2024-07-30
37 分钟Journalist Rafi Kohan says talking trash can do more than spice up a sport. His latest book, Trash Talk: The Only Book About Destroying Your Rivals That Isn’t Total Garbage, is a fascinating look at the art and history of competitive insults. From women's basketball to the Olympics to the TED stage, Adam and Rafi dissect the mind games that fuel performance — and dive into the science of why a little banter can go a long way.Transcripts for ReThinking are available at go.ted.com/RWAGscripts
Ted audio collective.
I found an example of trash talking golf from in the early 19 hundreds where one guy said to his opponent, why don't you roll down your sleeves so everybody doesn't see your muscles quivering?
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 Rafi Kohan.
He's a journalist and the author of the book Trash Talk, the only book about destroying your rivals that isn't total garbage.
It's a fascinating and delightful case that although the term is fairly new, the art form goes way back.
There's something fundamental about trash talk to human beings.
And we've been talking trash basically as long as we've been talking.
It goes back to the Bible, it goes back to the homeric poems.
You can find examples, you know, across culture, across geography, and throughout time.
Raffi has been a sports writer, an editor, a freelance journalist, and he directed the Atlantic's creative studio rethink.
He also convinced me to rethink my assumptions about the purpose of trash talk.
Rafi, how do we trash talk on a podcast?
Do I tell you you're gonna bomb?
Honestly, the most surprising thing about receiving your email was learning that you could read.
I will say that I was appreciative of your trash talking efforts over email, because a lot of people say that their instinct is, when we first encounter one another or we talk, is to talk some crap to me, but then they don't do it.
But you actually did it.
You said, you are to book writing what Shaq is to free throw shooting, which, by the way, I've written, written two books.