Global Optimum

I started a new podcast! Here is the blurb: Professor Daniel Gambacorta and Behavior Interventionist Atanah Shannon explore the big questions in science and philosophy. What is consciousness? Do we have free will? Are we living in a simulation??? Find out on the next episode of... The Scientific Worldview.

This episode features: -Why does men's testosterone go down when they fall in love? -Does "power posing" have any psychological effects? -What is "humblebragging" and why does it pervade social media? -Is our preference for democracy really a preference for high status? -What is self-esteem? -How to increase self-esteem (the answer is disappointing) -How to act high status (the answer is not disap...

This episode features: -Why does high status reduce creativity? -How to remain creative as you gain status -When should you distrust your own moral reasoning? -How do we come to learn what counts as high status in our culture? -What are the psychological underpinnings of "inspiration"? -How to feel less motivated to engage in conspicuous consumption   Full transcript   -References- Apply Psycholog...

This episode features: -How do people behave differently when they are high vs low status? -How did human social status evolve? -Should you try to dampen your desire for status? -Are EAs too credential-focused? -Is publishing in academic journals overrated? -Can you get more done by working alone than by starting an organization? -What causes groups to splinter? -How has effective altruism "profes...

This episode features: -How to evaluate your chance of successfully completing difficult projects -Can you be justified in believing that you are an extraordinary person who can do extraordinary things? -When to trust the advice of others and when not to -How to fail faster -How to judge a project based on how well it fails -How to avoid repeating mistakes -Why you should want to fail occasionally...

This episode features: -What are the best and worst studying techniques? -Do "learning styles" exist? -How to squeeze more learning into your day -How to start learning a new field -How to cultivate viewpoint diversity -How to avoid getting parasitized by bad ideas -Should you study in the morning or at night? -Can napping enhance learning?   Full transcript   -References- Apply Psychology: Brown,...

This episode features: -Arguments against utilitarianism -What moral views do philosophers favor? -Why you should consider moral uncertainty when deciding how altruistic to be -How does giving away 10% of your income affect your happiness? -Why donating 10% of your income is not too demanding (for middle class members of affluent countries) -How should the prospect of value drift affect your commi...

This episode features: -Are people with autism spectrum disorder more utilitarian? -Do utilitarian judgments in trolley problems predict interest in effective altruism? -What is the "identifiable victim effect" -Why empathy is bad for morality -Are effective altruists more empathetic than average?  Less empathetic? -Why do EAs disproportionately study STEM subjects and work in STEM fields? -Why is...

This episode features: -Are effective altruists especially prone to anxiety and depression? -Are effective altruists high in autistic-like traits? -Is effective altruism especially appealing to people high in autistic-like traits? -Are people high in autistic-like traits more rational? -Why do we fall prey to biases like the attraction effect, the sunk cost fallacy, and the framing effect? -Are pe...

This episode features: -Why the Myers-Briggs is wrong, yet popular -What is the structure of personality -How does personality change throughout the lifespan -Can you intentionally change your personality? -Do we change more than we think we will? -What is the effect of genes on personality -What is the effect of parenting on personality -Which unique experiences shape personality? (The answer to...

This episode features: -What proportion of effective altruists decrease their involvement over time? -Why do people decrease their involvement with effective altruism? -Why effective altruist values are particularly vulnerable to drift -Should you expect your values to get better or worse over time? -Should you try to prevent value drift? -How you can use nudges and commitment devices to prevent v...

This episode features: -How do our values change as we age -How does empathy shape values -Why are we so conformist? -Why we underestimate our risk of corruption -Why many people argue that death is good/necessary -How ethical slippery slopes lead to severe moral transgressions -How evil behavior leads to worse values   Full transcript   -References- Apply Psychology: Crane, W. (1887). The Baby's...

This episode features: -Do you need 10,000 hours of practice to be an expert? -What is the connection between creativity and mental illness -Can drugs make you more creative? -Can electrically stimulating your brain make you more creative? -Are smarter people more creative? -How do psychologists measure creativity -Which personality trait predicts creativity -Techniques for enhancing creativity  ...

This episode features: -What to consider when choosing a graduate program -Why I was told to avoid getting A's in my classes, and why it might be a good idea for you as well -What are your chances of graduating from grad school -What are your chances of getting an academic position after grad school -How to avoid being corrupted by the academic incentive structure -How is grad school different fro...

This episode features: -Can political symbols change political beliefs? -What makes pseudoscience appealing -How to evaluate futurism -How do chronically accessible concepts change our perception -How to think about the complexity of theories -Priming: fact or fiction? -Can barely-noticeable changes in the environment have big effects on behavior?   Full transcript   -References- Unapplied Rationa...

This episode features: -Are smart phones causing young people to be more lonely and depressed -How can the supplement industry stay afloat if so many supplements are useless -Discussion of how a paper on psychic powers got published in a top psychology journal -Why people are often less incompetent than you think -Why so many professors are bad teachers -What style of thinking is associated with m...

This episode features: -A quiz to test your intuitions about which studies replicate and which don't -An effective altruist origin story -Heuristics for evaluating scientific research -The role of incentives in the replication crisis -What should your prior be for whether research will replicate -Which subfield of psychology has the worst replication rate -Why it's a mistake to conceptualize gluco...

This episode features: -Why breakups are always the other person's fault -Why does love cause us to see our partner as better than they really are -How much do people lie -What do people lie about in their online dating profile -Is it possible to detect lies -What traits make somebody likable vs unlikable -How do we deceive ourselves -Why we often don't understand our own motivations   Full transc...

This episode features: -Why men perceive more sexuality in women's behavior than women say they intend -Several opportunities to test your own biases -Examples of how both evolutionary psychologists and social psychologists have explained bias the wrong way -Why it's unsatisfactory to say that we have false beliefs in order to "make ourselves feel good" -Why do people ignore basic probability theo...

This episode features: -How to get outside of your head -Why optimal performance sometimes requires "not trying" -What are the psychological traps that can make us dull and uncreative -A framework for overcoming bias -Examples of how to correct for the planning fallacy and confirmation bias -The phenomenology of creativity -How do artists reconnect with their creativity when they hit a roadblock -...

This episode features: -Why people can't justify their moral decisions -How is it that some blind people can use visual information -What is the basic structure of the brain -Why it is we can both want something and not want it -Why people can be unaware of their decision-making process -Basic principles of public speaking -Particular fixes to improve your public speaking -Ways to practice public...