56 - Daniel Gilbert: Stumbling Into Psychology

Eric chats with Dan Gilbert, Edgar Pierce Professor of Psychology at Harvard University. Dan is captivated by a single fact—the world is not as it appears—and he uses science to uncover the illusions people have about the world, themselves, and each other. He is a contributor to Time, The New York Times, and NPR's All Things Considered, and in 2014 Science named him one of the world’s 50 most-followed scientists on social media. His TED talks have been seen by more than 15 million people and remain among the most popular of all time. His popular book, Stumbling on Happiness, spent 6 months on the New York Times bestseller list and sold over a million copies worldwide.

In this episode, Eric asks Dan about his life journey from high-school dropout to one of the most respected psychologists alive. What was Dan like as a child? How did he combine his passion for science fiction writing with an academic career? Dan shares how much his life was, and is, shaped by the people around him. How did he end up in such fruitful collaborations with people like Dan Wegner or Tim Wilson? What was it like writing a popular science book, at a time when that was much less common than now? What is Dan’s advice on teaching and writing? How does he decide an idea is worth pursuing?

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Links:

Dan's book Stumbling on Happiness
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