Dr. Laurie Santos
Dr. Laurie Santos is Professor of Psychology and Head of Silliman College at Yale University. Professor and podcast host Dr. Laurie Santos is an expert on human cognition and the…
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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 realized; and talks with Dr. Dan Gilbert about why human happiness isn’t defined by these major events in the way we all assume.
“These were the words uttered by Billie Bob Harrell, Jr…”
McVicker, S. (2000). Billie Bob’s (Mis) Fortune. Houston Press. February, 10, 2000.
“People were asked “how much money would you really need to be happy?”
“Kahmeman and Deaton found…”
“This is Dan Gilbert. He wrote one of my very favorite books on human psychology.”
“In one famous study, he asked young professors at the University of Texas to forecast how they’d feel when they got tenure.”
“Lovers predict they’ll take a long time to recover from a sad break-up but bounce back far quicker.”
“Student drivers believe they’ll be devastated if they fail to get their license…”
“The same is true for job applicants who are passed over.”
“Even patients guessing how they’ll feel about a positive or negative HIV diagnosis.”
“This is a phenomenon psychologists call hedonic adaptation.”
“Rafaella Gunz is telling me how she met the man of her dreams.”
Rafaella Gunz, R. (2016). Getting herpes was a gift. Ravishly.com, 4/21/16.
“Dan has observed we’re worse at predicting how we’ll feel after a bad event.”
“Dan calls this capacity to overcome adversity our psychological immune system.”
“J.R. Martinez had just finished high school in a small town in the South.”
Martinez, J. R. (2012). Full of Heart: My Story of Survival, Strength, and Spirit. Hyperion Books.
Dr. Laurie Santos is Professor of Psychology and Head of Silliman College at Yale University. Professor and podcast host Dr. Laurie Santos is an expert on human cognition and the…