You Are Not So Smart

Britt Frank, licensed neuropsychotherapist and trauma specialist who wrote Align Your Mind, guides you through Parts Work and Internal Family Systems. Short takes cover protectors, reactors, story keepers, and weirdo parts. She explains regulation, excavation, and activation steps, reframes the inner critic, and shows how to align competing parts so values and behavior cooperate.

Matt Tompkins, an Oxford‑educated experimental psychologist and magician studying deception and magical thinking. He recounts Clever Hans, how unconscious cues and double‑blind tests reshaped experiments, and how magicians help reveal perception, memory, and false testimony. Short takes on fake mind‑reading devices, cold reading, and why magical thinking persists in modern culture.

Jay Van Bavel, NYU professor of psychology and neuroscience who studies how group identity shapes perception. He explores why people watching the same footage see different realities. Topics include how attention and eye movements build subjective experience. He links group identity, naive realism, and social media dynamics to explain widening perceptual divides.

Michael Schwalb, Stanford social psychologist studying polarization; Katie Joseff, social neuroscience researcher on partisanship and misinformation; Samuel Woolley, professor of computational propaganda and disinformation. They discuss a new cognitive distortion called concordance over truth bias. Short takes cover how political alignment beats factual accuracy, study design and surprising predictors, and why interventions and platform policy matter.

Martin Carcasson, the Director of the Center for Public Deliberation at Colorado State, shares insights on how to tackle wicked problems through deliberation. He explores the transition from rhetorical criticism to practical facilitation, blending social psychology with dialogue practices. Carcasson defines wicked problems as complex, value-laden issues needing negotiation. He discusses a fascinating values card-ranking workshop designed to surface differing priorities, aiming to elevate conversations and foster collaboration in civic discourse.

Warren Berger, a self-described 'questionologist' and author, dives into the art of asking better questions. He introduces techniques like the 'Wait' question to encourage active listening and the AWE method to dig deeper in conversations. Berger shares insights on how curiosity fuels innovation, illustrating this with anecdotes from his journalism career. He emphasizes that asking ambitious, actionable questions can transform business strategies and foster creativity, reminding us to nurture our questioning spirit, especially in children.

Dr. Steven Franconeri, a cognitive scientist and founder of the Visual Thinking Lab, dives into the intriguing world of visual communication. He discusses the limitations of language in conveying complex ideas compared to our brain's visual processing capabilities. Franconeri introduces his innovative game, Point Taken, designed to transform toxic arguments into constructive dialogues. With mechanics that promote cooperation and intellectual humility, he shares insights on turning debates into respectful conversations, making understanding the goal over winning.

Join math professor and author Jordan Ellenberg as he dives into the hidden power of geometry. He explores how geometry shapes our understanding of complex systems, from Conway's Game of Life to intuitive insights that mirror psychedelic experiences. Ellenberg discusses the importance of teaching math through its historical roots and human elements, and even unpacks perplexing questions like how many holes a straw has. He connects geometry to art, game theory, and even personal discovery, revealing its authority in understanding our world.

Joshua Greene, a Harvard philosopher and neuroscientist, dives into how our brains shape morality. He shares insights on the infamous trolley problem and how it relates to our moral instincts. Greene discusses the impact of brain injuries on moral judgment and the emotional versus reasoning systems at play. He introduces innovative projects like the Giving Multiplier, aimed at enhancing charitable contributions, and the Tango quiz game, designed to reduce political polarization. His work blends psychology with practical solutions for pressing societal issues.

Dr. Madeleine Beekman, a professor emerita at the University of Sydney and author of The Origin of Language, delves into the evolutionary journey of human communication. She discusses how bipedalism influenced social structures and the importance of cooperation for early families. Beekman explores the role of a gene that spurred brain growth and how underdeveloped infants shaped social interactions. She argues that language emerged from caregiving needs, facilitating cooperation, all while emphasizing our connection to nature as evolved apes.