Adam Mastroianni (experimental psychologist, Substacker) recently published a study in Nature that hit headlines. The paper, co-published with happiness expert Daniel Gilbert, demonstrated that everyone (literally) thinks the world is in moral decline, that we are less honest, and less kind, and that we need to return to the golden days of yore. The controversial bit? Everyone has ALWAYS thought this. And ALL of us are wrong.
Adam and I talk through the mad cognitive biases that steer us to this error and cover a bunch more that explain why being smart doesn’t make you happy, why we forget what we've learned and why we all (again) think the general public is stupider than us (we can’t all be right!?). I was overdue for a confrontation on my biases and my moral despair…you?
SHOW NOTES
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Read The illusion of moral decline
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BONUS EPISODE 1: Tips and guided meditation for travel
Wild with Sarah Wilson, season 3 announcement
EMILY ATKIN: The best case ever for climate rage!
DAN BUETTNER: The Blue Zones guy shows us the trick to adding 10 years to our lives
ABBIE CHATFIELD: Millennial feminism, a mind blowing introduction.
FEARNE COTTON: A chat with the British ‘It’ girl’ about the struggle for happiness
THE LADY IN RED: special episode
DAVID WHYTE: The insta-calm of poetry and asking beautiful questions
SAUL GRIFFITH: Biden’s renegade climate advisor from Wollongong drops the best ever climate bomb!
OLIVER BURKEMAN: 4000 weeks…it’s all we got in this lifetime, folks!
Ask Me Anything...about climate change
CLARE DUBOIS: How victim consciousness is destroying the planet (fire up, people!)
TIMOTHY MORTON: My favourite hobby is making sure people don’t feel like dying
TARA JUNE WINCH: Being Aussie is a mental health crisis
DR JUD BREWER: On curiosity as the fix for anxiety
DR JILL BOLTE TAYLOR: The neuroscientist shows Sarah how to live blissfully in the right brain
Ask Me Anything - Part 2
Ask Me Anything - Part 1
TIM BROWN: Sarah’s meditation teacher joins the show
JAMES HOLLIS: The Jungian take on 2021
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