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Human Potential Lab — Education
Human Potential Lab

For eleven years and 478 episodes, Dr. Scott Barry Kaufman hosted The Psychology Podcast, one of the most listened-to psychology shows in the world, with more than 30 million downloads. Human Potential Lab is what that show has become.

The questions have moved. What is a mind? What makes something conscious? What happens to being human when the things we build start to look like minds themselves? Too much of the work is happening out of public view. In this new show, Dr. Scott Barry Kaufman sits down with the scientists, philosophers and technologists working at the frontier — the people whose work is actively deciding what we could become as a species.

Scott Barry Kaufman is a cognitive scientist and the founder of the Center for Human Potential. He holds a Ph.D. from Yale and an M.Phil. from Cambridge, has taught at Columbia, NYU and the University of Pennsylvania, and is the author or editor of twelve books, including Transcend, Ungifted, Wired to Create and Rise Above. New episodes every other week from October 28, 2026.

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Latest Episodes:

Lilliana Mason || How Politics Became Our Identity Jun 18, 2020

Show notes

Today it’s great to have the political psychologist Lilianna Mason on the podcast. Dr. Mason is associate professor of Government and Politics at the University of Maryland, College Park, and author of Uncivil Agreement: How Politics Became Our Identity.

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Geoffrey Miller || Signaling, Mating, and Morality Jun 11, 2020

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In this episode, I talk with Geoffrey Miller, an American evolutionary psychologist, researcher, and author about elements of evolutionary psychology such as virtue signaling, altruism, sexual selection, and their role in the evolution of human nature.

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Martin Seligman || From Learned Helplessness to Learned Hopefulness Jun 04, 2020

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Today it’s great to have Dr. Martin Seligman on the podcast. Dr. Seligman is a leading authority in the fields of positive psychology, resilience, learned helplessness, depression, optimism, and pessimism.

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Wendy Wood || How to Make Positive Changes that Stick May 21, 2020

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In this episode I discuss habits with social psychologist Wendy Wood-- how to break the bad ones, create good habits, and how to make them actually stick.

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Pete Carroll || Winning with Meaning and Purpose May 07, 2020

Show notes

In this episode of The Psychology Podcast I chat with Coach Pete Carroll about how to win with meaning, purpose, and love.

Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-psychology-podcast/support

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Michele Gelfand || How Tight and Loose Cultures Wire Our World Apr 30, 2020

Show notes

Today it’s great to have the cultural psychologist Michele Gelfand on the podcast. Dr. Gelfand is a Distinguished University Professor at the University of Maryland, College Park. Gelfand uses field, experimental, computational, and neuroscience methods to understand the evolution of culture– as well as its multilevel consequences for human groups. In addition to publishing numerous articles in many prestigious scientific outlets, she is the author of Rule Makers, Rule Breakers: How Tight and Loose Cultures Wire the World.

In this episode we discuss:

What are social norms?
The difference between tight and loose cultures
The advantages vs. disadvantages of tight vs. loose cultures
Why did tight vs. loose cultures evolve in the first place?
How chronic threat produces a tight culture
Real vs. perceived (imagined) threats
How cross-cultural psychology is expanding
The interdisciplinary expansion of the study of social norms
How organizations can be tight vs. loose
Why the ambidexterity of an organizational culture matters
Why people welcomed ISIS in some contexts
How to anticipate radical shifts in culture around the world in ways that can be predictable
How people differ in terms of what is perceived a threat
The potential for meaningful conversation across the political divide
The importance of persevering in science
How understanding differing cultural codes can help us navigate and negotiate them
How can modifying a nation’s norms address protracted social problems?
Why Michele is so excited to be in the field now more than ever
How these contexts can breed negative behaviors
Why we need to exert more control to achieve the Goldilocks principle
Why we need to be mindful of social norms
Why Michele is hopeful that we can recalibrate social norms that facilitate greater cooperation among cultures

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Judith Orloff || Thriving as an Empath Apr 23, 2020

Show notes

“A little self-care goes a long way. Honoring your sensitivities is an act of self-love.”

Today it’s so great to have Dr. Judith Orloff on the podcast. Dr. Orloff is the New York Times best-selling author of The Empath’s Survival Guide: Life Strategies for Sensitive People. Her new book Thriving as an Empath, along with its companion The Empath’s Empowerment Journal, offers daily self-care tools for sensitive people Dr. Orloff is a psychiatrist, an empath, and is on the UCLA Psychiatric Clinical Faculty. She synthesizes the pearls of traditional medicine with cutting edge knowledge of intuition, energy, and spirituality. Dr. Orloff also specializes in treating empaths and highly sensitive people in her private practice. Dr. Orloff’s work has been featured on The Today Show, CNN, Oprah Magazine, the New York Times and USA Today. Dr. Orloff has also spoken at Google-LA and has a TEDX talk.

The gift of being different
How empaths are “emotional sponges”
How empaths can be misdiagnosed
The importance of being aware of the “phases of nature” and the “cycles of light”
Treasure your sensitivity
Identify the signs of being overwhelmed with stimulation
You are allowed to have peace
The new paradigm of being a man
The sacredness of commitment
Why the past doesn’t control you
The importance of setting boundaries
The joy of not overthinking
How to hold space for someone without having to fix them
Getting in touch with the “magical part of your being”
Being willing to feel loss in order to move on
Go where the light is
How to shield yourself from toxic people
How to stop caring about other people’s opinions of us

Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-psychology-podcast/support

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David Yaden || The Science of Self-Transcendent Experiences Apr 16, 2020

Show notes

Today it’s great to have David Yaden on the podcast. Dr. Yaden is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Johns Hopkins Medicine. His research focus is on the psychology, neuroscience, and pharmacology of transformative and self-transcendent experiences. He is currently focusing on the therapeutic potential of psychedelics. His scientific and scholarly work has been covered by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, New York Magazine, and NPR.

In this episode we discuss:

The applicability of self-transcendent experiences to the current moment
The definition of self-transcendent experiences
Andrew Newberg’s pioneering work on the neuroscience of self-transcendent experiences
Abraham Maslow’s role in the history of the scientific investigation of self-transcendent experiences
The “everyperson’s spiritual experience”
The two main components of awe
The main characteristics of awe
Awe vs. flow
The role of technology in triggering self-transcendent experiences
The triggers of self-transcendent experiences
The limitations of interventions to induce self-transcendent experiences
How we can seek out little moments of awe, gratitude, and mindfulness
How psilocybin can induce very intense self-transcendent experiences
The potential for psychedelic therapy sessions
The neuroscience underlying the therapeutic benefit of psychedelics
How psychedelic experiences can impact our connection with close others
David’s personal self-transendent experience
Davis’ interest in studying intense interventions
David’s study of the philosophy of psychology

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Scott Barry Kaufman || Transcend Apr 09, 2020

Show notes

On this episode of The Psychology Podcast, physicist Sean Carroll chats with Scott Barry Kaufman, host of The Psychology Podcast, about his new book Transcend: The New Science of Self-Actualization, which is out today!

In this episode we discuss:

Why studying humans is more complicated than studying the universe
The importance of having humility as a psychologist
How Scott’s new book Transcend builds on the work of Abraham Maslow
How Maslow never actually drew a pyramid
What Maslow actually meant by his “Hierarchy of Needs”
The dialectical between security and growth
Scott’s new metaphor for the hierarchy of needs
How humans can be greater than the sum of their parts
Scott’s revised integrated hierarchy of needs
Why attachment styles are continuums, not types
Why the need for belonging is not the same as the need for intimacy
The effects of loneliness on our physical health
The latest science of introversion
Healthy self-esteem vs. narcissism
The “growing tip”
Psychological entropy
The need for exploration and information seeking
The more cosmic aspect of love, or “B-Love”
The need for purpose
Why self-actualization is not achievement
The form of purpose that can lead to transcendence
Why nothing is absolutely good or bad

Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-psychology-podcast/support

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Seth Gillihan || Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Made Simple Apr 02, 2020

Show notes

Today it’s great to have Dr. Seth Gillihan on the podcast. Dr. Gillihan is a licensed psychologist who has written and lectured nationally and internationally on cognitive behavioral therapy and the role of the brain in psychiatric conditions. His books include The CBT Deck, A Mindful Year: 365 Ways to Find Connection and the Sacred in Everyday Life (co-authored with Dr. Aria Campbell-Danesh), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Made Simple,and Retrain Your Brain: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in 7 Weeks. Dr. Gillihan also blogs for Psychology Today and hosts the weekly Think Act Be podcast, which features a wide range of conversations about living more fully. He has a clinical practice in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, providing treatment to adults with insomnia, OCD, anxiety, depression, and related conditions.

Find Seth on the web at sethgillihan.com. See Seth’s CBT Deck here. See the Think Act Be online school where Seth offers courses in mindfulness-centered CBT for anxiety, stress, and worry here: https://think-act-be.teachable.com/.

In this episode we discuss:

How Seth got into therapy
The second wave of CBT
The behavioral activation approach
Mindful CBT
Seth’s “Think Act Be” approach
The importance of core beliefs
The cheap form of self-love
“Cycling the Puck”
The importance of returning to the true center of ourselves
The curious paradox of acceptance
What is our deepest self?
What is consciousness?
Why waking up isn’t a once and for all experience
How we can be kinder to ourselves

Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-psychology-podcast/support

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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