The psychology of fiction with Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Worklife with Adam Grant

TED

Management, Worklife Podcast, Worklife With Adam Grant, Work Life Balance, Ted Talks, Podcast About Work Life, Ted Adam Grant, Adam Grant Podcasts, Ted Podcasts, Adam Grant, Organizational Psychologist, Business

4.8 • 9.4K Ratings

🗓️ 14 March 2023

⏱️ 46 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

As a novelist, Jennifer Lynn Barnes has earned acclaim from critics and fans alike – her series The Inheritance Games has sold over a million copies. Before she became a bestselling author, she was a leading researcher in psychology on what draws us to fiction – and how it affects us. Jennifer and Adam discuss the psychology of reading and writing, fiction and fandom, and the role of imagination in the stories we love most. Then a special guest co-host (Adam’s daughter!) asks Jennifer about creativity, her favorite characters, and what makes a piece of writing original. Transcripts for ReThinking are available at go.ted.com/RWAGscripts

Transcript

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0:00.0	Ted Audio Collective.
0:06.0	Are you curious about the hidden side of everything that I have the podcast for you?
0:11.0	I'm Stephen Dubner, host of Freakonomics Radio.
0:14.0	Every week we hear from some of the world's most fascinating scholars and thinkers
0:18.0	as we tackle a variety of topics like why the best employees can make the worst bosses,
0:24.0	why the banana is the most interesting fruit in the world,
0:28.0	and why we dread air travel even though it's a miracle.
0:32.0	Go ahead, listen to Freakonomics Radio wherever you get your podcast.
0:38.0	Hey everyone, it's Adam Graham. Welcome back to Rethinking, my podcast on the Science of What Makes us Take.
0:44.0	I'm an organizational psychologist and I'm taking you inside the minds of fascinating people
0:48.0	to explore new thoughts and new ways of thinking.
0:51.0	My guest today is Jennifer Lynn Barnes.
0:57.0	She's a psychologist who specializes in the experience and effects of fiction and fandom.
1:02.0	Think of a book you've devoured or a TV show you've been obsessed with.
1:06.0	Jen's an expert at demystifying why we get so invested in these stories and characters.
1:11.0	She also practices what she teaches.
1:14.0	Jen is the New York Times bestselling author of some excellent young adult novels.
1:17.0	Most recently, they hit series The Inheritance Games.
1:20.0	It follows the story of a teenage girl who inherits a fortune from a billionaire stranger.
1:25.0	And she and his four grandsons tried to solve the mystery of why it went to her and not them.
1:30.0	My teenage daughter Joanna told me I had to read the first book.
1:33.0	I did. Then I read the next two on my own volition.
	...

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