“Life has to win every day, death only has to win once.” — Roy Baumeister
Today it’s great to have Roy Baumeister on the podcast. Dr. Baumeister is currently professor of psychology at the University of Queensland and is among the most prolific and most frequently cited psychologists in the world, with over 650 publications. His 40 books include the New York Times bestseller Willpower. His research covers self and identity, self-regulation, interpersonal rejection and the need to belong, sexuality and gender, aggression, self-esteem, meaning, consciousness, free will, and self-presentation. In 2013 he received the William James award for lifetime achievement in psychological science (the Association for Psychological Science’s highest honor), and his latest book, co-authored with John Tierney, is called “The Power of Bad: How the Negativity Effect Rules Us and How We Can Rule It”.
In this episode we discuss:
- How the human brain has a tendency to focus on the bad
- Why bad is processed more thoroughly than good
- The latest research on ego depletion
- Roy’s take on the replication crisis
- Why falsely accused people have trouble repairing their reputation
- Why the bad gets so much more publicity than the good
- Early career researchers and the lack of incentive for exporation
- Why we are wired for bad
- The importance of the Pollyanna principle
- Roy’s words of wisdom for those with anxiety over the Coronavirus
- “The rule of 4”
- Why are hell fearing religions more popular than those preaching a benevolent message?
- Gordon Allport’s distinction between mature and immature religion
- The riskiness of drawing too much on the self
- Roy’s thoughts on the best route to the good life
- Ways we can see the bigger picture
- The “negative Golden Rule”
- How to get on the “low-bad diet”