July 12, 2016

EP. 132 — How Science Proves That We’re All Total Assholes

Do you find yourself getting irrationally mad when you’re cut off by the car plastered in bumper stickers warning about the danger of contrails? When you’re walking on a sidewalk and there’s a group of people in front of you, do you want to run them over with a snowblower because they’re arranged in such a way that it’s impossible to navigate around them? When there’s someone in a coffee shop talking loudly on their phone, do you want to plunge them and their stupid conversation to the bottom of the Mariana Trench for the rest of time?

 

If you answered yes to any of the above questions, you’re not being an asshole, that’s just evolution baby. Apparently we’re hard-wired to think people are jerks and there’s absolutely nothing we can do about it.

 

To commemorate the arrival of ‘Difficult People’ season 2 on Hulu, Jack O’Brien, Josh Sargent and Alex Schmidt discuss the scientifically proven ways humans are just awful–from our bad driving habits to the cognitive bias that proves why stupid people think they’re smart. Trust us, it’s not you, it’s them.

 

Footnotes:

 

– David Dunning: We Are All Confident Idiots: https://goo.gl/yclkfl

 

– Cracked: 6 Scientific Reasons People Drive Like Assholes: http://goo.gl/gk4s

 

– Cracked: 5 Scientific Reasons You’re a Bad Employee: http://goo.gl/X5SD

 

– Cracked: 6 Obnoxious Behaviors That Make You Better at Your Job: http://goo.gl/eorSF6

 

– Cracked: 5 Logical Fallacies That Make You Wrong More Than You Think: http://goo.gl/XtQGF

 

– Robert Sapolsky – Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers: https://goo.gl/Ji7S4G

 

– Watch Difficult People on Hulu: http://goo.gl/ZHNQpt

 

– Difficult People on Instagram: https://goo.gl/lLva2S

 

– Difficult People on Twitter: https://goo.gl/TBdkeD

 

– Difficult People on Facebook: https://goo.gl/fHma0d

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