Episode 5: I Love How You Hurt Me (with Paul Bloom)

Yoel and Mickey welcome Yale psychologist Paul Bloom to the show, their very first guest. In a far ranging conversation, Yoel, Mickey, and Paul discuss the potential benefits of pain. Why do we sometimes choose to suffer? Are there any benefits (to self or society) to being a painful or disagreeable person? Why do we enjoy and seek out aversive fiction, be that in books, TV, or film? Why do so many of the goals that we set and pursue involve pain and suffering?

Bonus: Yoel, Mickey, and Paul each completed a validated measure of agreeableness. Can you guess who came out on “top”?

Special Guest: Paul Bloom.

Links:

• Disco Soleil | Brasserie Dieu du Ciel!
• Paul Bloom | Brooks and Suzanne Ragen Professor of Psychology at Yale University
• Against Empathy: The Case for Rational Compassion: Paul Bloom: 9780062339331: Amazon.com: Books
• Colin DeYoung
• Between facets and domains: 10 aspects of the Big Five.
• Do nice guys--and gals--really finish last? The joint effects of sex and agreeableness on income. - PubMed - NCBI
• Glad to be sad, and other examples of benign masochism
• The Long and Short of It - Paul Bloom