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On Wisdom

Charles Cassidy and Igor Grossmann

What does it actually take to think wisely? On Wisdom digs into the empirical science of wisdom, judgment, and decision-making, and what it means for how we live. Igor Grossmann runs the Wisdom & Culture Lab at the University of Waterloo. Charles Cassidy runs the Evidence-Based Wisdom project in London. Each episode pairs freewheeling conversation with guest spots from leading behavioural scientists working on reasoning, wellbeing, culture, and society. Past guests include Adam Grant, Jonathan Haidt, Paul Bloom, Shannon Vallor, Lisa Barrett, David Dunning, Mara Mather, Tom Gilovich, Laura Carstensen, Oliver Burkeman, Simine Vazire, Dacher Keltner, and more. This autumn: a five-episode special series built around the first Annual Review of Psychology chapter on wisdom since 2011, featuring fifteen scholars on narrative, metacognition, measurement, training, and the neuroscience of wise decisions.

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  • 24 episodes
  • Avg 52 min
  • English
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  • #53
    Apr 10, 2023 · 59 min

    53: Moral Reframing and The Science of Political Persuasion (with Robb Willer)

    How can you persuade someone who disagrees with you on everything? In this episode, we discover the secrets of political persuasion with Robb Willer, a leading expert on political persuasion and moral reframing. Igor grills Robb on the ethics of activism in social science, Robb defends his mission to make a difference in the world, and Charles is amazed to find out that he can fix his misperceptions with a few simple tricks. Don’t miss this inspiring and ground-breaking conversation that will tr

  • #52
    Jan 5, 2023 · 55 min

    52: World Wide Wisdom (with Deepak Ramola)

    Imagine gathering hard-earned lessons from survivors of human trafficking in Nepal, middle school children in Afghanistan, refugees in Europe, and even a man who has witnessed over 12,000 deaths. Deepak Ramola has been on such a lesson-gathering mission for a while, and he joins Igor and Charles to discuss the life lessons he has collected, who gets to define moral behaviour, and how we might change our culture to encourage more perspective-taking. Igor highlights the challenge of stepping outsi

  • #51
    Nov 16, 2022 · 57 min

    51: Tricky Colleagues and Contagious Emotions (with Tessa West)

    How do we respond wisely to foolish behaviour in the workplace? Tessa West joins Igor and Charles to talk about the most common types of ‘jerks at work’ - including the bulldozer, the credit stealer, and the gaslighter, discussing what drives such unhelpful behaviour, and how best to deal with it. Igor explores the different ways we can respond to uncertainty in the workplace, Tessa suggests that we’re surprisingly nice to moral violators, and Charles learns the importance of building in ‘affect

  • #50
    Oct 10, 2022 · 57 min

    50: Morality Meets World (with Joshua Greene)

    To give to both your favourite charity and a super-effective charity recommended by experts, visit Giving Multiplier: https://givingmultiplier.org/invite/ONWISDOM Can insights from moral psychology increase donations to more effective charities? Joshua Greene joins Igor and Charles to discuss ventilator allocation and other pandemic-related trolley problems, deep pragmatism, the dual process theory of moral judgement, and the power of the veil of ignorance. Igor gets excited about the role of m

Showing 21–24 of 24 episodes