Episode notes
Communications professor Heather Barnes teaches us how to truly engage with difficult people through the power of positive rants.
Podcast
You Are Not So Smart
You Are Not So Smart · Tech & Science · English
You Are Not So Smart is a show about psychology that celebrates science and self delusion. In each episode, we explore what we've learned so far about reasoning, biases, judgments, and decision-making.
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17 Aug 2026 · 1 hr
346 - No Nocebo Effect - Helen Pilcher
The suffering is real, but the source may not be what you assume. That's the essence of the nocebo effect, the placebo effect's evil twin. As neuroscientist Dr. Helen Pilcher explains, illness is not simply a matter of biology. Our thoughts, conscious or otherwise, can make lead to symptoms in unexpected ways.
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3 Aug 2026 · 1 hr 6 min
345 - A Pox on Fools - Thomas Levenson
MIT professor Thomas Levenson, the author of the book A Pox on Fools, takes us through the same repeating patterns throughout history which have led to antivaxxers and vaccine hesitancy since the very first vaccines.
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3 Aug 2026 · 1 hr 8 min
344 - Intellectual Humility - Tenelle Porter
Can intellectual humility be measured? What influences it and affects it, limits it and enhances it? What even is it, scientifically speaking?
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6 Jul 2026 · 1 hr 9 min
343 - Misguided - Matthew Facciani
What is misinformation? How does it differ from disinformation or just plain ‘ole propaganda? How do we protect ourselves from people with nefarious intentions using all of these things to affect our thoughts, feelings, and behavior?
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22 Jun 2026 · 47 min
342 - The Conspiracy Theorist Who Changed His Mind
Tim Harford of the podcast Cautionary Tales sits down with David McRaney to hear a story from David's book, How Minds Change, about how (and why) a prominent conspiracy theorist realized he was wrong.
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25 May 2026 · 1 hr 3 min
340 - Thinking Sideways - Jennifer Shahade
Chess champion Jennifer Shahade tells us how we can borrow from the best chess players' decision-tree approach to avoid considering every possible option and instead "think sideways" to consider the best choices on the board.
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11 May 2026 · 1 hr 29 min
339 - Enlightened Disagreement
Northwestern University just launched the Litowitz Center for Enlightened Disagreement, a real-world institution devoted to "research-backed approaches to cultivating open-mindedness, identifying one’s own cognitive biases, working collaboratively with others despite disagreement and more."
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27 Apr 2026 · 40 min
338 - May Contain Lies - Alex Edmans (rebroadcast)
Alex Edmans, a professor of finance at London Business School, tells us how to avoid the Ladder of Misinference.
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13 Apr 2026 · 1 hr
337 - Cognitive Surrender - Gideon Nave and Steven D. Shaw
How is AI reshaping human reasoning? What is cognitive surrender, and how do we avoid its negative impact? What is system three thinking, and how can we get the most out of it?
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30 Mar 2026 · 1 hr 4 min
336 - The 3.5 Percent Rule - Erica Chenoweth (rebroadcast)
If you want to create a movement that can change the national status quo, you don't need half the country, you only need 3.5 percent of the population to join – but there are some caveats.
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