No Stupid Questions

How is the brain affected by solitary confinement? How would you deal with being stranded on a deserted island? And do baby monkeys make the best therapists? SOURCES:William Broyles Jr.Beatriz FlaminiCraig HaneyHarry HarlowSarah HepolaNelson MandelaTree MeinchAlexander SelkirkCheryl Strayed RESOURCES:The Impact of Isolation on Brain HealthNeurobiology of Brain Disorders, What Happens When Humans Are Extremely Isolated?Discover, Spanish Climber Leaves Cave After 500 Days in IsolationAP News, Solitary Confinement Is Not 'Solitude': The Worst Case Scenario of Being 'Alone' in PrisonThe Handbook of Solitude, This Tender Land, Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail, The Real Robinson CrusoeSmithsonian Magazine, Lost at Sea and Back AgainThe Austin Chronicle, Social Recovery of Monkeys Isolated for the First Year of Life: I. Rehabilitation and TherapyDevelopmental Psychology, EXTRAS:Do You Need a Hug?No Stupid Questions What Makes a Good Gathering?No Stupid Questions What to Do When Everything Looks Like a Catastrophe?No Stupid Questions Cast Away,

Do humans need touch to survive? Do any of us get enough touch throughout our lives? And why doesn’t Angela want to hug anyone for eight seconds? SOURCES:Ophelia DeroyKory FloydHarry HarlowSirin KaleVice.Christy KaneCarmen Rasmusen HerbertVirginia Satir RESOURCES:A Systematic Review and Multivariate Meta-Analysis of the Physical and Mental Health Benefits of Touch InterventionsNature Human Behaviour, WHO Advises Immediate Skin to Skin Care for Survival of Small and Preterm BabiesAffective Interpersonal Touch in Close Relationships: A Cross-Cultural PerspectivePersonality and Social Psychology BulletinResults Revealed for The Touch Test: The World’s Largest Study of TouchBBC Media Centre, How 8-Second Hugs Can Counteract the Negative Side Effects From ElectronicsDeseret News, Confidence is Higher in Touch Than in Vision in Cases of Perceptual AmbiguityNature: Scientific Reports, The Life of the Skin-Hungry: Can You Go Crazy from a Lack Of Touch?Vice, Warm Partner Contact Is Related to Lower Cardiovascular ReactivityBehavioral Medicine, The Nature of LoveAmerican Psychologist, EXTRAS:Did Covid-19 Kill the Handshake?No Stupid Questions

How final is a final offer, really? Does anonymity turn nice people into jerks? And should you tell your crush that you dreamed about marrying them? SOURCES:Max BazermanDeepak MalhotraElon MuskJohn Krasinski RESOURCES:Elon Musk Says Twitter Will Try to Rehire Some of Its Laid-Off Staff, and That Some of the People He Fired 'Shouldn't Have Been' CutBusiness Insider, Read the Midnight Email Elon Musk Sent Twitter Staff Telling Them to Work 'Long Hours at High Intensity' – or QuitBusiness Insider, When to Use Ultimatums & When to Avoid ThemNegotiation Insights Video Series'Take It or Leave It!' A Choice Mindset Leads to Greater Persistence and Better Outcomes in NegotiationsOrganizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, John Krasinski Was Ready To Quit Acting Before 'The Office'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert Models of the Evolution of Fairness in the Ultimatum Game: A Review and ClassificationEvolution and Human Behavior, 15 Rules for Negotiating a Job OfferHarvard Business Review, Negotiation Genius: How to Overcome Obstacles and Achieve Brilliant Results at the Bargaining Table and Beyond, Fairness Versus Reason in the Ultimatum GameScience, EXTRAS:Get Your Share of the PiePeople I (Mostly) Admire Mrs. Miracle,

Are we using technology to make ourselves numb? What’s the downside of air conditioning? And was Angela the most annoying person in her college classes? SOURCES:Paul BloomEd DienerMichael EasterAlex HutchinsonShigehiro OishiTaylor Swift RESOURCES:World Happiness ReportGallup, How Painful Should Your Workout Be?The New York Times, Taylor Swift’s NYU Commencement Speech: Read the Full TranscriptBillboard, The Comfort Crisis: Embrace Discomfort to Reclaim Your Wild, Happy, Healthy Self, The Sweet Spot: The Pleasures of Suffering and the Search for Meaning, Residents of Poor Nations Have a Greater Sense of Meaning in Life Than Residents of Wealthy NationsPsychological Science, Confusion Can Be Beneficial for LearningLearning and Instruction, Stranger Situations: Examining a Self-Regulatory Model of Socially Awkward EncountersGroup Processes & Intergroup Relations EXTRAS:Should You Get Out of Your Comfort Zone?No Stupid Questions

Are fantasies helpful or harmful? How is daydreaming like a drug? And what did Angela fantasize about during ninth-grade English class? SOURCES:Patrick Bet-DavidBarbara CorcoranShark Tank Peter GollwitzerDanny KahnemanRobert NozickGabriele OettingenKim Scott RESOURCES:DreamscrollingThe Currency, Most Americans Can’t Afford a $1,000 Emergency: SurveyThe Hill, Positive Fantasies and Negative Emotions in Soccer FansCognition and Emotion, Radical Candor: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity, Pleasure Now, Pain Later: Positive Fantasies About the Future Predict Symptoms of DepressionPsychological Science, Positive Fantasies About Idealized Futures Sap EnergyJournal of Experimental Social Psychology, Self-Regulation of Goal Setting: Turning Free Fantasies About the Future Into Binding GoalsJournal of Personality and Social Psychology, Intuitive Prediction: Biases and Corrective ProceduresAnarchy, State, and Utopia, EXTRAS:Can You Really 'Manifest' Success Through Positive Visualization?No Stupid Questions

Can you ever really know how another person feels? What’s the best way to support a grieving person? And why doesn’t Hallmark sell empathy cards? SOURCES:Daniel BatsonPaul BloomPaul Polman RESOURCES:Empathy, Sympathy, and Emotion Regulation: A Meta-Analytic ReviewPsychological BulletinHave Some SympathyThe New York TimesWhat is Club 33? Inside Disney’s Most Exclusive ClubWalt Disney World MagazineThe Case Against EmpathyVoxAgainst Empathy: The Case for Rational CompassionBeautiful friendship: Social sharing of emotions improves subjective feelings and activates the neural reward circuitrySocial Cognitive and Affective NeuroscienceJust Babies: The Origins of Good and EvilThe Elegance of the HedgehogImmorality from Empathy-Induced Altruism: When Compassion and Justice ConflictJournal of Personality and Social PsychologyThe Four Horsemen: Contempt EXTRAS:Is Empathy in Fact Immoral?No Stupid QuestionsParasiteKing James Bible, Job 2:1-13The Book of Mormon, Mosiah 18:9

Why do so many book clubs fall apart? Do the best parties have rules? And does Angela’s husband want to date you? SOURCES:Fredrik BackmanDavid ChavisDaniel GilbertSebastian JungerDavid McMillanPriya Parker RESOURCES:Do Conversations End When People Want Them to?PNAS, 3 Steps to Turn Everyday Get-Togethers Into Transformative GatheringsTED Talk,The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters, Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging, Beartown, The 36 Questions That Lead to LoveThe New York Times, A Man Called Ove, Sense of Community: A Definition and TheoryJournal of Community Psychology, EXTRAS:How Can You Get Closer to the People You Care About?No Stupid Questions How Do You Connect With Someone You Just Met?No Stupid Questions A Man Called Otto,

What’s the difference between being popular and being cool? How has social media changed the trend cycle? And what do Taylor Swift and Walmart have in common? SOURCES:Anette AspLalin AnikMarc BainJudy BlumeColin CamererJames DeanRyan HauserMichael JordanJohnny MilesSteven QuartzDavid SkinnerHumanitiesLindsey Vonn RESOURCES:Do You Think You're Cool?What Cool Means NowQuartz, The History of Michael Jordan's 'Banned' SneakersComplex, Brand CoolnessJournal of Marketing, How to be CoolUVA Darden Ideas to Action, Cool: How the Brain’s Hidden Quest for Cool Drives Our Economy and Shapes Our World, How Capitalism Created 'CoolThe Atlantic, How Did Cool Become Such a Big Deal?Humanities, EXTRA:Are We Getting Lonelier?No Stupid Questions

Why do we tell kids that a fairy will give them cash in exchange for their teeth? How should we talk to them about scary things in the world? And is Mike one of the greatest operatic tenors of all time? SOURCES:Laura Wheatman HillGeorge LinMelinda Wenner MoyerLuciano PavarottiAmy StoeberJacqueline Woolley RESOURCES:Parenting by LyingCurrent Directions in Psychological Science, Should You Always Tell Your Kids the Truth? It DependsCNN, Parenting by Lying in Childhood Is Associated With Negative Developmental Outcomes in AdulthoodJournal of Experimental Child Psychology, The Santa Lie EXTRAS:When Is It OK to Tell a Lie?No Stupid Questions How to Raise Kids Who Aren't A*******: Science-Based Strategies for Better Parenting — from Tots to Teens, Life Is Beautiful, Love at the Five and DimeThe Hiding Place,

WaitWhat C.E.O. Jeff Berman interviews Angela about “grit-scaling” and her unlikely path to academic celebrity.

Is there any upside to negative emotions? What can comedians teach us about dealing with pain? And why did Angela eat off of a stranger’s plate at a sushi bar? SOURCES:Ludwig van BeethovenJen ChristensenLauren Eskreis-WinklerSigmund FreudShirley MacLaineGeorge VaillantAli Wong RESOURCES:The Sad Clown: The Deep Emotions Behind Stand-Up ComedyCNN, NeuroticismThe Oxford handbook of the Five Factor Model, Thinking Too Much: Self-Generated Thought as the Engine of NeuroticismTrends in Cognitive Sciences, Survivor Mission: Do Those Who Survive Have a Drive to Thrive at Work?The Journal of Positive Psychology, Age Differences in Personality Traits From 10 to 65: Big Five Domains and Facets in a Large Cross-Sectional SampleJournal of Personality and Social Psychology, Adaptive Mental Mechanisms: Their Role in a Positive PsychologyAmerican Psychologist, The Harvard Study of Adult Development EXTRAS:Big Five Personality InventoryNo Stupid Questions Personality: The Big FiveNo Stupid Questions Terms of Endearment, Invictus

Where is the line between a good guy and a doormat? Do people with sharp elbows make more money? And why did Angela’s mother give away her birthday present? Take the Big Five inventory: freakonomics.com/bigfive SOURCES:Kristen BellJeff BezosHarry Connick Jr.Juli FragaAdam GrantAllison Sweet GrantTimothy JudgeFrank JacobsBig ThinkBeth LivingstonTopher PayneDax Shepard RESOURCES:Are You a Chronic People-Pleaser? Here’s How to Be Kinder to YourselfThe Washington Post, Geopsychology: Your Personality Depends on Where You LiveBig Think, We Need to Talk About ‘The Giving TreeThe New York Times, The Tree Who Set Healthy Boundaries, Do as You’re Told! Facets of Agreeableness and Early Adult Outcomes for Inner-City BoysJournal of Research in Personality, Give and Take: Why Helping Others Drives Our Success, Do Nice Guys — and Gals — Really Finish Last? The Joint Effects of Sex and Agreeableness on IncomeJournal of Personality and Social Psychology, EXTRAS:Big Five Personality InventoryNo Stupid Questions Personality: The Big FiveNo Stupid Questions Are You Suffering From Burnout?No Stupid Questions

What’s the difference between being introverted and being shy? What are extroverts so cheerful about? And does Angela’s social battery ever run out? Take the Big Five inventory: freakonomics.com/bigfive SOURCES:Susan CainWill FleesonSigmund FreudAdam GrantCarl JungDonald KamentzSonja LyubomirskySeth Margolis RESOURCES:A Crucial Character Trait for HappinessThe Atlantic, Experimental Manipulation of Extraverted and Introverted Behavior and Its Effects on Well-BeingJournal of Experimental Psychology: General, Challenges to Capture the Big Five Personality Traits in Non-WEIRD PopulationsScience Advances, Rethinking the Extraverted Sales Ideal: The Ambivert AdvantagePsychological Science, The Power of IntrovertsTED Talk, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking, Personality Trait Change in AdulthoodCurrent Directions in Psychological Science, Toward a Structure- and Process-Integrated View of Personality: Traits as Density Distributions of StatesJournal of Personality and Social Psychology, EXTRAS:Big Five Personality InventoryNo Stupid Questions Personality: The Big FiveNo Stupid Questions

Is it really that important to make your bed? What’s the benefit of hiring a lazy person? And how many cups of spinach can Mike fit in a red Solo cup? Take the Big Five inventory: freakonomics.com/bigfive SOURCES:David BarackRandall BellJulia CameronCharles DuhiggGuy KawasakiWilliam McRaven RESOURCES:Large Studies Reveal How Reference Bias Limits Policy Applications of Self-Report MeasuresNature: Scientific Reports,Too Much of a Good Thing? Exploring the Inverted-U Relationship Between Self-Control and HappinessJournal of Personality, 7 ‘Rich Habits’ of Highly Successful People, From a Man Who Studied Them for 25 YearsCNBC, Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life...And Maybe the World, The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business, Who Does Well in Life? Conscientious Adults Excel in Both Objective and Subjective SuccessFrontiers in Psychology, The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity, EXTRAS:Big Five Personality InventoryNo Stupid Questions Personality: The Big FiveNo Stupid Questions Angela Duckworth: The Gritty Road to GrowthGuy Kawasaki's Remarkable People How to Have Great ConversationsPeople I (Mostly) Admire

What do the most creative people have in common? How open-minded are you, really? And what’s wrong with ordering eggs Benedict? Take the Big Five inventory: freakonomics.com/bigfive SOURCES:Max BennettDavid EpsteinAyelet FishbachAlison GopnikSteve JobsOliver JohnDaniel KahnemanClaude ShannonJannik SinnerChristopher SotoDashun WangKaitlin Woolley RESOURCES:A Brief History of Intelligence: Evolution, AI, and the Five Breakthroughs That Made Our Brains, Exploration vs. Exploitation: Adults Are Learning (Once Again) From ChildrenObserver, Motivating Personal Growth by Seeking DiscomfortPsychological Science, Understanding the Onset of Hot Streaks Across Artistic, Cultural, and Scientific CareersNature Communications, Improv Experience Promotes Divergent Thinking, Uncertainty Tolerance, and Affective Well-BeingThinking Skills and Creativity, Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World, Openness to ExperienceThe Wiley Handbook of Genius, EXTRAS:Big Five Personality InventoryNo Stupid Questions David Epstein Knows Something About Almost EverythingPeople I (Mostly) Admire

Are you the same person you were a decade ago? Do we get better as we age? And is your sixth-grade class clown still funny? SOURCES:Aaron (Tim) BeckDaniel GilbertOlga KhazanThe Atlantic. Brian LittleJordi QuoidbachCarl RogersMartin ShortRichard WisemanTimothy Wilson RESOURCES:I Gave Myself Three Months to Change My PersonalityThe Atlantic, You Can Be a Different Person After the PandemicThe New York Times, The Theory of Modes: Applications to Schizophrenia and Other Psychological ConditionsCognitive Therapy and Research, Brian Little: Are Human Personalities Hardwired?TED Radio Hour, I Must Say: My Life As a Humble Comedy Legend, The End of History IllusionScience, Age Differences in Personality Traits From 10 to 65: Big Five Domains and Facets in a Large Cross-Sectional SampleJournal of Personality and Social Psychology, The Rank-Order Consistency of Personality Traits From Childhood to Old Age: A Guantitative Review of Longitudinal StudiesPsychological Bulletin, EXTRAS:Big Five Personality InventoryNo Stupid Questions Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee,

Is it dangerous to live in the past? Why is Disney remaking all of its classic movies? And why does Angela get sentimental over a cup of soup and a free roll? SOURCES:Julie BeckThe AtlanticDanielle CampoamorKyle ChaykaThe New Yorker.Amelia DennisErica HepperLucy HoneImran Rahman-JonesFlorence Saint-Jean RESOURCES:Pancultural Nostalgia in Action: Prevalence, Triggers, and Psychological Functions of Nostalgia Across CulturesJournal of Experimental Psychology: General, From Rosy Past to Happy and Flourishing Present: Nostalgia as a Resource for Hedonic and Eudaimonic WellbeingCurrent Opinion in Psychology, Locating Nostalgia Among the Emotions: A Bridge From Loss to LoveCurrent Opinion in Psychology, Hindsight is 2022: The Psychology Behind Our Cultural NostalgiaTown & Country, Why We Reach for Nostalgia in Times of CrisisThe New York Times, Mulan: Disney Remakes and the Power of Nostalgia During CoronavirusBBC, The Three Secrets of Resilient PeopleTEDxChristchurch, When Nostalgia Was a DiseaseThe Atlantic, EXTRAS:Big Five Personality InventoryNo Stupid Questions Zoom, Peter and Wendy,

Does instinct trump expertise? Can playing poker improve your intuition? And why did Angela jump off of a moving trolley car? SOURCES:Tom BradyDaniel KahnemanGary KleinBrock PurdyJosh Waitzkin RESOURCES:When and How To Sleep Train Your BabyThe ShadowBox Approach to Cognitive Skills Training: An Empirical EvaluationJournal of Cognitive Engineering and Decision Making, Thinking, Fast and Slow, Conditions for Intuitive Expertise: A Failure to DisagreeAmerican Psychologist, Dumb Ways to DieThe Art of Learning: An Inner Journey to Optimal Performance, Sources of Power: How People Make Decisions, EXTRAS:Why Is It So Hard to Make Decisions?No Stupid Questions Daniel Kahneman on Why Our Judgment is Flawed — and What to Do About ItPeople I (Mostly) Admire How to Make a Bad DecisionFreakonomics Radio

Is grade inflation on the rise? How much does your G.P.A. matter in the long run? And when did M.I.T., of all places, become “the cool university”? SOURCES:Scott HugoBob LadouceurJon MarcusThe Hechinger Report.Amelia NierenbergThe New York Times. James PennebakerStuart Rojstaczer RESOURCES:Making the (Letter) Grade: The Incentive Effects of Mandatory Pass/Fail CoursesEducation Finance and Policy, To Help New Students Adapt, Some Colleges Are Eliminating GradesHechinger Report, Grade Inflation Continues to Grow in the Past DecadeACT Research,Why Good Teaching Evaluations May Reward Bad Teaching: On Grade Inflation and Other Unintended Consequences of Student EvaluationsPerspectives on Psychological Science, Grade Inflation at American Colleges and UniversitiesGradeInflation.comChasing Perfection: The Principles Behind Winning Football the De La Salle Way, Daily Online Testing in Large Classes: Boosting College Performance while Reducing Achievement GapsPLOS One, EXTRAS:Higher Education Is Broken. Can It Be Fixed?People I (Mostly) Admire Freakonomics Radio Goes Back to SchoolFreakonomics Radio

How can you summon courage when you’re terrified? Is hiking more dangerous than skiing? And what is the stupidest thing that Mike has ever done? SOURCES:Albert BanduraMarc BrackettLisa DamourChristopher PetersonStanley RachmanMikaela ShiffrinLindsey VonnShaun WhiteJoseph Wolpe RESOURCES:The Emotional Lives of Teenagers: Raising Connected, Capable, and Compassionate Adolescents, What Scares the World’s Most Daring OlympiansThe New York Times, The Upside of AnxietyThe New York Times, Permission to Feel: Unlocking the Power of Emotions to Help Our Kids, Ourselves, and Our Society Thrive, World With No FearInvisibilia Abū Zayd Al-Balkhī''s Sustenance of the Soul: The Cognitive Behavior Therapy of a Ninth Century PhysicianSearching for the Source of a Fountain of CourageThe New York Times, Character Strengths and Virtues: A Handbook and Classification, Fear and Courage, Relative Efficacy of Desensitization and Modeling Approaches for Inducing Behavioral, Affective, and Attitudinal ChangesJournal of Personality and Social Psychology, EXTRAS:Fear No MortRick and Morty Can Fear Be Good Medicine?Freakonomics, M.D. How We Feel,