The Suggestible Brain
The Michael Shermer Show
Michael Shermer
4.4 • 921 Ratings
🗓️ 14 December 2024
⏱️ 85 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In The Suggestible Brain, cognitive psychologist Amir Raz delves into how suggestions can influence everything from wine preferences to memory and emotional reactions. As society grapples with misinformation, Raz’s research spans across cognitive psychology, sociology, and culture, emphasizing the profound impact of suggestion on both personal and collective levels. Raz’s expertise, merging magic with neuropsychology, unveils actionable insights for utilizing suggestion to enhance mental resilience and defend against manipulation.
Dr. Raz’s career includes roles as Canada Research Chair and Director of the Institute for Interdisciplinary Brain and Behavioral Sciences. A speaker and author, his insights on suggestion have been widely recognized by media and academic audiences. His work, grounded in extensive research and engaging storytelling, highlights the interconnectedness of suggestion with consciousness, memory, and identity.
Shermer and Raz discuss: the evolutionary basis of suggestibility, how brain imaging captures the power of suggestion, and the psychology behind hypnosis, meditation, and placebos. They discuss historical influences like Milgram’s obedience studies and explore suggestibility’s role in social contagions and cults. Raz also shares insights on psychedelics, neurofeedback, and using suggestion to manage conditions like ADHD, depression, and anxiety.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | You're listening to The Michael Shermer Show. As I mentioned often on the show, I'm constantly engaged in learning when I'm not recording new episodes or editing articles or working on my next book. |
| 0:33.3 | And my favorite platform by far is brilliant because it helps me build my critical thinking skills |
| 0:39.3 | through problem solving. |
| 0:40.9 | Like here's one on data, visualizing data and how to analyze it. |
| 0:45.3 | Anyway, the whole idea is that you're solving problems, not just memorizing, not just watching |
| 0:50.5 | lecture videos. |
| 0:51.8 | And I love watching lecture videos. |
| 0:53.5 | But this kind of interactive learning |
| 0:55.6 | is six times more effective than just listening to somebody speak. Plus all the content on |
| 1:01.4 | Brilliant is crafted by award-winning team of teachers, researchers, and professionals at MIT, |
| 1:07.0 | Caltech, Duke, Microsoft, Google, and more. To try everything Brilliant has to offer for free for a full 30 days, |
| 1:14.5 | go to brilliant.org slash skeptic. |
| 1:17.0 | That's brilliant.org slash skeptic. |
| 1:19.7 | Or you can click on the link in the description of the show notes for this episode. |
| 1:23.6 | And you'll also get 20% off an annual premium subscription. |
| 1:27.8 | So thanks for supporting the show. |
| 1:29.1 | Thanks for supporting brilliant. |
| 1:30.7 | Brilliant.org slash skeptic. |
| 1:32.4 | Check it out. |
| 1:33.3 | My guest today is Dr. Amir Raz, the world-renowned expert on the science of suggestion and suggestibility with recent positions as Canada Research Chair, Professor of Psychiatry, Neurology, and Neural Surgery, and Psychology at McGill University, and, where I know him, from Chapman University's founding director of the Institute for Interdisciplinary Brain and Behavioral Sciences. |
| 1:58.8 | So we were colleagues there. I've stopped teaching there a year and a half |
| 2:02.0 | ago, but we're still colleagues. I'm not sure how that works, but in any case, and his son, |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Michael Shermer, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Michael Shermer and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.