DeepSummary
The podcast episode explores the psychological phenomenon of habituation, which explains why we eventually get used to and stop appreciating positive experiences and things in our lives. Neuroscientist Tali Sharot shares research findings that our brains are designed to focus on novel things, and we gradually habituate and stop feeling the initial joy from even significant events like getting married or going on vacation.
Sharot explains that habituation also occurs with negative experiences, and can have concerning implications, like people habituating to risks, dishonesty, misinformation, and even oppression. This tendency to get desensitized and accept escalating negative circumstances gradually can lead to disastrous consequences on a societal level.
However, Sharot offers strategies to counter habituation, such as consciously creating new experiences, breaks from routines, and purposefully exposing oneself to diverse stimuli and opportunities for learning. The key is to disrupt the pattern of habituation to continue appreciating the positive things and remaining vigilant against negative developments.
Key Episodes Takeaways
- Our brains are evolutionarily wired to habituate and stop noticing constant stimuli, in order to focus on new information.
- Habituation causes us to take positive things for granted over time, like relationships, health, and new experiences.
- Habituation to negative circumstances like risks, dishonesty and oppression allows these to slowly escalate with less resistance.
- Breaking up pleasant experiences can counter habituation and help retain the joy, while unpleasant experiences are best endured continuously.
- Seeking new stimuli, variety and learning opportunities is key to combating habituation and maintaining appreciation.
- For major issues like climate change, relying on data over perception is crucial to avoid dismissing threats due to habituation.
- Being aware of habituation's effects allows actively disrupting it for both positive experiences and concerning negative developments.
- Balancing the human tendency to habituate while maintaining ethical vigilance is an important challenge.
Top Episodes Quotes
- “If I'm now sitting in one room, I'm gonna move to the kitchen. What I see, what I smell is all gonna be different. It means I'm going to have different information coming into my brain, but also my brain will be all set up for change.“ by Tali Sharot
- “If you don't see it and you don't talk about it, then you don't act.“ by Tali Sharot
- “Each act, each occasion was worse than the last, but only by a little bit. So we started by Jews are not allowed to be doctors, not allowed to be journalists, and books are burned. And then, you know, there are hundreds and hundreds of steps, and the last one is mass murder, is genocide, right?“ by Tali Sharot
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Episode Information
Hidden Brain
Hidden Brain, Shankar Vedantam
6/24/24