Too often, in our estimation, people make recommendations to us with the intent to improve our life but the effect on us is the opposite of that. Rather than completely engaging us, some recommendations or pieces of advice actually overpower any enthusiasm we might for following up. This is especially true when the recommendation is too big to get our heads around.

Casual comments like, “Oh, you should read that book,” or, “You should go to Malaysia,” or, “You should check out that podcast series,” are often too much for us to process. They’re all well-intended, and could be terrific recommendations, but thinking about starting a massive new book in an already jam-packed life can be the opposite of engaging: sometimes, it’s demotivating.

So in this Grooving Session, we use a behavioral science hack to START SMALL and we’re recommending our favorite podcast episodes (produced by other podcasters!) to our listeners. We think you’ll like these specific podcast episodes by some of our favorite hosts on some of our favorite topics. And because they’re itty-bitty single episodes, we hope you can start small and check some of them out in the links below.

Coming soon! We are launching a new podcast (a new channel in the podcaster’s vernacular) and it’s called Weekly Grooves. Weekly Grooves will be a weekly review of topical issues in the media during the week done through a behavioral science commentary. This will launch in late January 2020, and we hope you’ll check it out.

Please take 23 seconds right now to give us a rating. A review only takes 57 seconds, so you can do that, too! Reviews and 5-star ratings play a positive role in getting Behavioral Grooves promoted to new listeners when they’re out browsing for an interesting behavioral science podcast.

As always, thanks for listening and we hope you enjoy lots of great episodes from other podcasters!

Happiness Lab: Laurie Santos, PhD. Make ‘Em Laugh.

https://www.happinesslab.fm/season-1-episodes/make-em-laugh

Canned laugh tracks positively affect our experience even when we KNOW they’re canned!

Great production and a cool person.

Choiceology: Katy Milkman, PhD. Take the Deal.

https://www.schwab.com/resource-center/insights/content/choiceology-season-4-episode-4

Danny Kahneman, Colin Camerer, and Luis Green tell the tales of our flawed decision making – even when the consequences are big!

Terrific interviewer. Great production.

Big Brains: Paul Rand. Why Talking to Strangers Will Make You Happier.

https://news.uchicago.edu/podcasts/big-brains/why-talking-strangers-will-make-you-happier-nicholas-epley

Nick Epley, PhD discussed the importance of talking to strangers and how it will make YOU happier.

Intelligence Squared U.S. Debates: John Donvan. Is Social Media Good for Democracy?

https://www.intelligencesquaredus.org/debates/social-media-good-democracy-0

Fascinating discussion about the pro’s and con’s of social media.

The David Gilmour Podcast: David Gilmour. The Fender Stratocaster #0001.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-3-the-fender-stratocaster-0001/id1463321559?i=1000441421346

Yes. It really does exist and David Gilmour owns it and cherishes it.

You Are Not So Smart: David McRaney.

Pluralistic Ignorance: The psychology behind why people don’t speak out against, and even defend, norms they secretly despise.

https://soundcloud.com/youarenotsosmart/157-pluralistic-ignorance

A terrific episode exploring how social norms are perpetuated even when the majority don’t agree with them.

Song Exploder: Hrishikesh Hirway. Sheryl Crow: Redemption Day.

http://songexploder.net/sheryl-crow/songexploder161-sherylcrow

How songwriters come to write and record songs is amazing to me and this is a very articulate songwriter.

O Behave: Ogilvy Consulting. Dollars and Sense.

https://podtail.com/en/podcast/o-behave/episode-16-dollars-and-sense-with-jeff-kreisler-an/

Jeff Kreisler (one of our favorites) and Rory Sutherland dig into Jeff’s work in behavioral finance.

Radio Lab: Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich. Smarty Plants.

https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/smarty-plants

This episode explores the amazingly brainy behaviors of brainless things: plants!

Happiness Lab: Laurie Santos, PhD. The Unhappy Millionaire

https://www.happinesslab.fm/season-1-episodes/the-unhappy-millionaire

This episode explores how we don’t really understand what makes us happy…with Dan Gilbert

The Knowledge Project: Shane Parrish. Neil Pasricha: Happy Habits

https://fs.blog/neil-pasricha/

Looks at habits that can make you happier or not

The Science of Success: Matt Bodner. Guest = Jonathan Haidt

https://www.successpodcast.com/show-notes/2018/9/12/three-dangerous-ideas-that-are-putting-our-society-at-risk-with-dr-jonathan-haidt

Three dangerous ideas that are putting our society at risk – Looking at the anti-fragile movement that Haidt looks at how we need to allow Coddling the American Mind. Overprotecting kids and not letting them have failures…question feelings

Hustle and Flowchart Podcast: Matt Wolfe and Joe Fier. Therapy Session (153) – T&C, Podfest, Selling Shirts and Affiliate Marketing

https://evergreenprofits.com/therapy-sessions-podfest-affiliate/

Matt and Joe discuss a number of things that have been going on with them and some insights on podcasting

Smart Drug Smarts: Jesse Lawler. Aphantasia with Dr. Joel Pearson

https://smartdrugsmarts.com/episodes/219-aphantasia/

Where Kurt found out about Aphantasia and realized that he had it.

Hidden Brain: Shanker Vedantam. Facts Aren’t Enough

https://www.npr.org/2019/07/18/743195213/facts-arent-enough-the-psychology-of-false-beliefs

A look at confirmation bias and how data doesn’t change our minds…Tali Sharot and Cailin O’Conner add insight (smallpox variolation)

Big Think Think Again: Jason Gotz. Cambridge Analytica whistleblower Christopher Wylie: the cognitive segregation of America

https://bigthink.com/podcast/cambridge-analytica

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Grooving on Our Favorite Podcast Episodes of 2019

Behavioral Grooves Podcast