

Host

4.6

out of 5

168 Ratings

Anon

30/03/2024

immelda marcos

Wish I’d discovered this podcast sooner. It’s so insightful and well put together. So many unexpected and intriguing revelation.
Instant book list

09/10/2022

scarfie the scarf

So many of these podcasts have led me to life-changing books, including McRaney’s own recent one. And each time his enthusiasm is matched by that of the interviewees, so you feel like you’re brought along on this journey of joyful learning.
I want to rate this 5*

30/06/2023

Kung Fu Panda 73

I don’t usually leave reviews but for this podcast, I really have to. I’ve only got to episode 20 right now so I may need to adjust my review in the future as I binge more episodes, but for now, here goes: This is an excellent podcast. Really excellent. It’s very informative, well researched and well put together, so well that I can’t listen to it in the car as I drive round. It’s so engaging. I love it and I really want to give it 5 stars. So why only 3? Well it’s the cookie thing. At the start of the episode, the guy says “later there will be cookies, and if you’re new to the podcast, all will become clear.” Well I’m sorry but 20 episodes in, it’s still not clear why this section is in. But the thing that really knocks the 2 stars off is this: “I’m going to read something interesting… mmmm… oh boy, that’s good…. Something else intere…. Oh wow, just another bite…. As I was saying something int… yeah that’s….” I just can’t cope with that. I’m missing 20-25% of each episode and if it’s anything like the rest of the episodes, I’m missing something great. I’m not saying the cookie review is wrong but it’s in the wrong podcast. Please make a separate podcast reviewing cookies if that’s something you want to carry on doing but please please take it off this one, let me listen to the while podcast and give you the 5* review you deserve. Thanks for reading this, I hope it helps ;-)
I am not so smart

30/12/2021

niasurv1ve

I can’t quantify how much I continue to learn from this wonderful podcast. I might get smart if I could remember a great portion of it! Thank You!!

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.