Hey there, it's Stephen Dupner. You may or may not know this, but I've been cheating

on you every week. Along with making Freakonomic radio, I make another show called No Stupid

Questions with my friend Angela Duckworth. She is a research psychologist at the University

of Pennsylvania. She's also the author of the book Grit, and as you will hear today,

he's just a lot of fun to talk to. Every week, we try to answer one question about psychology

or society or human nature, really anything that catches our interest. We started No Stupid

Questions a couple years ago, just as an excuse for me to hang out with Angie once a week.

Since then, it has become one of the most popular shows in the Freakonomics Radio Network.

So if you are not listening yet, maybe you should be. What you're about to hear is a brand

new episode of No Stupid Questions, and I hope it will inspire you to follow or subscribe

to the show in your podcast app. One big difference between this show and Freakonomics Radio

is that No Stupid Questions is really just a conversation, which is why, as you'll hear,

we have a fact checking section at the end to catch our mistakes. With Freakonomics

Radio, we do fact checking all along the way during the whole production and interview

and editing process. That doesn't mean we never make a mistake in Freakonomics Radio,

but we do catch most of them before you hear the show. Anyway, in this episode of No Stupid

Questions, we'll be talking about how our surroundings can make us smarter and maybe

happier too. As always, thanks for listening, and again, I do hope you'll also start listening

to No Stupid Questions every week. I also feel better now that I've told you about

my infidelity. It's a good way to start the new year with a clean conscience. 88% of elementary

school teachers encourage their students to hold their pee. I'm Angela Duckworth. I'm

Stephen Dubner, and you're listening to No Stupid Questions. Today on the show, how does

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