On Wisdom

(First Broadcast - 21st June 2020) What is the value of wisdom in the time of the global pandemic? Does the community of behavioural scientists studying wisdom agree on anything about the nature of wisdom? Can we say what we now know about wisdom and, conversely, what do we know we don’t yet know? Howard Nusbaum joins Igor and Charles to discuss the recently assembled Toronto Wisdom Task Force and...

(First Broadcast - 4th November 2019) Does that which doesn’t kill you make you weaker? Should we always follow our emotions? Is life a battle between good people and bad people? And critically, what might the adoption of these three popular, but unwise, ideas be doing to a rising generation of young adults? Jonathan Haidt joins Igor and Charles to discuss the three great untruths of modern life,...

(First Broadcast - 28th December 2018) Can we design our workplaces to generate wiser behaviour? Why do we work anyway, and would we still work if we didn’t get paid? Do employers even want their employees to develop wisdom? Barry Schwartz joins Igor and Charles to discuss how Aristotle’s Practical Wisdom applies in the 21st Century, the reasons why we work, idea technology, the unintended consequ...

Igor and Charles return with a special announcement for On Wisdom listeners ...

A disturbing thought - might it be impossible for us to directly observe the workings of our minds? Richard Nisbett joins Igor and Charles to discuss a life lived on the cutting edge of behavioral sciences in the second part of the 20th Century. He shares tales from his groundbreaking research into our faulty mindware, discussing various biases, cultural differences in cognitive processes, our ina...

Which kind of wisdom will people need to master to overcome major negative societal and/or psychological changes after the pandemic? In the last episode of the World After Covid miniseries, Igor and Charles share and discuss responses from 57 of the world's leading behavioral and social scientists, collected as part of the World After Covid project. Four final responses are selected, covering them...

Which kind of wisdom will people need to master to overcome major negative societal and/or psychological changes after the pandemic? Igor and Charles share and discuss responses from 57 of the world's leading behavioral and social scientists, collected as part of the World After Covid project. Each episode, four responses are selected. This time, the conversation covers themes of social support, s...

Which domain or aspect of social life will show the most significant negative societal and/or psychological change in response to the pandemic? Igor and Charles share and discuss responses from 57 of the world's leading behavioral and social scientists, collected as part of the World After Covid project. Each episode, four responses are selected. This time, the conversation covers themes of autobi...

Which domain or aspect of social life will show the most significant negative societal and/or psychological change in response to the pandemic? Igor and Charles share and discuss responses from 57 of the world's leading behavioral and social scientists, collected as part of the World After Covid project. Each episode, four responses are selected. This time, the conversation covers themes of social...

What kind of wisdom will people need to capitalize on the positive societal and/or psychological change after the pandemic? Igor and Charles share and discuss responses from 57 of the world's leading behavioral and social scientists, collected as part of the World After Covid project. Each episode, four responses are selected. This time, the conversation covers themes of critical thinking, intelle...

What kind of wisdom will people need to capitalize on the positive societal and/or psychological change after the pandemic? Igor and Charles share and discuss responses from 57 of the world's leading behavioral and social scientists, collected as part of the World After Covid project. Each episode, four responses are selected. This time, the conversation covers themes of sympathy and compassion, s...

Which domain or aspect of social life will show the most significant positive societal and/or psychological change in response to the pandemic? Igor and Charles share and discuss responses given to the question about positive change in response to the pandemic by 57 of the world's leading behavioral and social scientists, collected as part of the World After Covid project. Each episode, four respo...

Which domain or aspect of social life will show the most significant positive societal and/or psychological change in response to the pandemic? Igor and Charles share and discuss responses given to the question about positive change in response to the pandemic by 57 of the world's leading behavioral and social scientists, collected as part of the World After Covid project. Each episode, four respo...

What one piece of wisdom is important to give to people now to help them make it through the pandemic? Igor and Charles share and discuss responses given to this critical question by 57 of the world's leading behavioral and social scientists, collected as part of the  World After Covid  project. Each episode, four responses are selected. This time, the conversation covers themes of what'...

What one piece of wisdom is important to give to people now to help them make it through the pandemic? Igor and Charles share and discuss responses given to this critical question by 57 of the world's leading behavioral and social scientists, collected as part of the  World After Covid  project. Each episode, four responses are selected. This time, the conversation covers themes of agenc...

After 2 and a half years of podcasting, 30+ episodes, 50,000+ downloads, and one global pandemic, it's time for an exciting announcement from the On Wisdom team...

Does wisdom reside in particular persons, or is wisdom more about what happens between people? And if wisdom does require a social context, what are the implications of our new social distancing habits since the rise of the pandemic? Ricca Edmondson joins Igor and Charles to discuss novel ethnographic approaches to the study of wisdom, the significance of Irish funeral rituals, new lessons from ol...

Despite the common stereotype of ‘older and crankier,’ psychologists suggest we become more positive as we age. Why? Do our aging brains become worse at detecting threats in the environment? Do we choose to focus on more positive aspects of our experience as we age? And what does the latest scientific research say about one of the major dangers of older age — Alzheimer’s disease? Mara Mather joins...

What is the value of wisdom in the time of the global pandemic? Does the community of behavioural scientists studying wisdom agree on anything about the nature of wisdom? Can we say what we now know about wisdom and, conversely, what do we know we don’t yet know? Howard Nusbaum joins Igor and Charles to discuss the recently assembled Toronto Wisdom Task Force and the resulting Common Wisdom Model,...

Is happiness research even relevant in such times of crisis, or is focusing on our happiness simply a luxury we can no longer afford? And, while effective for many people, why does the cultivation of gratitude sometimes result in unexpectedly negative consequences? Sonja Lyubomirsky joins Igor and Charles to discuss the key components of happiness, lessons from 9-11, ‘happiness-intervention fit’,...

Though there is a lot of talk about diversity in the workplace, “age diversity” is often overlooked. Might there even be an emerging mission-critical role for wise elders in the world’s most cutting-edge tech companies? Hospitality maverick and Airbnb Strategic Advisor Chip Conley joins Igor and Charles to discuss the U-Curve of happiness, the surprises and challenges of mentoring billionaire CEOs...

Bad things happen to all of us. But why do some people grow wiser, while others simply grow bitter? What do scientists do to reliably measure wisdom in the laboratory? And might this research suggest solutions to some of the most pressing problems of our time? Igor and Charles welcome one of today's leading wisdom scientists - Judith Glück, who discusses the MORE Model of Life Experience, differen...

Is the “business-as-usual” approach to science in crisis? Does the public have a good grasp of how scientific knowledge is really generated? And might scientists be as much prey to self-serving biases as the rest of us mortals? Simine Vazire joins Igor and Charles to discuss the thorny complexity of seeking reliable knowledge about the world and about ourselves, the perils of being a whistleblower...

Are people being reasonable when they act irrationally? Doesn’t rationality and reasonableness mean the same thing? Charles and Igor kick of the new decade by diving into a messy mix of behavioral economics, nudges, moral philosophy and legal studies, to examine what standards guide people’s decisions. Charles asks Igor about core standards that guide people when they try to make a good decision....

Does that which doesn’t kill you make you weaker? Should we always follow our emotions? Is life a battle between good people and bad people? And critically, what might the adoption of these three popular, but unwise, ideas be doing to a rising generation of young adults? Jonathan Haidt joins Igor and Charles to discuss the three great untruths of modern life, the nature of antifragility, the 'grea...