Few psychologists in the world have contributed more to scientific discovery than our guest Richard E. Nisbett. He joins us to discuss his latest book, the title of which embodies one of his favorite activities: Thinking: A Memoir. Thinking weaves Richard’s personal story through his research journey, painting a richer sense of the thought process behind his discoveries.
Richard E. Nisbett is the Theodore M. Newcomb Distinguished Professor of Social Psychology at the University of Michigan. Many of his previous books have been co-authored with his collaborator and friend, the late Lee Ross. The two first met in graduate school when they studied under the ground-breaking researcher Stanley Schachter at Columbia University.
Later in his career, alongside Tim Wilson, the two made the ground-breaking observation: they noted that we can only identify "what people think about how they think," but not "how they really think." Join our podcast conversation with Richard to explore how we can improve our thinking, reasoning and decision making.
If you are a regular listener to Behavioral Grooves, please consider donating to our work through Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/behavioralgrooves.
Topics we Discuss with Richard E. Nisbett(3:20) Welcome and speed round.
(7:25) What motivated Richard to write his memoir?
(12:12) Why do we so readily disregard base rates?
(15:56) Why do we disconnect ourselves from the behavior in Stanley Milgram’s experiment?
(17:21) Richard’s work on Attribution Theory.
(20:25) How does our unconscious mind affect our behaviors and decision making?
(23:27) Richard’s insight on why we rationalize our decision making.
(27:13) Working in a vacuum in academia.
(30:03) Interdisciplinary work at Michigan University.
(32:23) Can we teach people to become better at reasoning?
(39:15) The problems with replicating social psychology studies.
(46:28) What is Richard thinking about these days?
(51:32) What music would Richard take a desert island?
(57:13) Grooving Session with Kurt and Tim discussing their interview with Richard.
© 2021 Behavioral Grooves
Books by Richard E. NisbettThinking: A Memoir: https://amzn.to/341F4A4
Intelligence and How to Get It: Why Schools and Cultures Count: https://amzn.to/3fALT0L
The Geography of Thought: How Asians and Westerners Think Differently...and Why: https://amzn.to/3u728bj
Culture Of Honor: The Psychology Of Violence In The South (New Directions in Social Psychology): https://amzn.to/3ub2FJu
Thought and Feeling: Cognitive Alteration of Feeling States: https://amzn.to/2Rqgw1f
Rules for Reasoning: https://amzn.to/3hDj6LJ
The Person and the Situation: https://amzn.to/2S6tfGa
Links from our InterviewLee Ross “The Person and the Situation: Perspectives of Social Psychology”: https://amzn.to/3iYN3q5
Stanley Schachter “The Psychology of Affiliation: Experimental Studies of the Sources of Gregariousness”: https://amzn.to/3sEQQw1
Malcom Gladwell “Outliers: The Story of Success”: https://amzn.to/3xWZdnw
Michael Lewis Book about Dnaiel Kahneman and Amos Tversky, “The Undoing Project: A Friendship That Changed Our Minds”: https://amzn.to/3iYwIlg
Richard Thaler “Nudge: The FInal Edition”: https://amzn.to/3srwyWs
Stanley Milgram Experiment: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment
Cary Grant: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cary_Grant
Timothy Wilson: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_Wilson
Russell Sage Foundation: https://www.russellsage.org/
University of Michigan: https://umich.edu/
Jean Piaget: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Piaget
Episode 155: John Bargh: Dante, Coffee and the Unconscious Mind: https://behavioralgrooves.com/episode/john-bargh-dante-coffee-and-the-unconscious-mind/
Peggy Noonan, Wall Street Journal: https://www.wsj.com/news/author/peggy-noonan
The Week: https://www.theweek.co.uk/
Episode 67: George Loewenstein: On a Functional Theory of Boredom: https://behavioralgrooves.com/episode/george-loewenstein-on-a-functional-theory-of-boredom/
Musical LinksBeethoven “The Emperor Concerto”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPx7P6YvHYw
Beethoven 7th symphony, 2nd Movement: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgHxmAsINDk
Schubert “Serenade”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biUv4VLW0fc
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The Power of Unity: Robert Cialdini Expands His Best Selling Book Influence [Republish]
Groove Track | 12 Words That Improve Company Performance
Delusions Can Actually Be Useful: Hidden Brain’s Shankar Vedantam Reveals How [Republish]
How To Find Meaning IN Life | Dr Brian Lowery PhD
How Do Incentives Actually Impact Motivation? | Dr Indranil Goswami PhD
Groove Track: Cab Driver Study
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The Loss of Common Sense: How To Gain A Little Perspective | Martin Lindstrom
Trust Your Gut? Only If The Data Supports It | Seth Stephens-Davidowitz
Changing Our Mind: Exploring How Mental Illness Is Managed with Daniel Bergner
Finding Out What Your Customers Want and Why It Matters | Andrea Belk Olson
From Distracted To Focused: Nir Eyal’s Secrets On How To Be Indistractable
You Have Dignity Because You’re Human, Not Because You Work | Jonathan Malesic
How To Fix Burnout (Hint: It Isn’t Another Yoga Session) | Jennifer Moss
You Can Change Someone’s Mind But Are You Sure You Want To? | David McRaney
Changing The World with Persistent Optimism | Dr. Paul Zeitz
Want To Improve Your Kid’s Behavior? Start With Your Own | Sue Donnellan
Three Easy Ways to Nurture A Child’s Brain Development | Dana Suskind MD
Fail to Scale: Why Good Research Doesn’t Always Make Great Policy | John A. List
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