logo
episode-header-image
Aug 2017
1h 40m

Episode 122: Nothing but a "G" Thing (In...

Tamler Sommers & David Pizarro
About this episode

David and Tamler do their best to talk frankly about intelligence and IQ research. (It's our Patreon listener-selected topic! We probably would never have chosen this one on our own...). Is intelligence a meaningful, definable concept? Can we reliably test for it? How much of the variability in IQ across individuals is due to heritable factors? Are people with higher IQ happier, wealthier, or healthier than people with lower IQ? And why is this topic so controversial anyhow? Plus in the intro segment Tamler and David discuss why you probably don't need fMRI to know what your dog wants, and why cognitive neuroscience seems to confuse otherwise intelligent folks. (Note: This is Part 1 of our discussion on intelligence. In Part 2 will delve into the slightly more controversial topics of IQ, race, and gender).

Support Very Bad Wizards

Links:

Up next
Sep 30
Episode 317: For Shame
What is the psychology of shame? Is the experience of shame a human universal? How can we investigate the nature of shame across cultures? David and Tamler dive into Richard Shweder’s “Towards a Deep Cultural Psychology of Shame.” We talk about the methodological challenges of st ... Show More
1h 23m
Sep 16
Episode 316: A Four-Letter Man (Hemingway's "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber")
David and Tamler go big game hunting and explore their first Hemingway short story “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber.” We dig into his characteristic themes of courage, cowardice, shifting power dynamics in marriages, and what it truly means to live a happy life. Plus, ne ... Show More
1h 33m
Sep 2
Episode 315: Ceaseless Striving (Schopenhauer’s Pessimism)
David and Tamler tackle the topic chosen by our beloved Patreon supporters in the first VBW madness tournament – Schopenhauer. We discuss his essays “On the Sufferings of the World” and “The Vanity of Existence,” their strikingly modern perspectives on human life and behavior and ... Show More
1h 30m
Recommended Episodes
Jan 2023
Ep 185 | Would You Rather Have Intelligence (IQ) or Wisdom?
 How would you explain the difference between intelligence and wisdom? Which brings better life success? The story of Chesley Sullenberger and how he landed his airplane on the Hudson River. Why men are overrepresented in the top and bottom of the IQ bell curve. Can one's IQ be c ... Show More
42m 44s
Feb 2023
What is Intelligence? || The Human Potential Lab
Welcome to The Human Potential Lab! In this special series of The Psychology Podcast, I will be doing solo episodes answering your burning questions about the mind, brain, human behavior, and human potential.In the first episode of this series, I will be tackling a question I’ve ... Show More
47m 8s
Dec 2020
Christmas Special: Dan Goleman on Emotional Intelligence with Manveen Rana
No speaker in the history of Intelligence Squared has generated as many YouTube views as Daniel Goleman. His 2013 talk for us has been viewed 3.2 million times. Goleman returned to celebrate the 25th anniversary of his number one, multi-million copy international bestseller, Emot ... Show More
1 h
Oct 2020
ÊTRE TROP INTELLIGENT VOUS REND BÊTE !
Se pourrait-il qu'être trop intelligent nous rende bête ?   Au sens premier, l'intelligence désigne la capacité à comprendre les choses par le recours au raisonnement ou à la réflexion.   Mais il ne faut surtout pas confondre "intelligent" et "intellectuel" ! Un bûcheron qui scie ... Show More
8m 22s
Feb 2018
IQ vs. EQ With "Scorpion," Walter O'Brien : 469
The differences between Intellectual Intelligence and Emotional Intelligence, and how one of the smartest men in the world hacks one to cover the other. In this fascinating episode of Bulletproof Radio, Walter O'Brien (hacker handle: "Scorpion") is a high IQ child prodigy who sta ... Show More
54m 20s
Sep 2021
Salman Rushdie: Touchstones with Razia Iqbal
Acclaimed novelist Salman Rushdie joins journalist Razia Iqbal to take us back in time and discuss three influential touchstones of his life: a silver ingot engraved with an unpartitioned map of India, Bob Dylan’s ‘Mr. Tambourine man’, and James Joyce’s ‘The Dead’, a slightly int ... Show More
58m 47s
Feb 2017
Episode 80: Intelligence Part 1
The first in a three part series on human intelligence, covering debates about the definition of intelligence, how intelligence is measured, factor analysis and the origin of the g factor, and interpretations of the g factor as corresponding to intelligence. Also includes an anal ... Show More
1 h
Feb 2023
The Allure of Intelligence
Healthy//ToxicHealthy versus Toxic is a podcast where licensed mental health professionals explore what makes a relationship healthy or unhealthy from a scientifically informed perspective. This show often centers around the topics of narcissism, narcissistic abuse, and the negat ... Show More
15m 38s
Oct 2021
How to master your Emotional Intelligence | Mikaeel Ahmed Smith | Ep. 17
What does it mean to be intelligent? Immediately we may think of figures like Albert Einstein and those who possess a genius-level IQ. People who have committed much to memory and have brains like computers. Yet today, this traditional understanding of intelligence has taken a ma ... Show More
55m 23s
Jun 2023
Intellectuals
From Émile Zola to Edward Said, from Antonio Gramsci to… Joe Rogan? In episode 79 of Overthink, Ellie and David discuss the figure of the high-minded ‘intellectual’ and their role in today’s mass-media landscape. Who are intellectuals, what do they do, and what are they for? Elli ... Show More
53m 59s