Today we welcome John Vervaeke. John is an award-winning professor at the University of Toronto in Psychology, Cognitive Science and Buddhist Psychology. His academic interests include wisdom, mindfulness, meditation, relevance realization, general intelligence, and rationality. He is the author of Awakening from the Meaning Crisis Youtube series and co-author of Zombies in Western Culture: A 21st Century Crisis . In this episode I talk to John Vaervaeke about the meaning crisis. There is a grow...
May 11, 2023•1 hr 3 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today we welcome Dr. Dacher Keltner, one of the world’s foremost emotion scientists. He is a professor of psychology at UC Berkeley and the director of the Greater Good Science Center. Fun fact: he was the scientific advisor behind the beloved Pixar movie, Inside Out! He has over 200 scientific publications and six books, including Born to Be Good, The Compassionate Instinct, and The Power Paradox. His latest book is called Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Li...
May 04, 2023•55 min•Transcript available on Metacast Welcome to The Human Potential Lab! In this special series of The Psychology Podcast, I will be doing solo episodes answering your burning questions about the mind, brain, human behavior, and human potential. In the second episode of this series, I will be talking about creativity and how it differs from intelligence. Creativity can come in many different forms. It can be expressed through artistic compositions, through ingenious solutions to problems, or even through the combination of seemingl...
Apr 27, 2023•39 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today we welcome Gretchen Rubin, one of today’s most influential and thought-provoking observers of happiness and human nature. She’s a highly acclaimed writer, having sold millions of copies of her New York Times bestselling books. Her podcast, Happier with Gretchen Rubin, has more than 220 million downloads. As the founder of The Happiness Project, Gretchen has helped create an ecosystem of imaginative products and tools to help people become happier, healthier, more productive, and more creat...
Apr 20, 2023•59 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today we welcome Sharon Salzberg, who is a meditation pioneer, world-renowned teacher, and New York Times bestselling author. She is the co-founder of The Insight Meditation Society. Her podcast, The Metta Hour, has amassed six million downloads and features interviews with thought leaders from the mindfulness movement and beyond. Her latest book is called Real Life: The Journey from Isolation to Openness and Freedom. In this episode, I talk to Sharon Salzberg about navigating real life. When we...
Apr 13, 2023•53 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today we welcome Dr. Anil Seth. He is the Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex, where he is also Co-Director of the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science. His research has been supported by the European Research Council, the Wellcome Trust, and the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research. Dr. Seth’s 2017 main-stage TED talk is one of the most popular science TED talks, with more than 13 million views. His latest book, which has received numerous a...
Apr 06, 2023•2 hr 35 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today we welcome Kenneth Play and Madison Sloane Holland. Kenneth Play is an international sex expert and sex educator. Named “the world’s greatest sex hacker” by GQ, he has been featured by more than one hundred media outlets, including The New York Times, Men’s Health, Cosmopolitan, and Huffington Post. He is the creator of the Sex Hacker Pro Series, and author of Beyond Satisfied. His work has helped millions of men gain lasting confidence and competence. Madison Sloane Holland is a sex and e...
Mar 30, 2023•1 hr 6 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today we welcome Dr. Anne Fausto-Sterling. She is the Nancy Duke Lewis Professor Emerita of Biology and Gender Studies in the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology and Biochemistry at Brown University. Her books and scholarly articles are referenced widely in feminist and scientific inquiry. She has received grants and fellowships in both the sciences and the humanities. In 2020, she re-released Sexing the Body: Gender Politics and the Construction of Sexuality with updated research. In this ...
Mar 23, 2023•57 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today we welcome Debra Soh, Marco Del Giudice, and Buck Angel. Dr. Debra Soh is a neuroscientist who specializes in gender, sex, and sexual orientation. She holds a PhD in neuroscience with scientific expertise in paraphilias, hypersexuality, and child sexual abuse prevention. As a journalist, her writing has appeared in several publications like the New York Post, the Wall Street Journal, and many more. In 2020, she published her first book called “The End of Gender”. Dr. Marco Del Giudice is a...
Mar 16, 2023•2 hr 34 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today we welcome Dr. Carole Hooven. For the past six years, she served as a lecturer and co-director of undergraduate studies at Harvard’s department of Human Evolutionary Biology. She has received numerous teaching awards, and her popular Hormones and Behavior class was named one of the Harvard Crimson’s “top ten tried and true.” Currently, Dr. Hooven has moved to the Psychology department where she works as an associate at Steven Pinker’s lab. Her latest book is called T: The Story of Testoste...
Mar 09, 2023•1 hr 10 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today we welcome Aaron Rabinowitz and Callie Wright. Aaron is a lecturer in philosophy at Rutgers University. He hosts the Embrace The Void and Philosophers in Space podcast. He specializes in ethics, metaethics, and problems surrounding AI and personhood. He earned his M.A. in Philosophy from Colorado State University. Callie is a freelance audio producer and the host of the Queersplaining podcast. They are non-binary trans person. In this episode, I talk to Aaron and Callie about gender and tr...
Mar 02, 2023•2 hr 21 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today we welcome Steven Kotler, the Executive Director of the Flow Research Collective. He is an award-winning journalist and one of the world’s leading experts on human performance. Steven is the author of eleven bestsellers including The Art of Impossible, The Rise of Superman, Bold, and Abundance. His work has been nominated for two Pulitzer Prizes, translated into over 50 languages, and has appeared in over 100 publications. His latest book is called Gnar Country: Growing Old, Staying Rad . ...
Feb 23, 2023•1 hr 24 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today we welcome Eli Finkel. He is a professor at Northwestern University, where he has appointments in the psychology department and the Kellogg School of Management. In his role as director of Northwestern’s Relationships and Motivation Lab (RAMLAB), he has published more than 160 scientific papers and is a guest essayist for The New York Times. The Economist declared him “one of the leading lights in the realm of relationship psychology.” His latest book is called The All-Or-Nothing Marriage ...
Feb 16, 2023•41 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this live recording from The Comedy Cellar, Dr. Scott Barry Kaufman has a discussion with Jonathan Haidt, Greg Lukianoff, and Rikki Schlott about why so much in America seems to be so messed up: Things like Gen Z, universities, social media, American democracy, and our sense of humor, grace, and decency. How can we lighten up, toughen up, and get less stupid? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Feb 09, 2023•1 hr 18 min•Transcript available on Metacast Welcome to The Human Potential Lab! In this special series of The Psychology Podcast, I will be doing solo episodes answering your burning questions about the mind, brain, human behavior, and human potential. In the first episode of this series, I will be tackling a question I’ve been obsessed with virtually my entire life: What is Intelligence? Ever since I was a kid, I’ve wondered what it means to be smart. Does it simply mean high IQ? Are there other ways of being intelligent? Do multiple int...
Feb 02, 2023•47 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today we welcome the Shadow Expert, Dr. Connie Zweig. She is a retired therapist, writer, Climate Reality Leader, and Citizens Climate Lobbyist. She is the co-author of Meeting the Shadow and Romancing the Shadow and the author of Meeting the Shadow of Spirituality. Her latest book is called The Inner Work of Age: Shifting from Role to Soul, which has won both the 2021 American Book Fest Award and the 2021 Best Indie Book Award for best inspirational non-fiction. In this episode, I talked to Dr....
Jan 26, 2023•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today we welcome Gabriella Kellerman, the chief innovation officer at BetterUp and the head of BetterUp Labs. She is also a Harvard-trained physician with expertise in behavioral and organizational change, digital health, well-being, and AI. As a thought leader, Gabriella has been published in The Atlantic, Scientific American Mind, JAMA, and the Harvard Business Review. Her first book is Tomorrowmind , which she co-authored with Professor Martin Seligman. In this episode, I talked to Gabriella ...
Jan 19, 2023•46 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today we welcome Perry Zurn and Dani Bassett. Dr. Perry Zurn is Associate Professor of Philosophy at American University. He is the author or coauthor of more than 75 publications in philosophy, political theory, trans studies, and network science and has given hundreds of talks at local, national, and international venues. His work has been generously funded by organizations like the American Philosophical Association, the Center for Curiosity, the Lee Somers Fund and more. Dr. Dani S. Bassett ...
Jan 12, 2023•47 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today we welcome David Epstein, the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World , and of the bestseller The Sports Gene , both of which have been translated in more than 20 languages. His TED Talks on performance science have been viewed more than 11 million times. He has master's degrees in environmental science and journalism and has worked as an investigative reporter for ProPublica and a senior writer for Sports Illustrated . In this episo...
Jan 05, 2023•1 hr 14 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today we welcome Roland Griffiths and David Yaden. Dr. Roland Griffiths is a professor of neuroscience, psychiatry, and behavioral science, and director of the Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He has authored over 400 scientific publications and has trained more than 60 postdoctoral research fellows. His initial 2006 publication on psilocybin is often attributed as the catalyst for the re-initiation of psychedelic research after de...
Dec 29, 2022•1 hr 21 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today we welcome Ali Smith, Andrés González, and Atman Smith. Brothers Ali and Atman met Andrés at the University of Maryland College Park. During their last semester, the trio spent a lot of time reading books on spirituality, philosophy, history, politics, and other related topics. At the same time, they began their yoga practice and developed it under the guidance of Ali and Atman’s godfather. Months of hard work and planning ensued before they finally co-founded the Holistic Life Foundation....
Dec 22, 2022•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today we welcome Neil Pasricha who is an author, entrepreneur, podcaster, and public speaker characterized by his advocacy of positivity and simple pleasures. He is best known for his The Book of Awesome series, and "The Happiness Equation" which are international bestsellers. His first TED talk “The 3 A’s of Awesome” is ranked one of the 10 Most Inspiring of all time. Neil hosts an Apple “Best of” award-winning podcast called 3 Books. His most recent book is called Our Book of Awesome . In this...
Dec 15, 2022•1 hr•Transcript available on Metacast We’re re-releasing one of our favorite episodes from the past year with Lisa Feldman Barrett. Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett is among the top one percent most cited scientists in the world for her revolutionary research in psychology and neuroscience. She is a University Distinguished Professor of Psychology at Northeastern University. She also holds appointments at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, where she is Chief Science Officer for the Center for Law, Brain & Behavior. H...
Dec 08, 2022•1 hr 24 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today we welcome David McRaney. He is a science journalist fascinated with brains, minds, and culture. In 2012, he created the podcast You Are Not So Smart based on his 2009 internationally bestselling book of the same name and its follow-up, You Are Now Less Dumb. David is also an editor, photographer, voiceover artist, television host, journalism teacher, lecturer, and tornado survivor. His most recent book is called How Minds Change . In this episode, I talk to David McRaney about the science...
Dec 01, 2022•1 hr 6 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today we welcome Neal Brennan. He is a director, writer, actor, and comedian most known for co-creating and co-writing the Comedy Central series Chappelle's Show with Dave Chappelle and cult movie classic Half Baked. Neal received three Emmy nominations for Chappelle’s Show; one for directing, and the other two for writing and producing. He has also performed stand-up on Last Call with Carson Daly, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, Lopez Tonight, and Conan. Recently, his comedy special called Blocks...
Nov 24, 2022•1 hr 6 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today we welcome Dr. Becky Kennedy. She is a clinical psychologist and mom of three, recently named “The Millennial Parenting Whisperer” by TIME Magazine. She specializes in parenting and child development, with an emphasis on anxiety and resilience. Dr. Becky received her BA in Psychology and Human Development from Duke University and her PhD in Clinical Psychology from Columbia University. Her latest book is called Good Inside: A Guide to Becoming the Parent You Want to Be. In this episode, I ...
Nov 17, 2022•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today we welcome Whitney Johnson, CEO and co-founder of the tech-enabled talent development company Disruption Advisors. Whitney is a globally recognized thought leader, keynote speaker, executive coach, and consultant. She is a frequent lecturer at Harvard Business Publishing’s Corporate Learning division. She is also the bestselling author of Disrupt Yourself and Build an A Team. Her latest book is called Smart Growth: How to Grow Your People to Grow Your Company. In this episode, I talk to Wh...
Nov 10, 2022•49 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today we welcome Dan Tomasulo who is a counseling psychologist, professor, and the Academic Director at the Spirituality Mind Body Institute (SMBI), Teachers College, Columbia University. He holds a Ph.D. in psychology, an MFA in writing, and a Masters of Applied Positive Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania. Dan is also the author of several books, including American Snake Pit and Confessions of a Former Child: A Therapist's Memoir . His latest book is called Learned Hopefulness . In ...
Nov 03, 2022•54 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today we welcome Sonja Lyubomirsky who is a distinguished Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Riverside. Originally from Russia, she received her A.B., summa cum laude, from Harvard University and her Ph.D. in Social/Personality Psychology from Stanford University. Her research has been featured in hundreds of magazines, newspapers, shows and documentaries in North America, South America, Asia, Australia, and Europe. Dr. Lyubomirsky’s best-selling books The How of Happiness ...
Oct 27, 2022•56 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today we welcome Martha Beck, who is a New York Times bestselling author, life coach, and speaker. She holds three Harvard degrees in social science. Oprah Winfrey has called her “one of the smartest women I know.” Martha is a passionate and engaging teacher, known for her unique combination of science, humor, and spirituality. Her newest book is called The Way of Integrity: Finding the Path to Your True Self. In this episode, I talk to Martha Beck about integrity. According to her, we are all b...
Oct 20, 2022•1 hr•Transcript available on Metacast 
