445. Why Do We Seek Comfort in the Familiar?

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🗓️ 24 December 2020

⏱️ 37 minutes

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Summary

In this episode of No Stupid Questions — a Freakonomics Radio Network show launched earlier this year — Stephen Dubner and Angela Duckworth debate why we watch, read, and eat familiar things during a crisis, and if it might in fact be better to try new things instead. Also: is a little knowledge truly as dangerous as they say?

Transcript

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0:00.0	It was nearly one year ago on Christmas Day 2019 that we released a pilot episode of a show
0:10.2	that we thought might be a lot of fun to make. This was before we had any inkling that a pandemic
0:15.3	was about to shake all of us down to our foundations. After a COVID-related delay, we did launch the
0:22.1	show in May. We called it No Stupid Questions. It's got a simple premise. Every week, Angela Duckworth
0:28.8	and I ask each other one good question, and then we try to answer it. We use research when
0:34.4	available, and if not, bluster. Angela, if you are not familiar with her, is a psychology professor
0:40.7	and researcher at the University of Pennsylvania. She's the author of the book, Grit, and she is an
0:45.6	excellent person to have a conversation with, even if she does win just about every argument.
0:51.1	Since May, she and I have debated the best way to be angry, how to handle criticism,
0:57.3	why stories, or so much stickier than statistics. It's kind of like Freakonomics Radio for psychology,
1:04.4	but a little looser, a little more personal, occasionally deranged. This may just be the pandemic
1:11.2	talking, but No Stupid Questions has definitely become one of the highlights of my week.
1:16.3	And other people seem to agree, the show recently passed 5 million downloads. So, in case you don't
1:22.3	already listen, we are slipping a recent episode here into the Freakonomics Radio feed.
1:26.1	You can subscribe to No Stupid Questions wherever you get your podcasts. If you have a question,
1:31.4	you'd like us to answer on the show. We are at NSQ at Freakonomics.com, and for any other questions,
1:38.4	or comments, or complaints, holiday wishes, whatever, we are at Radio at Freakonomics.com.
1:45.4	I hope you have a great holiday this year, despite the headwinds. No Stupid Questions begins right now.
1:56.4	Hi, I'm Antelda Duckworth. I'm Steven Dovner, and you're listening to No Stupid Questions.
2:01.6	Today on the show, how much is your mood driven by the media you consume?
2:06.7	You've never seen love actually? I've heard of it. You've never seen love actually?
2:11.6	Also, is a little knowledge worse than complete ignorance?
	...

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