Behavioral Grooves Podcast Kurt Nelson, PhD and Tim Houlihan

Conscientiousness, perseverance and meticulousness are all words associated with perfectionism. But perfectionism comes from a deeper sense of inadequacy, of not feeling good enough. Constantly striving to prove yourself leads to anxiety, depression and burnout. Researcher Thomas Curran describes perfectionism in detail, why it’s getting worse and what we can do about it.

Doing, doing, doing. We can get stuck in a perpetual state of busyness to get things done. But being in a chronic “performance zone” can lead to stagnation over time. The “learning zone”, however, is when we take a step back to reflect on our experiences and look for ways to improve. That’s where a growth mindset comes in - actually believing that we can get better.

Volunteering improves psychological well-being. Team Rubicon has researched this positive effect, not just on the communities it serves, but also on the well-being of its 170,000 volunteers. The organization applies military expertise and speed to provide fast response and social support to those who have suffered a disaster. We learn from David Burke and Patti Norberg about the many benefits they have found with volunteering.

We all want to feel significant. This drive for significance ultimately fuels all of our cognition, emotions, and actions. Distinguished psychologist Arie Kruglanski discusses motivation versus cognition, goal systems, radicalization, and his recent work on the quest for significance.

Learning is like exercise. Once you develop a healthy habit, you need to keep going! But how do you foster a learning culture in your organization? Sarah Nicholl addresses the role of leadership, AI, context and habit formation in this discussion about her book “Learning Habits”.

Human decision making is not perfectly rational. There can, in fact, be benefits to the biases we hold. Lionel Page PhD discusses rationality, completeness, and how humans make decisions based on anticipated utility and loss aversion.