How Improv Makes You More Confident and Less Anxious

The Science of Happiness

PRX and Greater Good Science Center

Science, Social Sciences

4.4 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 3 August 2023

⏱️ 18 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Just 20 minutes of improv theater can foster creativity and confidence, and help with anxiety, depression, and your ability to tolerate uncertainty.

Link to episode transcript: https://tinyurl.com/4t9rjj58

Episode summary:

Deema Altaher was never one for the spotlight. So when her husband signed them up for improv classes, she had no idea what to expect. And yet after one class, Deema was hooked. From active listening games to “yes, and” prompts, she found that improv exercises shifted the way she connected with other people, and eased her nerves as she navigated all the uncomfortable parts of starting a new job. She was also inspired to “say yes” to new life opportunities. In fact, an emerging science shows that improv can benefit many people in terms of fostering greater comfort with new situations, inspiring creativity, lifting your mood, and even easing anxiety and depression. Professor Peter Felsman is a social scientist and improviser himself who has tested this spontaneous style of theater in the lab. Felsman explains how improv might cause these improvements, and others, like lessening social anxiety in children.

Try Improv On Your Own:

11 Easy Improv Games for Beginners - https://tinyurl.com/24xrre2y

Today’s guests:

Deema Altaher is an engineer who recently moved back to the United States from the United Arab Emirates.

Peter Felsman is a professor of social work at Northern Michigan University who specializes in the intersection between mindfulness, psychology and the arts.

Learn more about Peter Felsman’s work: https://tinyurl.com/5h47wsxs

Resources from The Greater Good Science Center:

Seven Ways to Cope with Uncertainty: https://tinyurl.com/4zh3m36e

Embracing Discomfort Can Help You Grow: https://tinyurl.com/5ftvvce3

The Power of Performance: https://tinyurl.com/3mc78yzb

What Mel Brooks Can Teach Us about “Group Flow”: https://tinyurl.com/2rxmrzhn

More Resources on Improv

NPR - The rules of improv can make you funnier. They can also make you more confident: https://tinyurl.com/2wvpk53j

Harvard Gazette - For more than just laughs: https://tinyurl.com/2zzxacpu

TED - How Improv Comedy Improves Mental Health: https://tinyurl.com/5a8vpt67

What helps you destress and cope with big changes? Email us at [email protected] or use the hashtag #happinesspod.

Help us share The Science of Happiness!

Rate us on Spotify and share this link with someone who might like the show: https://tinyurl.com/wnfb99cy

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	I was feeling a little nervous about my upcoming week at this new job.
0:10.4	And I felt a lot of pressure on myself and a little bit less confidence than I usually
0:15.3	did of myself.
0:16.3	Well, I'm no longer the expert in the room.
0:19.2	I'm a little bit hesitant to ask for help because then how does that reflect on me?
0:25.4	Will they think like, oh no, we hired the wrong person.
0:27.8	I do ask way too many questions.
0:30.2	So I would feel a little bit reluctant to kind of open myself up to that and be vulnerable.
0:35.5	And each day was just something different, like a sort of a different metaphorical fire.
0:41.8	I was hoping for something to take my mind off of those feelings.
0:46.6	And my husband, Mustafa, found a local comedy theater in Oakland called All Out Comedy,
0:52.6	was offering these improv sampler classes.
0:56.3	And by the end of it, I was pretty hooked.
1:04.3	Moving to a new city, starting a new job and struggling with all the nerves that go along
1:08.2	with that, it's a feeling I think most of us can relate to.
1:11.8	But what if there was something that science had shown to help us feel more comfortable
1:15.8	with new situations and maybe even boost our social skills?
1:20.6	An emerging body of research shows that practicing the rules of improv comedy can lift your
1:26.0	mood, make you feel more comfortable with uncertainty, and it can even reduce anxiety,
1:31.3	especially social anxiety.
1:34.5	Welcome to the Science of Happiness, I'm Dacker Keltner.
1:37.7	Today we'll dive into the principles of improv and how it can impact our lives.
	...

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