The voices in my head
To all appearances, Eleanor Longden was just like every other student, heading to college full of promise and without a care in the world. That was until the voices in her head started talking. Initially innocuous, these internal narrators became increasingly antagonistic and dictatorial, turning her life into a living nightmare. Diagnosed with schizophrenia, hospitalized, […]
Why dieting doesn't usually work
In the US, 80% of girls have been on a diet by the time they're 10 years old. In this honest, raw talk, neuroscientist Sandra Aamodt uses her personal story to frame an important lesson about how our brains manage our bodies, as she explores the science behind why dieting not only doesn't work, but […]
The strange politics of disgust
What does a disgusting image have to do with how you vote? Equipped with surveys and experiments, psychologist David Pizarro demonstrates a correlation between sensitivity to disgusting cues -- a photo of feces, an unpleasant odor -- and moral and political conservatism. David Marcelo Pizarro Cortés (born 11 September 1979) is a Chilean football midfielder […]
How your "working memory" makes sense of the world
"Life comes at us very quickly, and what we need to do is take that amorphous flow of experience and somehow extract meaning from it." In this funny, enlightening talk, educational psychologist Peter Doolittle details the importance -- and limitations -- of your "working memory," that part of the brain that allows us to make […]
A new equation for intelligence
Is there an equation for intelligence? Yes. It's F = T ∇ Sτ. In a fascinating and informative talk, physicist and computer scientist Alex Wissner-Gross explains what in the world that means. (Filmed at TEDxBeaconStreet.) Alex Wissner-Gross is an American scientist, inventor, and entrepreneur. He currently holds academic appointments as an Institute Fellow at the […]
Perspective is everything
The circumstances of our lives may matter less than how we see them, says Rory Sutherland. At TEDxAthens, he makes a compelling case for how reframing is the key to happiness. Rory Sutherland (born 8 February 1982) is a professional road bicycle racer from Canberra, Australia, riding for UCI ProTeam Team Tinkoff-Saxo. In 2007, he […]
Violence against women — it's a men's issue
Domestic violence and sexual abuse are often called "women's issues." But in this bold, blunt talk, Jackson Katz points out that these are intrinsically men's issues -- and shows how these violent behaviors are tied to definitions of manhood. A clarion call for us all -- women and men -- to call out unacceptable behavior […]
The origins of pleasure
Why do we like an original painting better than a forgery? Psychologist Paul Bloom argues that human beings are essentialists -- that our beliefs about the history of an object change how we experience it, not simply as an illusion, but as a deep feature of what pleasure (and pain) is. Paul Bloom (born December […]
The psychology of time
Psychologist Philip Zimbardo says happiness and success are rooted in a trait most of us disregard: the way we orient toward the past, present and future. He suggests we calibrate our outlook on time as a first step to improving our lives. Philip George Zimbardo, Ph.D. (born March 23, 1933) is a psychologist and a […]
Alcohol and Mental Health
Abstaining from alcohol is a great idea, especially when it comes to mental health. While the thought of relaxing with an alcoholic beverage might seem like a good way to release stress, indulging by drinking alcohol may actually cause more mental harm than good. According to Dr. Jesse Viner, Founder and Executive Medical Director at […]
What hallucination reveals about our minds
Neurologist and author Oliver Sacks brings our attention to Charles Bonnett syndrome -- when visually impaired people experience lucid hallucinations. He describes the experiences of his patients in heartwarming detail and walks us through the biology of this under-reported phenomenon. Oliver Wolf Sacks, CBE (born 9 July 1933) is a British-American neurologist, writer, and amateur […]
The moral roots of liberals and conservatives
Psychologist Jonathan Haidt studies the five moral values that form the basis of our political choices, whether we're left, right or center. In this eye-opening talk, he pinpoints the moral values that liberals and conservatives tend to honor most. Jonathan David Haidt (pronounced “height”) is a social psychologist and Professor of Ethical Leadership at New […]
The key to success? Grit
Leaving a high-flying job in consulting, Angela Lee Duckworth took a job teaching math to seventh graders in a New York public school. She quickly realized that IQ wasn't the only thing separating the successful students from those who struggled. Here, she explains her theory of "grit" as a predictor of success. Angela Lee Duckworth […]
The paradox of choice
Psychologist Barry Schwartz takes aim at a central tenet of western societies: freedom of choice. In Schwartz's estimation, choice has made us not freer but more paralyzed, not happier but more dissatisfied. Barry Schwartz (born 1946) is an American psychologist. Schwartz is the Dorwin Cartwright Professor of Social Theory and Social Action at Swarthmore College. […]
The brain in love
Why do we crave love so much, even to the point that we would die for it? To learn more about our very real, very physical need for romantic love, Helen Fisher and her research team took MRIs of people in love - and people who had just been dumped. Helen E. Fisher (born 1947) […]
Why we do what we do
Tony Robbins discusses the "invisible forces" that make us do what we do -- and high-fives Al Gore in the front row. Anthony "Tony" Robbins (born February 29, 1960) is an American life coach, self-help author and motivational speaker. He became well known through his infomercials and self-help books, Unlimited Power and Awaken the Giant […]
How we read each other's minds
Sensing the motives and feelings of others is a natural talent for humans. But how do we do it? Here, Rebecca Saxe shares fascinating lab work that uncovers how the brain thinks about other peoples' thoughts - and judges their actions. Rebecca Saxe is an associate professor of cognitive neuroscience in the department of Brain […]
The pattern behind self-deception
Michael Shermer says the human tendency to believe strange things -- from alien abductions to dowsing rods -- boils down to two of the brain's most basic, hard-wired survival skills. He explains what they are, and how they get us into trouble. Michael Brant Shermer (born September 8, 1954) is an American science writer, historian […]
The psychology of evil
Philip Zimbardo knows how easy it is for nice people to turn bad. In this talk, he shares insights and graphic unseen photos from the Abu Ghraib trials. Then he talks about the flip side: how easy it is to be a hero, and how we can rise to the challenge. Philip George Zimbardo, Ph.D. […]
Toward a new understanding of mental illness
Today, thanks to better early detection, there are 63% fewer deaths from heart disease than there were just a few decades ago. Thomas Insel, Director of the National Institute of Mental Health, wonders: Could we do the same for depression and schizophrenia? The first step in this new avenue of research, he says, is a […]
The hidden power of smiling
Ron Gutman reviews a raft of studies about smiling, and reveals some surprising results. Did you know your smile can be a predictor of how long you'll live -- and that a simple smile has a measurable effect on your overall well-being? Prepare to flex a few facial muscles as you learn more about this […]
Strange answers to the psychopath test
Is there a definitive line that divides crazy from sane? With a hair-raising delivery, Jon Ronson, author of The Psychopath Test, illuminates the gray areas between the two. (With live-mixed sound by Julian Treasure and animation by Evan Grant.) Jon Ronson (born 10 May 1967) is a Welsh journalist, documentary filmmaker, radio presenter and nonfiction […]
Your body language shapes who you are
Body language affects how others see us, but it may also change how we see ourselves. Social psychologist Amy Cuddy shows how "power posing" - standing in a posture of confidence, even when we don't feel confident - can affect testosterone and cortisol levels in the brain, and might even have an impact on our […]
The new era of positive psychology
Martin Seligman talks about psychology - as a field of study and as it works one-on-one with each patient and each practitioner. As it moves beyond a focus on disease, what can modern psychology help us to become? Martin E. P. "Marty" Seligman (born August 12, 1942) is an American psychologist, educator, and author of […]
The social animal
Tapping into the findings of his latest book, NY Times columnist David Brooks unpacks new insights into human nature from the cognitive sciences - insights with massive implications for economics and politics as well as our own self-knowledge. In a talk full of humor, he shows how you can't hope to understand humans as separate […]
What do babies think?
"Babies and young children are like the R&D division of the human species," says psychologist Alison Gopnik. Her research explores the sophisticated intelligence-gathering and decision-making that babies are really doing when they play. Alison Gopnik (born June 16, 1955) is an American professor of psychology and affiliate professor of philosophy at the University of California, […]
The fiction of memory
Psychologist Elizabeth Loftus studies memories. More precisely, she studies false memories, when people either remember things that didn't happen or remember them differently from the way they really were. It's more common than you might think, and Loftus shares some startling stories and statistics, and raises some important ethical questions we should all remember to […]
Religion, evolution, and the ecstasy of self-transcendence
Psychologist Jonathan Haidt asks a simple, but difficult question: why do we search for self-transcendence? Why do we attempt to lose ourselves? In a tour through the science of evolution by group selection, he proposes a provocative answer. Jonathan David Haidt (pronounced “height”) is a social psychologist and Professor of Ethical Leadership at New York […]
Why we think it's OK to cheat and steal (sometimes)
Behavioral economist Dan Ariely studies the bugs in our moral code: the hidden reasons we think it's OK to cheat or steal (sometimes). Clever studies help make his point that we're predictably irrational -- and can be influenced in ways we can't grasp. Dan Ariely (born April 29, 1967) is an Israeli American professor of […]
7 ways video games engage the brain
As we bring gameplay into more aspects of our lives (from socializing to exercising), Tom Chatfield talks about one compelling aspect of videogaming: its measurability. Parceling out rewards at carefully calibrated percentages, games collect reams of data about what humans truly find rewarding, and precisely how hard we're willing to work for a win. Chatfield […]
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