Optimism and Influence with Dr. Tali Sharot

Being Well with Forrest Hanson and Dr. Rick Hanson

Being Well

Education, Self-improvement, Health & Fitness, Mental Health

4.8 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 4 January 2021

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

What allows people to push on even during the darkest times? And how can we use that answer to influence our behavior, or the behavior of other people? Today Rick and Forrest are joined by Dr. Tali Sharot to explore the optimism bias, how optimism can exist alongside negativity, and how we can influence others more effectively. About our Guest: Dr. Sharot is a Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London, and the director of the Affective Brain Lab. She’s also the author of a number of wonderful books, including The Optimism Bias: A Tour of the Irrationally Positive Brain, and The Influential Mind: What the Brain Reveals About Our Power to Change Others. Support the Podcast: We're on Patreon! If you'd like to support the podcast, follow this link. Key Ideas: 1:30: What is the optimism bias, and how does it appear in people’s lives? 3:30: Where does the optimism bias come from? Did we evolve it? 8:45: How can someone cultivate an attitude of optimism? 13:00: Bringing good things into our awareness. 16:30: The negativity bias vs. the optimism bias. 19:30: Negativity, positivity, and memory. 23:00: The impact of surprise on our memory. 27:30: What helps us change our behavior and form new habits? 30:00: Changing behavior and beliefs on a national scale. 34:30: What really influences people's behavior? 40:00: Is human nature more positive or more negative? 44:00: Recap From Dr. Hanson: The Foundations of Well-Being brings together the lessons of a lifetime of practice into one year-long online program. Podcast listeners can use the code BEINGWELL25 at checkout for an additional 25% off! Please don't hesitate to apply for a scholarship if you're in need. Sponsors: Explore your creativity at Skillshare.com/BEINGWELL and get a free trial of their Premium Membership. Want to sleep better? Try the legendary Calm app! Visit calm.com/beingwell for 40% off a premium subscription. Join over a million people using BetterHelp, the world’s largest online counseling platform. Visit betterhelp.com/beingwell for 10% off your first month! Connect with the show: Follow us on Instagram Follow Rick on Facebook Follow Forrest on Facebook Subscribe on iTunes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to being well I'm Forrest Hansen. If you're new to the podcast, this is where we explore the practical science of lasting well-being.
0:15.0	And if you've listened before, welcome back.
0:18.0	I'm joined today, as usual by Dr. Rick Hansen, so Dad, how are you doing today?
0:22.0	I'm good, and I'm really thrilled that we're going to explore this topic today with the world's greatest researcher really on the optimism bias.
0:31.0	Yeah, today we have the pleasure of welcoming one of as you said the world's leading
0:34.8	researchers on emotion, decision-making, and perhaps particularly optimism.
0:40.0	Dr. Talley Sherritt.
0:41.6	Dr. Sherritt is a professor of cognitive neuroscience at the University College London
0:46.0	and the director of the Effective Brain Lab.
0:48.0	The Effective Brain Lab studies how our experience of emotion affects human cognition and behavior.
0:54.0	To give an example, how does the experience of threat affect the way that our memory works?
0:58.0	Dr. Sherritt has authored enormously influential research that has been published in top scientific journals, including nature and science.
1:06.0	She's also the author of some wonderful books, including The Optimism Bias, a tour of the
1:11.0	irrationally positive brain, and the influential mind, what the brain reveals about
1:16.1	our power to change others.
1:18.2	So Tolly, thanks for joining us today.
1:20.1	How are you doing?
1:21.1	My pleasure.
1:22.1	Thank you. It's lovely to join you. Yeah, it's great to have you here like truly and I would love to start with your work on optimism. So if you wouldn't mind starting by just kind of giving a general explanation, what is the optimism bias and could you give a couple of examples of it?
1:36.0	Yeah, so the optimism bias is our tendency to overestimate the likelihood of experiencing positive events in our lives such as for example
1:45.3	having a very successful career having a long happy marriage having talented, and underestimating the likelihood of having negative events
1:56.3	happen to us, such as being ill, being in an accident, having financial troubles. And it also is related to our tendency to imagine the future
	...

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