IN-PERSON Podcast Club: The Psychology of Pain/Pleasure and the Effort Paradox


Details
THIS IS AN IN-PERSON PODCAST CLUB EVENT IN SAN FRANCISCO! It will not be on Zoom. We look forward to seeing you in 3-D!
This week, we will listen to TWO episodes that are part of a Hidden Brain podcast mini-series, with host Shankar Vedantum. The first podcast features guest Paul Bloom, the Brooks and Suzanne Ragen Professor Emeritus of psychology and cognitive science at Yale and Professor of Psychology at the U. of Toronto. Bloom is the author of seven books and editor/co-editor of three others. His research has appeared in Nature and Science, and he has written articles for The New York Times, The Guardian, The Atlantic, and other publications. The second podcast features guest Michal Inzlicht, a social psychologist, neuroscientist, and professor of psychology at the U. of Toronto. He is the recipient of many awards and honors in the field of psychology and has authored numerous research articles that appear in scientific journals.
PLEASE NOTE: We require that attendees listen to both podcasts below BEFORE attending the meeting.
Podcast #1:
https://hiddenbrain.org/podcast/ouch-that-feels-great/
or
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hidden-brain/id1028908750?i=1000712142870
(52 min.)
AND
Podcast #2:
https://hiddenbrain.org/podcast/doing-it-the-hard-way/
or
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hidden-brain/id1028908750?i=1000713137613
(58 min.)
For those who seek additional effort (pain?), read the following optional article: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/550b09eae4b0147d03eda40d/t/5ab269ec0e2e729344929771/1521641976723/The-effort-paradox-effort-is-both-costly-and-valued.pdf
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What are the podcasts about?
This week's podcasts comprise a 2-part mini-series. The first, with guest Paul Bloom, explores pain and pleasure. Why do we sometimes seek and even enjoy things that bring us pain? For example, why do we eat very spicy-hot foods, watch scary movies, rubberneck when we pass accidents, or doomscroll? The second podcast, with guest Michael Inzlicht, discusses the psychology of doing hard versus easy things. The law of least effort states that organisms and systems naturally opt for the easiest, least effortful way to accomplish a task or reach a desired outcome. Yet there also seems to be an effort paradox in which people value things that clearly require effort and sometimes seek out difficult tasks. Both of these podcasts provide some insight into our human psychology and may help us hack how to better design our lives in a way we find most meaningful.
What's a podcast club?
It's like a book club for podcasts. Each week we discuss an interesting and currently-relevant episode from podcasters like Ezra Klein, Michael Shermer, or Russ Roberts. We start off as a large group and spend most of the time talking in small break-out groups, which we remix 3 times over the course of the evening. Our conversations are casual and open. We ask that everyone speak respectfully at all times, and we encourage free and concise discussion relevant to the week's podcast topic. To do this, we try to adhere to Grice's Maxims: https://bit.ly/2p4uSQm
Ultimately, the idea is to help each other think a little differently, learn a thing or two and have some fun.
The meeting venue:
We will be meeting at Groundfloor (see map and address in upper right-hand corner) at 3pm. For those of you who attended our last in-person meeting (November 2024), it is the same venue in the Mission. Thank you to Clint for making this fantastic venue available to our group!
Dinner:
Please join us for dinner following our meeting! We're changing things up a bit: Our last in-person events involved a group stroll to a restaurant to dine together. This has been challenging due to the size of our group and other logistics. For our upcoming meeting, we will provide everyone time to get out into the neighborhood to pick up takeout food to bring back to Groundfloor, our venue. Some restaurant takeout menus will be available for you to peruse, or feel free to check out restaurants ahead of time. There will likely be others who'll want to go with you to pick up food at the same place. Alternatively, you are welcome to brown-bag a dinner. A microwave oven is available at the venue. Hopefully, getting/bringing food to dine together at Groundfloor will provide a more enjoyable, less chaotic experience and allow us time to hang out, converse, and relax!
Questions: Please contact Salina if you have any questions! Allow some time for a response, as Meetup doesn't notify that messages have been sent.

IN-PERSON Podcast Club: The Psychology of Pain/Pleasure and the Effort Paradox