The psychology of self-persuasion with Elliot Aronson

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

🗓️ 5 December 2023

⏱️ 46 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Elliot Aronson is one of the preeminent psychologists of the 20th century — his mentors were Abraham Maslow and Leon Festinger, and his award-winning psychology textbooks are seminal even for non-psychologists. Adam asks Elliot about his pioneering work on making mistakes and cognitive dissonance, or the discomfort we feel when we realize that our attitudes or actions contradict our values. Then, the two discuss the dangers (and upsides) of rationalizing our beliefs — and strategies for making better decisions while keeping an open mind. Transcripts for ReThinking are available at go.ted.com/RWAGscripts

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Ted Audio Collective.
0:02.0	Audio Collective.
0:04.0	Hey listener, a quick favor.
0:09.0	We are conducting an audience survey and we'd be really grateful if you could take just a few minutes to respond.
0:14.0	Please visit survey.PRX.org slash work life to take the survey today.
0:20.0	That's survey dot PRX.org. slash work life.
0:24.0	Thanks.
0:25.0	Hey everyone, it's Adam Grant.
0:28.0	Welcome back to Rethinking, my podcast on the science of what makes us tick.
0:32.0	I'm an organizational
0:33.9	psychologist and I'm taking you inside the minds of fascinating people to
0:37.7	explore new thoughts and new ways of thinking. My guest today is the legendary social psychologist Elliot Aronson.
0:48.0	He's a pioneer of the study of cognitive dissonance, the uncomfortable tension we feel when our attitudes and
0:54.7	actions conflict.
0:56.8	He co-authored a book on dissonance that I think should be required reading for all humans.
1:01.9	Mistakes were made, but not by me.
1:04.7	He also wrote The Social Animal, an award-winning textbook
1:07.8	beloved by generations of psychology students,
1:10.6	now in its 12th edition. Elliot is the only person ever to win the Triple Crown of Awards
1:15.0	from the American Psychological Association
1:18.0	for research, teaching, and writing.
1:20.0	And he won the William James Award for Lifetime Achievement. He's 91 and I'd love to be as sharp any day as he is today.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from TED, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of TED and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.