I cannot think of an academic whose research findings have more consistently

surprise me than my guest today Harvard psychologist Ellen Langer.

She's a scientist, but a result seriously challenge the beliefs of mainstream science.

So I had literally made myself sick.

And that set me off on a career

where if I can literally make myself sick,

maybe I can literally make myself well.

Welcome to people I mostly admire with Steve Leavitt.

I've got a model in my head of how the world works, a broad framework for making sense of the world around me.

I'm sure you've got one too. My model is, I think, pretty typical of someone who puts

faith in modern science, perhaps with a little added cynicism about human

nature.

So when I hear about a new research study, I have a habit of asking myself, given my model

of the world, what results would I expect the study to generate?

Usually I'm pretty good at guessing what the researchers actually find.

But with Ellen Langer, over and over, she gets results that I would never predict.

So here are my questions for you as you listen to this conversation. First, do you find research results as stunning as I do?

The second question I'd like you to think about is, when research findings surprise you,

what's the right reaction?

How do you know whether you should believe surprising results?

I've read the work of many scholars and I can honestly say that you win the prize

for the body of research that most consistently finds results that are completely the opposite of what I would have

...