Episode 42: Decide Already!

Why is my friend late? How does nuclear fission work? What can I do to help my baby sleep through the night? We all feel the need to understand why certain things happen. Some researchers think the drive to explain the world is a basic human impulse, similar to thirst or hunger. ... Show More

Millions of us move through our days without getting enough sleep. We know that sleep deprivation can affect our physical health and our mood. But sleep researcher Chris Barnes says a chronic lack of good sleep can also affect how we make decisions and even what we value. He join ... Show More

We often imagine that feelings of unhappiness come from outside us — in our circumstances or the difficult people in our lives. But what if the forces that erode our happiness come from within? Psychologist George Loewenstein joins us to explore why our minds nudge us toward the ... Show More

What do you think will make you happy next year? According to Dan Gilbert’s research, your guess is probably wrong. Dan is a Harvard psychologist, bestselling author of Stumbling on Happiness, and popular TED talker, and he and Adam discuss why it’s so difficult to make accurate ... Show More

Psychologist Daniel Gilbert delves deep into the weird, counterintuitive science of happiness and explains why our minds worry about things we needn’t worry about (and fail to worry about things we really should worry about).We're doing a TED Interview survey! If you have a few m ... Show More

At a moment when the world feels like a particularly unsettling place, Science Weekly is asking what it is that makes humans happy – and how we can bring more happiness into our lives. In episode two, Ian Sample asks which happiness strategies are backed up by science. He hears f ... Show More

Today I'm talking about conquering indecision. Fearing there is a wrong choice keeps us from taking much of the action we want to take in our lives and misleads us into believing that our happiness is dependent on making the right choice. In the end we can't possibly predict even ... Show More

How can winning the lottery ruin your life - while contracting an incurable disease feel like 'a gift'? Dr Laurie Santos hears about dreams come true and nightmares realised; and talks with Dr Dan Gilbert about why human happiness isn't defined by these major events in the way we ... Show More

Life has its ups and downs, its sudden successes and unexpected obstacles. But amongst all the unpredictable variation, two economists believe they have identified a deep and powerful influence on our happiness: age. Happiness, it turns out, is U shaped. Hannah Fry tells a tale o ... Show More

<p>Life is full of choices, from the mundane (like what to wear today) to the critical (how should we deal with the pandemic?). So how can we make the best decisions? That’s what listener David wants to know.</p><p>To investigate, Caroline Steel learns how being smarter doesn’t n ... Show More

Hannah Fry explores two tales of data and discovery.Do orangutans - or humans - experience a midlife crisis? Hidden deep in the data, two economists have found a surprising pattern: happiness is U shaped. And, John Carter has a terrible choice to make. One path offers glory, the ... Show More

<p><span data-sheets-root="1" data-sheets-value= "{"1":2,"2":"Feeling stuck in the happiness illusion? Do you truly know what and how you can be authentically happy in life? Darren debunks the myths about what we 'think' makes us happy in this episode. He reveals the three mistak ... Show More

Career, family, relationships - how do we think about big decisions and in turn how do they shape our lives? And what makes a 'good decision?' On All in the Mind this week, we hear from three people who have faced big life decisions and an expert who researches life's choices and ... Show More