No Stupid Questions

Also: why can't humans handle uncertainty already? We’re replaying No Stupid Questions, starting here with the very first episode, from May 17, 2020.

How can you learn to love uncertainty? Is it better to cultivate acceptance or strive for change? And, after 223 episodes, what is the meaning of life? SOURCES:Jessica AlquistRoy BaumeisterRaymond CarverStephen ColbertMatt DamonViktor FranklSteve HeineCharles KrauthammerReinhold NiebuhrKeanu ReevesElisabeth Sifton RESOURCES:Start Making Sense: How Existential Psychology Can Help Us Build Meaningful Lives in Absurd Times, Learning to Love UncertaintyCurrent Directions in Psychological Science, Confused or Curious? Openness/Intellect Predicts More Positive Interest-Confusion RelationsJournal of Personality and Social Psychology, A Note to ReadersThe Washington Post, Interest — The Curious EmotionCurrent Directions in Psychological Science, The Serenity Prayer: Faith and Politics in Times of Peace and War, Late FragmentA New Path to the Waterfall, Man's Search for Meaning, EXTRAS:What Makes an Idea Interesting?No Stupid Questions Should You Get Out of Your Comfort Zone?No Stupid Questions Do You Need Closure?No Stupid Questions Secret o’ LifeJT,

What do Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, and Malcolm Gladwell have in common? Are interesting theories more significant than true ones? And what has been keeping Angela up at night? Plus: an important announcement about the show. SOURCES:Charles DarwinMurray DavisMalcolm GladwellAdam GrantB. F. Skinner RESOURCES:Small Fry, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, Why Malcolm Gladwell’s Ideas Are So Interesting, Whether or Not They’re TrueQuartz, David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants, Curious?: Discover the Missing Ingredient to a Fulfilling Life, Interest — The Curious EmotionExploring the Psychology of Interest, The Ketchup ConundrumThe New Yorker, That's Interesting!: Towards a Phenomenology of Sociology and a Sociology of PhenomenologyPhilosophy of the Social Sciences, The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals, EXTRAS:How Do You Identify a Narcissist?No Stupid Questions Is Screen Time as Poisonous as We Think?Freakonomics Radio Abortion and Crime, Revisited (Update)Freakonomics Radio

Why does listening to No Stupid Questions feel like you’re hanging out with your best friends? Why did the whole world take it personally when Princess Diana died? And how do “parasocial relationships” affect your mental health? SOURCES:Bradley BondJohn CacioppoJoe CobbsNick EpleyKaty MilkmanEmily OsterAnuj Shah RESOURCES:Knowledge About Others Reduces One’s Own Sense of AnonymityNatureTragic but True: How Podcasters Replaced Our Real FriendsThe GuardianThe Development and Influence of Parasocial Relationships With Television Characters: A Longitudinal Experimental Test of Prejudice Reduction Through Parasocial ContactCommunication ResearchA Mind like Mine: The Exceptionally Ordinary Underpinnings of AnthropomorphismJournal of the Association for Consumer ResearchGrit: The Power of Passion and PerseveranceHow Soap Operas Changed the WorldBBCThe Power of TV: Cable Television and Women's Status in IndiaThe Quarterly Journal of Economics EXTRAS:Can A.I. Companions Replace Human Connection?No Stupid Questions RivalryTell Me Something I Don't Know Behavior Change for Good InitiativeEverything Is AliveThe Know Rivalry Project

Are things really as bad as they seem? Has Gen Z given up hope for the world? And why was the father of positive psychology a lifelong pessimist? SOURCES:Albert BanduraDavid Brooks. Andrew GroveKalev LeetaruSteven MaierMichelle ObamaSteven PinkerAmanda RipleyMartin SeligmanJean TwengeEdward Zigler RESOURCES:Chicken Littles Are Ruining AmericaThe Atlantic, Generations, Enlightenment Now, The Short History of Global Living Conditions and Why It Matters That We Know ItOur World in Data, Learned Helplessness at Fifty: Insights from NeurosciencePsychological Review, Short- and Long-Term Consequences of Stressor Controllability in Adolescent RatsBehavioural Brain Research, The Better Angels of Our Nature, Forecasting Large-Scale Human Behavior Using Global News Media Tone in Time and SpaceFirst Monday, Motivational Aspects of Changes in IQ Test Performance of Culturally Deprived Nursery School ChildrenChild Development, Failure to Escape Traumatic ShockJournal of Experimental Psychology, Upworthy EXTRAS:Why Is U.S. Media So Negative?Freakonomics Radio

Does a surplus of information create a shortage of attention? Are today’s young people really unable to focus? And do goldfish need better PR? SOURCES:Neil BradburyNicholas CarrJohann HariCharles HowardFelicity HuntingfordGloria MarkRick RubinHerbert Simon RESOURCES:Uncovering Your Path: Spiritual Reflections for Finding Your Purpose, Attention Span: A Groundbreaking Way to Restore Balance, Happiness and Productivity, The Creative Act: A Way of Being, Stolen Focus: Why You Can't Pay Attention — and How to Think Deeply Again, Quibi’s Founder and CEO Explain What Went WrongCNBC, Digital Democracy Survey, Eleventh EditionBusting the Attention Span MythBBC News, Attention Span During Lectures: 8 Seconds, 10 Minutes, or More?Advances in Physiology Education, Is Google Making Us Stupid?The Atlantic, Designing Organizations for an Information-Rich WorldComputers, Communications, and the Public Interest, EXTRAS:Multitasking Doesn’t Work. So Why Do We Keep Trying?Freakonomics Radio Rick Rubin on How to Make Something GreatPeople I (Mostly) Admire

What’s the difference between narcissism and high self-esteem? Does social media fuel arrogance or self-consciousness? And do people get less toxic with age? SOURCES:Brené BrownJonathan HaidtMichael LewisCooper McAllisterJean Twenge RESOURCES:Narcissistic Abuse’ Has Gone Mainstream. But What Is It?The Washington Post, Development of Narcissism Across the Life Span: A Meta-Analytic Review of Longitudinal StudiesPsychological Bulletin, The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness, America Is Obsessed With Narcissists. Is Trump to Blame?USA Today, Narcissism Today: What We Know and What We Need to LearnCurrent Directions in Psychological Science, Egos Deflating With the Great Recession: A Cross-Temporal Meta-Analysis and Within-Campus Analysis of the Narcissistic Personality Inventory, 1982–2016Personality and Individual Differences, Narcissistic Personality Disorder: Diagnostic and Clinical ChallengesAmerican Journal of Psychiatry, Generation Me: Why Today's Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled — and More Miserable Than Ever Before, Cincinnatus and the Citizen-Servant Ideal: The Roman Legend's Life, Times, and Legacy, EXTRAS:Is Screen Time as Poisonous as We Think?Freakonomics Radio Do 'Generations' Mean Anything?No Stupid Questions Is Pride the Worst Sin?No Stupid Questions The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine,

How many bottles of wine are regifted? What’s wrong with giving cash? And should Angela give her husband a subscription to the Sausage of the Month Club? SOURCES:Joel Waldfogel RESOURCES:How to Become a Truly Excellent Gift GiverVox, How to Calculate a Holiday Tip for the DoormanThe New York Times, Least Favorite Gifts to Receive for Christmas in the United States in 2022, by Generation(Not) Giving the Same Old Song and Dance: Givers’ Misguided Concerns About Thoughtfulness and Boringness Keep Them From Repeating GiftsJournal of Business Research, Does Anyone Really Buy the Giant Car Bows You See in Every Commercial?Vox, It’s the Motive That Counts: Perceived Sacrifice Motives and Gratitude in Romantic RelationshipsEmotion, Why Certain Gifts Are Great to Give but Not to Get: A Framework for Understanding Errors in Gift GivingCurrent Directions in Psychological Science, The Girl Who Gets Gifts From BirdsB.B.C. News, The Disappointing Gift: Dispositional and Situational Moderators of Emotional ExpressionsJournal of Experimental Child PsychologyScroogenomics: Why You Shouldn’t Buy Presents for the Holidays, The Deadweight Loss of ChristmasThe American Economic Review, United States Postal Service Employee Tipping and Gift-Receiving Policy EXTRASHave a Very Homo Economicus ChristmasFreakonomics Radio

How does social media exploit our evolutionary instincts? How dangerous is it to post about your children online? And does Angela regret talking about her daughters on the podcast? SOURCES:Erin CarboneJimmy KimmelGeorge LoewensteinTaylor SwiftChristie Tate RESOURCES:Five Takeaways From The Times’s Investigation Into Child InfluencersThe New York Times Online 'Sharenting': The Dangers of Posting Sensitive Information About Children on Social MediaThe Journal of Pediatrics, Privacy Preferences and the Drive to DiscloseCurrent Directions in Psychological Science, My Daughter Asked Me to Stop Writing About Motherhood. Here’s Why I Can’t Do ThatThe Washington Post, When Kids Realize Their Whole Life Is Already OnlineThe Atlantic, 'Sharenting' Puts Young at Risk of Online FraudBBC News, Everything You Need to Know About the 'Right to be forgotten EXTRAS:What Is Your Password?Jimmy Kimmel Live! The Best Day

Would you steal Halloween candy? Should people be required to identify themselves online? And why did Angela go trick-or-treating in a trash bag? SOURCES:Hajo AdamMarianna CeriniEdward DienerAdam GalinskyJ. Nathan MatiasLisa MortonIsaac Bashevis SingerPhilip Zimbardo RESOURCES:Halloween Was Once So Dangerous That Some Cities Considered Banning ItHistory, Why Do People Sometimes Wear an Anonymous Mask? Motivations for Seeking Anonymity OnlinePersonality and Social Psychology Bulletin, From Pagan Spirits to Wonder Woman: A Brief History of the Halloween CostumeCNN, The Real Name FallacyCoral, Can Your Employees Really Speak Freely?Harvard Business Review, 'Mask Index' Helps Predict Election Day OutcomeCBS Evening News, Enclothed CognitionJournal of Experimental Social Psychology, Effects of Deindividuation Variables on Stealing Among Halloween Trick-or-TreatersJournal of Personality and Social Psychology, The Human Choice: Individuation, Reason, and Order Versus Deindividuation, Impulse, and ChaosNebraska Symposium on Motivation, EXTRAS:What Is Evil?No Stupid Questions How to Maximize Your Halloween Candy HaulFreakonomics Radio

Is it better to explain a mistake or just accept responsibility? What’s the difference between an excuse and a justification? And why is it important to remember that you’re not a pizzeria on the Jersey Shore? SOURCES:Robert CialdiniRaymond HigginsMartin SeligmanRick Snyder RESOURCES:‘Explain, but Make No Excuses’: Service Recovery After Public Service FailuresPublic Management Review, To Justify or Excuse?: A Meta-Analytic Review of the Effects of ExplanationsJournal of Applied Psychology, Excuses: Their Effective Role in the Negotiation of RealityPsychological Bulletin, The Attributional Style QuestionnaireCognitive Therapy and Research, EXTRAS:How Can You Convince Someone They’re Wrong?No Stupid Questions Under the Boardwalk

What’s wrong with donating to charity for the tax write-off? Should we think less of people who do volunteer work to pad their resumes? And why is Angela stopping women in public parks to compliment them? SOURCES:Bill GatesGeoffrey GoodwinJon HuntsmanImmanuel KantEmrys Westacott RESOURCES:How Inferred Motives Shape Moral JudgementsNature Reviews Psychology, Just 2 Minutes of Walking After a Meal Is Surprisingly Good for YouThe New York Times, Psychological EgoismThoughtCo, A Meta-Analytic Review of Moral LicensingPersonality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Selfish or Selfless? On the Signal Value of Emotion in Altruistic BehaviorJournal of Personality and Social Psychology, Greenwashing — the Deceptive Tactics Behind Environmental Claims EXTRAS:Giving It AwayPeople I (Mostly) Admire How Can We Get More Virtue and Less ‘Virtue Signaling’?No Stupid Questions Does Doing Good Give You License to Be Bad?Freakonomics Radio

How do you come back from being “canceled”? Are we more likely to forgive someone if they cry? And what makes a successful public apology? SOURCES:Karen CeruloBill ClintonDavid GergenBenjamin HoMonica LewinskyJohn ListBrandon Rottinghaus RESOURCES:Slut-Shamed at 22, an Icon at 50 — How Monica Lewinsky Got Her Life BackThe Times, Do Scandals Matter?Political Research Quarterly, Toward An Understanding of the Economics of Apologies: Evidence from a Large-Scale Natural Field ExperimentThe Economic Journal, Embodied Remorse: Physical Displays of Remorse Increase Positive Responses to Public Apologies, but Have Negligible Effects on ForgivenessJournal of Personality and Social Psychology, Commentary: Time for Bill Clinton to Go AwayCBS News, The Price of ShameTED Talk, Apologies Demanded Yet Devalued: Normative Dilution in the Age of ApologyJournal of Experimental Social Psychology, Apologies of the Rich and Famous: Cultural, Cognitive, and Social Explanations of Why We Care and Why We ForgiveSocial Psychology Quarterly, EXTRAS:How to Optimize Your ApologyFreakonomics Radio Coal DiggerModern Family

When are negative emotions enjoyable? Are we all a little masochistic? And do pigs like hot sauce? SOURCES:Carol DweckSigmund FreudPaul RozinRobert SapolskyGeorge Vaillant RESOURCES:The 10 Scariest Horror Movies EverRotten Tomatoes, Box Office History for HorrorThe NumbersAround the World, Adolescence Is a Time of Heightened Sensation Seeking and Immature Self-RegulationDevelopmental Science, Why Taste Buds Dull As We AgeThe Salt, Horror Literature Through History, Why We Love the Pain of Spicy FoodThe Wall Street Journal, Glad to Be Sad, and Other Examples of Benign MasochismJudgment and Decision Making, The Ignorant and the Furious: Video and CatharsisMindset: The New Psychology of Success, Adaptive Mental Mechanisms: Their Role in a Positive PsychologyAmerican Psychologist, EXTRAS:Terrifier 2, How to Change Your Mind (Update)Freakonomics Radio Why Is U.S. Media So Negative?Freakonomics Radio Why Is Academic Writing So Bad?No Stupid Questions Han Dynasty restaurant

What makes normal people do terrible things? Are there really bad apples — or just bad barrels? And how should you deal with a nefarious next-door neighbor? SOURCES:Jonathan HaidtChristina MaslachStanley MilgramEdward R. MurrowAlexander PopeAdrian RaineOskar SchindlerPhilip Zimbardo RESOURCES:Mental Illness and Violence: Debunking Myths, Addressing RealitiesMonitor on Psychology, Debunking the Stanford Prison ExperimentAmerican Psychologist, How 'Evil' Became a Conservative BuzzwordThe Atlantic, The Double-Edged Sword: Does Biomechanism Increase or Decrease Judges' Sentencing of Psychopaths?Science, The Psychology of EvilTED Talk, The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil, When Morality Opposes Justice: Conservatives Have Moral Intuitions that Liberals may not RecognizeSocial Justice Research, Abu Ghraib Whistleblower Speaks OutAll Things Considered, Obedience to Authority: An Experimental View, EXTRAS:Does Free Will Exist, and Does It Matter?No Stupid Questions Are You Suffering From Burnout?No Stupid Questions Lolita, Essay on Man, Epistle II

Who decided that we’re fully mature at 18? Should 16-year-olds have the right to vote? And why are young people bringing their parents to job interviews? SOURCES:Jeffrey ArnettJulie BeckThe AtlanticGrace IcenogleAllyson MackeyTrevor NoahHeejung ParkLawrence SteinbergJean Twenge RESOURCES:1 in 4 Gen Zers Brought a Parent to a Job InterviewResumeTemplates.com, Puberty Starts Earlier Than It Used To. No One Knows WhyThe New York Times, Early Life Stress Is Associated With Earlier Emergence of Permanent MolarsPNAS, When Are You Really an Adult?The New York Times, The Decline in Adult Activities Among U.S. Adolescents, 1976-2016Child Development, Using Developmental Science to Distinguish Adolescents and Adults Under the LawAnnual Review of Developmental Psychology, Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood, When Are You Really an Adult?The Atlantic, Adulthood in Law and CultureWilliam & Mary Law School Scholarship Repository, Emerging Adulthood. A Theory of Development From the Late Teens Through the TwentiesAmerican Psychologist, EXTRA:Do 'Generations' Mean Anything?No Stupid Questions

What are Mike and Angela’s favorite songs to cry to? Can upbeat music lift you out of a bad mood? And what is Angela going to sing the next time she does karaoke? SOURCES:Matthew DesmondDaniel KahnemanJoshua KnobeSimon McCarthy-JonesYael MillgramStanley MilgramRuth ReichlLaurie SantosBarbara Tversky RESOURCES:On the Value of Sad MusicThe Journal of Aesthetic Education, The Reason People Listen to Sad SongsThe New York Times, Adele 30: The Psychology of Why Sad Songs Make Us Feel GoodThe Conversation, Why Do Depressed People Prefer Sad Music?Emotion, Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City, Sad as a Matter of Choice? Emotion-Regulation Goals in DepressionPsychological Science, Music and Emotion Through TimeTED Talk, Thinking, Fast and Slow, EXTRAS:Girl Power Sing-Along with Laurie Santos and Catherine PriceWhat Makes a Good Sense of Humor?No Stupid Questions How Contagious Is Behavior? With Laurie Santos of 'The Happiness Lab' (Replay)No Stupid Questions

What is the evolutionary purpose of laughter? What’s the difference between Swedish depression and American depression? And why aren’t aliens interested in abducting Mike? SOURCES:Jennifer AakerJudd ApatowFredrik BackmanNaomi BagdonasJames CordenDick CostoloCarol DweckJimmy FallonDaniel KahnemanJimmy KimmelLarry LaPriseJerry Seinfeld RESOURCES:Fredrik Backman on Creative Anxiety and ProcrastinationThe Relative Importance of Joke and Audience Characteristics in Eliciting AmusementPsychological Science, The 100-Million-Year Origin Story of Laughter and HumorEndless Thread, Humor, Seriously: Why Humor Is a Secret Weapon in Business and Life (And How Anyone Can Harness It. Even You.), What Makes Things Funny? An Integrative Review of the Antecedents of Laughter and AmusementPersonality and Social Psychology Review, Sick in the Head: Conversations About Life and Comedy, How to Win Friends and Influence People, EXTRAS:Can A.I. Take a Joke?Freakonomics Radio The Comedian-Ophthalmologist Will See You NowFreakonomics, M.D. There's Something About Mary,

Also: are the most memorable stories less likely to be true? Stephen Dubner chats with Angela Duckworth in this classic episode from July 2020. SOURCES:Pearl S. BuckJack GallantSteve LevittPeople I (Mostly) Admire,FreakonomicsGeorge LoewensteinDeborah SmallAdin SteinsaltzDiana Tamir RESOURCES:The Representation of Semantic Information Across Human Cerebral Cortex During Listening Versus Reading Is Invariant to Stimulus ModalityJournal of Neuroscience, Reading Fiction and Reading Minds: The Role of Simulation in the Default NetworkSocial Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, Think Like a Freak, SuperFreakonomics, Encyclopedia of Ethical Failure, Stories or Statistics? Farmers' Attitudes Toward Messages in an Agricultural Safety CampaignJournal of Agricultural Safety and Health, Explaining the Identifiable Victim EffectJournal of Risk and Uncertainty, Explanation-Based Decision Making: Effects of Memory Structure on JudgmentJournal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, The Good Earth, EXTRAS:Abortion and Crime, Revisited (Update)Freakonomics Radio This Is Your Brain on PodcastsFreakonomics Radio

Why does the U.S. use Fahrenheit when Celsius is better? Would you quit your job if a coin flip told you to? And how do you get an entire country to drive on the other side of the road? SOURCES:Christian CrandallStephen DubnerFreakonomics Radio FreakonomicsScott EidelmanDavid HumeEllen LangerSteve LevittPeople I (Mostly) Admire,FreakonomicsJohn McWhorterMark Twain RESOURCESWhat Countries Use the Imperial System?HowStuffWorks, UK Quietly Drops Brexit Law to Return to Imperial MeasurementsFinancial Times, Heads or Tails: The Impact of a Coin Toss on Major Life Decisions and Subsequent HappinessThe Review of Economic Studies, A ‘Thrilling’ Mission to Get the Swedish to Change OvernightBBC, Why We Can’t Quit the QWERTY KeyboardMIT Technology Review, Why Americans Still Use Fahrenheit Long After Everyone Else Switched to CelsiusVox, The Intuitive Traditionalist: How Biases for Existence and Longevity Promote the Status QuoAdvances in Experimental Social Psychology, What Scientific Concept Would Improve Everybody's Cognitive Toolkit?Edge, Mars Probe Lost Due to Simple Math ErrorLos Angeles Times, EXTRAS:Would You Let a Coin Toss Decide Your Future?Freakonomics Radio The Upside of QuittingFreakonomics Radio