This is Cognitive Revolution, my show about the personal side of the intellectual journey. Each week, I interview an eminent scientist, writer, or academic about the experiences that shaped their ideas. The show is available wherever you listen to podcasts.
Mickey Inzlicht wanted to be a dentist when he grew up. But unfortunately he only made it as far as Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Toronto, with a joint appointment in the Rotman School of Management. He represents one psychologist and two beers worth of the Two Psychologists Four Beers podcast. He's someone who I look up to a whole lot, and there's a lot about what he's been able to do in his career that I'd like to be able to do in my own: successful podcast, professor in social neuroscience (similar topic to the lab I'm doing my PhD in), strong family life, and seems to have a lot of fun doing all that stuff. He's done a lot of excellent work over the course of his career, my favorite of which is the effort paradox which is the idea that the most effort something costs us to pull off the more we value it. The paradox is that we are still for the most part effort averse creatures, try to avoid unnecessary hard work, and are unlikely to begin things that we think we necessitate a ton of it. In this episode we talk about his background in psychology, especially as a first generation college student. Mickey gets into his three top productivity tips that work for him. We also talk shop about pods, how he started his, as well as the podcast ecosystem generally. We wrap up discussing effort, value, meaning, and other topics related to Mickey's research.
Like this episode? Here’s another one to check out:
I’d love to know what you thought of this episode! Just reply to this email or send a note directly to my inbox. Feel free to tweet the show @CogRevPod or me @CodyKommers. You can also leave a rating for the show on iTunes (or another platform). This is super helpful, as high ratings are one of the biggest factors platforms look at in their recommender system algorithms. The better the ratings, the more they present the show to new potential listeners.
Also: If you’d like to unsubscribe from these weekly podcast emails, you can do so while still remaining on the email list that features my weekly writing. Thanks for following my work!
#24: Michael Inzlicht on the Optimal Number of Beers per Psychologist