On Wisdom

Is religious belief a form of make-believe — and if so, what deeper truths might we be acting out? Neil Van Leeuwen joins Igor and Charles to explore the psychological roots of religion, the nature of belief, and how sacred values shape group identity. Igor reflects on the blurring line between religious and political convictions, Neil argues that religious credence operates more like imaginative play than factual belief, and Charles considers whether conspiracy theories might be filling the same social and psychological roles. Welcome to Episode 65.Special Guest: Neil Van Leeuwen.Links:Neil Van Leeuwen' site | Florida State University Religion as Make-Believe A Theory of Belief, Imagination, and Group Identity | Book - Neil Van Leeuwen The Puzzle of Belief - Neil Van Leeuwen & Tania Lombrozo (2023)

Can AI ever be truly wise, or are we just seeing reflections of ourselves? Philosophy Professor Shannon Vallor joins Igor and Charles to explore how technology shapes human wisdom, why we’ve been thinking about AI all wrong, and what it really means to align machines with our values. Shannon unpacks the AI Mirror metaphor, suggesting that today’s AI isn’t a thinking mind but a reflection of human data, Igor considers whether technology could ever help us become wiser rather than just more efficient, and Charles wonders if philosophy can guide better decisions in a world increasingly shaped by algorithms. Welcome to Episode 63.Special Guest: Shannon Vallor.Links:Shannon Vallor | University of Edinburgh Shannon Vallor | Edinburgh Futures Institute, The University of Edinburgh The AI Mirror: How to Reclaim Our Humanity in an Age of Machine Thinking - Shannon Vallor (2024) How philosopher Shannon Vallor delivered the year’s best critique of AI - Fast Company (2024) The Turing Lectures: Can we live with AI? - Shannon Vallor The Danger Of Superhuman AI Is Not What You Think | Noema - Shannon Vallor The Thoughts The Civilized Keep | Noema - Shannon Vallor AI Is the Black Mirror | Nautilus - Philip Ball Technology and the Virtues A Philosophical Guide to a Future Worth Wanting - Shannon Vallor (Book) Moral Machines: From Value Alignment to Embodied Virtue - Wendell Wallach, Shannon Vallor (2020) AI and the Automation of Wisdom - Shannon Vallor (2017) The AI Mirror — how technology blocks human potential | FT (Subscription Required)

Can our political identities get in the way of wise action, even on existential issues like climate change? Leaf Van Boven and David Sherman join Igor and Charles to unpack how we perceive environmental policy through the lenses of group identity and social norms, revealing how misperceptions fuel inaction. Igor considers how group beliefs can override personal values, Leaf explores the power of asking, “What if I’m wrong?”, David suggests we may be following louder voices over wiser ones, and Charles wonders if we’re wired to stick to our “tribe” or if we can really think beyond our social bubbles. Welcome to Episode 61.Special Guests: David Sherman and Leaf Van Boven.Links:Leaf Van Boven | University of Colorado Boulder Environment, Decision, Judgment, and Identity Lab (EDJI) | University of Colorado Boulder David Sherman | UC Santa Barbara Sherman Lab | UC Santa Barbara Social Science Climate Lab The connections—and misconnections—between the public and politicians over climate policy: A social psychological perspective - Sherman, Van Boven (2024) Social norms explain prioritization of climate policy - Cole, Ehret, Sherman, Van Boven (2022) Politicians polarize and experts depolarize public support for COVID-19 management policies across countries - Flores, A., Cole J. C., Dickert S., Eom K., Jiga-Boy G. M., Kogut T., Loria R., Mayorga M., Pedersen E. J., Pereira B., Rubaltelli E., Sherman D. K., Slovic P., Vastfjall D., & Van Boven L. (2022)

Can our expectations about ourselves and others reshape our lives? Science writer David Robson returns to explore how our expectations don’t just change personal outcomes—they influence how we connect with others. Drawing from his books The Laws of Connection and The Expectation Effect, David reveals the hidden psychology behind social interactions and how our misconceptions about what others think can hold us back. Igor delves into how expectations can foster or hinder meaningful relationships, David explains how small mindset shifts can help overcome social anxiety, and Charles reflects on why connecting with strangers can be easier (and more rewarding) than we think. Welcome to Episode 59.Special Guest: David Robson.Links:David Robson's Website How your expectations can transform your life | BBC Radio 4 (article) The Laws of Connection: 13 Social Strategies That Will Transform Your Life | Book The Expectation Effect: How Your Mindset Can Change Your World | Book David Robson's Column | The New Scientist

Can we ever really know ourselves, or are we destined to always make overly optimistic self-assessments? David Dunning joins Igor and Charles to discuss the Dunning-Kruger effect, the importance of asking the right questions, why arriving at an accurate view of ourselves is so challenging, and the implications for teaching, medicine, and even scientific research. Igor explores the possible reemergence of group assessments in education as a result of advances in AI, David shares why conversations with smart people often end up as competitions to ask the most questions, and Charles reflects on the wisdom-enhancing experience of jury service. Welcome to Episode 57.Special Guest: David Dunning.Links:Unskilled and unaware of it: how difficulties in recognizing one's own incompetence lead to inflated self-assessments - J Kruger, D Dunning (1999) The association between objective and subjective financial literacy: Failure to observe the Dunning-Kruger effect - Gilles E. Gignac (2022) Flawed Self-Assessment: Implications for Health, Education, and the Workplace - David Dunning Chip Heath Jerry M. Suls (2004) Feeling "Holier Than Thou": Are Self-Serving Assessments Produced by Errors in Self- or Social Prediction? - Nicholas Epley, David Dunning (2000) Why People Fail to Recognize Their Own Incompetence - David Dunning1. Kerri Johnson Joyce Ehrlinger Justin Kruger (2003) The Dunning–Kruger Effect: On Being Ignorant of One's Own Ignorance | Book Chapter - David Dunning (2011)

How can we make AI wiser? And could AI make us wiser in return? Sina Fazelpour joins Igor and Charles to discuss the problem of bias in algorithms, how we might make machine learning systems more diverse, and the thorny challenge of alignment. Igor considers whether interacting with AIs might help us achieve higher levels of understanding, Sina suggests that setting up AIs to promote certain values may be problematic in a pluralistic society, and Charles is intrigued to learn about the opportunities offered by teaming up with our machine friends. Welcome to Episode 55.Special Guest: Sina Fazelpour.Links:Sina Fazelpour's Website AI and the transformation of social science research | Science - Igor Grossmann, Matthew Feinberg, Dawn C. Parker, Nicholas A. Christakis, Philip E. Tetlock, Willian A. Cunningham (2023) Algorithmic Fairness from a Non-ideal Perspective - Sina Fazelpour, ZacharyC.Lipton (2020 Diversity in sociotechnical machine learning systems - Sina Fazelpour, Maria De-Arteaga (2022) Picking on the Same Person: Does Algorithmic Monoculture lead to Outcome Homogenization? - Rishi Bommasani, Kathleen A. Creel, Ananya Kumar, Dan Jurafsky, Percy Liang (2022) Algorithmic bias: Senses, sources, solutions - Sina Fazelpour, David Danks (2021) Constitutional AI: Harmlessness from AI Feedback - Yuntao Bai et al (2022) Taxonomy of Risks posed by Language Models - Laura Weidinger at Al (2022) Large pre-trained language models contain human-like biases of what is right and wrong to do - Patrick Schramowski, Cigdem Turan, Nico Andersen, Constantin A. Rothkopf & Kristian Kersting (2022) On the Dangers of Stochastic Parrots: Can Language Models Be Too Big? - Emily M. Bender , Timnit Gebru , Angelina McMillan-Major , Shmargaret Shmitchell (2021) In Two Moves, AlphaGo and Lee Sedol Redefined the Future | Wired Magazine (2016)

How can you persuade someone who disagrees with you on everything? In this episode, we discover the secrets of political persuasion with Robb Willer, a leading expert on political persuasion and moral reframing. Igor grills Robb on the ethics of activism in social science, Robb defends his mission to make a difference in the world, and Charles is amazed to find out that he can fix his misperceptions with a few simple tricks. Don’t miss this inspiring and ground-breaking conversation that will transform how you communicate with others. Tune in to Episode 53 now!Special Guest: Robb Willer.Links:Robb Willer's Website How to Have Better Political Conversations | Ted Talk (2017) The Key to Political Persuasion | New York Times From Gulf to Bridge: When Do Moral Arguments Facilitate Political Influence? - Matthew Feinberg, Robb Willer (2015) Correcting inaccurate metaperceptions reduces Americans’ support for partisan violence - Joseph S. Mernyk, Sophia L. Pink, James N. Druckman, Robb Willer (2022) Interventions to reduce partisan animosity - Rachel Hartman, Will Blakey, Jake Womick, Chris Bail, Eli J. Finkel, Hahrie Han, John Sarrouf, Juliana Schroeder, Paschal Sheeran, Jay J. Van Bavel, Robb Willer & Kurt Gray (2022) The activist’s dilemma: Extreme protest actions reduce popular support for social movements - Matthew Feinberg, Robb Willer, Chloe Kovacheff (2020)

How do we respond wisely to foolish behaviour in the workplace? Tessa West joins Igor and Charles to talk about the most common types of ‘jerks at work’ - including the bulldozer, the credit stealer, and the gaslighter, discussing what drives such unhelpful behaviour, and how best to deal with it. Igor explores the different ways we can respond to uncertainty in the workplace, Tessa suggests that we’re surprisingly nice to moral violators, and Charles learns the importance of building ‘affect contagion buffers’ into his day! Welcome to Episode 51.Special Guest: Tessa West.Links:Tessa West's homepage Tessa West's NYU page Jerks at Work: Toxic Coworkers and What to Do About Them - Tessa West (2022) | Book Stress Contagion: Physiological Covariation Between Mothers and Infants - Waters, West, Mendes (2014) 5 Signs You're The Jerk At Work | Huffington Post

What does goal-setting have to do with wisdom and how do we pick wise goals? Ayelet Fishbach joins Igor and Charles to discuss the dangers of moving too swiftly from planning-mode to action-mode, how to compromise across multiple goals, and why we need to rethink our relationships with vegetables! Igor underscores the importance of thinking of wisdom as a process rather than an outcome, Ayelet encourages us to change our situation rather than ourselves, and Charles learns the benefits of approaching a choice as if you’d make it 100 times. Welcome to Episode 49.Special Guest: Ayelet Fishback.Links:Ayelet Fishbach's Personal Website Get It Done: Surprising Lessons from the Science of Motivation - by Ayelet Fishbach Behavioral Science Authors Series - Ayelet Fishbach We’re Good at Motivating Others, but What About Ourselves? | Knowledge at Wharton Good Habits, Bad Habits: A Conversation with Wendy Wood | Behavioral Scientist Wisdom is a social-ecological rather than person-centric phenomenon | Science Direct - Grossmann, Dorfman, Oakes (2020)

(First Broadcast - 21st June 2020) What is the value of wisdom in the time of the global pandemic? Does the community of behavioural scientists studying wisdom agree on anything about the nature of wisdom? Can we say what we now know about wisdom and, conversely, what do we know we don’t yet know? Howard Nusbaum joins Igor and Charles to discuss the recently assembled Toronto Wisdom Task Force and the resulting Common Wisdom Model, meta-cognition, the thorny issue of moral-grounding, and sage advice regarding how to measure wisdom in the lab. Igor stresses the importance of building solid theoretical foundations for the field in the context of the pandemic, Howard reflects on the viability of evil wisdom, and Charles learns that we had better pay close attention today to the values we program into the decision-making robots of tomorrow. Special Guest: Howard Nusbaum.Links:Original Broadcast: Episode 29 - Charting Pandemic Waters: A Common Wisdom Model for Uncertain Times (with Howard Nusbaum) The Science of Wisdom (AEON) The Science of Wisdom in a Polarized World: Knowns and Unknowns: Psychological Inquiry: Vol 31, No 2 A Common Model Is Essential for a Cumulative Science of Wisdom: Psychological Inquiry: Vol 31, No 2 University of Chicago Center for Practical Wisdom | Center for Practical Wisdom | The University of Chicago Wisdom in Context - Igor Grossmann, 2017 Toronto Wisdom Task Force Meeting 2019 (edited) - YouTube AI Open Letter - Future of Life Institute

(First Broadcast - 28th December 2018) Can we design our workplaces to generate wiser behaviour? Why do we work anyway, and would we still work if we didn’t get paid? Do employers even want their employees to develop wisdom? Barry Schwartz joins Igor and Charles to discuss how Aristotle’s Practical Wisdom applies in the 21st Century, the reasons why we work, idea technology, the unintended consequences of rules-based systems, and the moral dangers and limits of incentives. Igor proposes the idea of algorithm-based wise machines, Barry suggests companies hire for character rather than skill, and Charles learns why, in wiser work places, the cost of free-riders may well be a price worth paying. Special Guest: Barry Schwartz.Links:Original Broadcast: Episode 11 - Wisdom at Work (with Barry Schwartz) Our Loss of Wisdom - Barry Schwartz (TED talk) Using Our Practical Wisdom - Barry Schwartz (TED talk) The Paradox of Choice - Barry Schwartz (TED Talk) Practical Wisdom (Book) - Barry Schwartz & Kenneth Sharpe Why We Work - Barry Schwartz (Book) The Paradox of Choice - Barry Schwartz (Book) Rethinking Work - Barry Schwartz (New York Times)

A disturbing thought - might it be impossible for us to directly observe the workings of our minds? Richard Nisbett joins Igor and Charles to discuss a life lived on the cutting edge of behavioral sciences in the second part of the 20th Century. He shares tales from his groundbreaking research into our faulty mindware, discussing various biases, cultural differences in cognitive processes, our inability to directly observe our mental processes, and why job interviews are not only unhelpful but potentially harmful to our ability to hire the best person for the job. Igor is keen to learn about the human beings behind some of the 20th Century’s academic idols in social psychology like Daniel Kahneman, Amos Tversky and Lee Ross, Richard explains why important work and interesting work are not necessarily the same thing, and Charles struggles to make sense of when we do and don’t intervene to help strangers in peril. Welcome to Episode 43.Special Guest: Richard Nisbett.Links:Richard Nisbett's Homepage World After Covid - Richard Nisbett Interview Thinking: A Memoir The Psychology of Thinking - with Richard Nisbett - Royal Institution Lecture (2016) Telling more than we can know: Verbal reports on mental processes - Nisbett & Wilson (1977) The influence of culture: holistic versus analytic perception - Nisbett & Miyamoto (2005) Intelligence: New findings and theoretical developments - Nisbett, Aronson, Blair, Dickens, Flynn, Halpern, Turkheimer (2012).