2024-09-10
33 分钟Jay Van Bavel is an award-winning professor of psychology and neural science at NYU — and he's an expert on the causes of and cures for division. Adam and Jay discuss the science of virality, why bad news often commands our attention, and how we can find common ground around more uplifting content. Jay's latest book, The Power of Us, is out now.
Ted audio collective.
When I use social media, it's like your diet.
It's like, trust me, I'd rather have a chocolate cake right now, but I'm actually gonna go have a salad for lunch because I'm 46, and if I have a chocolate cake for lunch every day, it's not gonna work for me.
Hey, everyone, it's Adam Grant.
Welcome back to rethinking my podcast on the science of what makes us tick with the Ted audio collective.
I'm an organizational psychologist, and I'm taking you inside the minds of fascinating people to explore new thoughts and new ways of thinking.
My guest today is Jay Van Bavel.
He's a professor of psychology and neuroscience at NYU and an award winning teacher, researcher, and writer.
His book, the power of us with Dominic Packer, is a great read on how to overcome our differences.
Jay is also a leading expert on why what goes viral often makes us miserable and how to change that.
It's like taking out the tiny tumor in your brain so you don't have seizures anymore.
Like, that's how we do surgery.
I think, like, this is a level of which it might help if people knew that and they could, like, figure out what those accounts were and unfollow them, they might actually enjoy their online experience a lot more.
All right, Jay, I have to tell you, part of the reason that you're here, among many, is I find the news incredibly depressing, and I'm hoping you're gonna cure that.
Okay.
I don't know if I could promise that, but I'll try.
I've sworn off watching tv news altogether, and increasingly, I don't even wanna read online news.
And I just came across, ironically enough, a headline, which I guess means I haven't totally shut off the news.
But the basic finding was 23 million news headlines from 2000 to 2019, showing that anger, fear, disgust, and sadness have all gone up and emotional neutrality has declined.
What's going on?