333 | Gordon Pennycook on Unthinkingness, Conspiracies, and What to Do About Them

episode

Sean Carroll's Mindscape: Science, Society, Philosophy, Culture, Arts, and Ideas not yet transcribed

▲ 0

Transcript

This episode hasn't been transcribed yet Upvotes decide what gets transcribed next — 0 so far. Sign in to upvote

More from Sean Carroll's Mindscape: Science, Society, Philosophy, Culture, Arts, and Ideas

368 | Elizabeth Alexander on Why Democracy Needs Imagination 1h 10m · 21 Sep 2026

Mindscape Ask Me Anything, Sean Carroll | September 2026 4h 30m · 14 Sep 2026

367 | Jared Diamond on the Course of History and the Role of leaders 1h 21m · 07 Sep 2026

366 | Jim Al-Khalili on Time, Quantum, Biology, and Cosmology 1h 16m · 31 Aug 2026

365 | Vitor Cardoso on Why Black Holes Are Special 1h 9m · 24 Aug 2026

364 | Stuart Firestein on How Science Relies on Ignorance and Failure 1h 17m · 17 Aug 2026

All episodes from Sean Carroll's Mindscape: Science, Society, Philosophy, Culture, Arts, and Ideas →

Report any issue

Source

Recorded27 Oct 2025

Publisherrss.art19.com

Handlerec:2102516

Show notes

Why are people wrong all the time, anyway? Is it because we human beings are too good at being irrational, using our biases and motivated reasoning to convince ourselves of something that isn't quite accurate? Or is it something different -- unmotivated reasoning, or "unthinkingness," an unwillingness to do the cognitive work that most of us are actually up to if we try? Gordon Pennycook wants to argue for the latter, and this simple shift has important consequences, including for strategies for getting people to be less susceptible to misinformation and conspiracies.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/10/27/333-gordon-pennycook-on-unthinkingness-conspiracies-and-what-to-do-about-them/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Gordon Pennycook received his Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Waterloo. He is currently an associate professor of psychology and Dorothy and Ariz Mehta Faculty Leadership Fellow at Cornell University as well as an Adjunct Professor at University of Regina’s Hill/Levene Schools of Business. He is a member of the Royal Society of Canada's College of New Scholars, Artists, and Scientists, and a 2016 winner of the IgNobel Prize for Peace.Web siteCornell web pageGoogle Scholar publicationsWikipediaIgNobel Prize citationSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Ask this episode

“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.