About the Episode

Christopher Chabris is a cognitive scientist who has taught at Union University and Harvard University. His research focuses on decision-making, attention, intelligence and behavior genetics. Christopher received his Ph.D. in Psychology and A.B. in computer science from Harvard University. He joined us today to talk about the book he co-authored, Nobody’s Fool: Why We Get Taken In and What We Can Do About It.

Christopher shares his insights on the concept of “willing suspension of disbelief,” exploring how our minds readily accept premises in works of fiction and the implications this has on our perception of reality. He challenges our notion of being critical thinkers, pointing out how we tend to initially believe information that comes our way. He explains that the mind instinctively tags incoming information as true, requiring conscious effort to question its validity.

We also explore the ethical and psychological objections to starting with “bullshit” and trying to correct it later, highlighting the importance of responsible information dissemination.

Join us as we dissect the complexities of belief, deception, and human psychology.