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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.

Copyright: © 2025 iHeartMedia, Inc. © Any use of this intellectual property for text and data mining or computational analysis including as training material for artificial intelligence systems is strictly prohibited without express written consent from iHeartMedia

Latest Episodes:

Amy Wrzesniewski || Finding Your Calling at Work May 24, 2018

Show notes

Today we have Dr. Amy Wrzesniewski on the podcast. Dr. Wrzesniewski is a professor of organizational behavior at the Yale School of Management. Her research focuses on how people make meaning of their work in difficult contexts, such as stigmatized occupations, virtual work, or absence of work, and the experience of work as a job, career, or calling. Her current research involves studying how employees shape their interactions and relationships with others in the workplace to change both their work identity and the meaning of the job.

Topics incude:

- The definition of meaning

- The four main sources of meaning

- Spirituality as a potential source of meaning at work

- The way work allows us to transcend the self

- The definition of calling

- How to find your most meaningful calling

- The importance of “self-resonance”

- The difference between consequences and motives

- What is job crafting and how can it help you increase your calling?

- Is job crafting contagious?

- The benefit of collective, team-level job crafting

- The impact of virtual work on job crafting

- How does meaning shape job transitions?

- The effects of occupational regret on people’s lives

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Alice Dreger || Fuzzy Categories May 17, 2018

Show notes

“Nature doesn’t care about our desire to have these clean political categories for legal purposes.” — Alice Dreger

Today I’m really excited to have Dr. Alice Dreger on the podcast. Dr. Dreger is a historian, bioethicist, author, and former professor of clinical medical humanities and bioethics at the Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University. Dreger is widely known for her academic work and activism in support of people at the edge of anatomy, such as conjoined twins and those with atypical sex characteristics. In her observations, it’s often a fuzzy line between “male” and “female”, among other anatomical distinctions. A key question guiding a lot of Dr. Dreger’s work (and which was the topic of her TEDx talk) is “Why do we let our anatomy determine our fate?” Dr. Dreger is the author of multiple books, including “One of Us: Conjoined Twins and the Future of Normal” and “Galieleo’s Middle Finger Heretics, Activists, and the Search for Justice in Science.”

In this episode, we discuss a wide range of topics, including:

How Dr. Dreger got involved in the “Intersex Rights Movement” in the mid-90s
The difference between anatomy and gender identity
The relationship between our bodies and our personal and social identities and the role of science and medicine in determining this relationship
Who gets to tell your body what it means
How the mind isn’t the only place where identity exists, and how our identities also exist in the minds of others
The future of gender pronouns
How we should treat those who do not fit traditional notions of sex, such as the fascinating cases of “androgen sensitivity syndrome” and “congenital adrenal hyperplasia”
How we can see more value in variation in anatomy
The need for a more reality-based government
Why the phrase “identity politics” is distracting and only part of a larger problem
The benefits and disadvantages of the “Intellectual Dark Web”
The increasing difficulty of being able to tell what is true and what is false in the media
Why we spend so much of our energy on tribal politics and avoid the real humanitarian problems in the world
Why tribal life is so compelling
The need to balance male and female ways of being
What an “Intellectual Light Web” might look like

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William Damon || The Path to Purpose May 10, 2018

Show notes

Today it’s an honor to have Dr. William Damon on the podcast. Dr. Damon is Director of the Stanford Center on Adolescence and Professor of Education at Stanford University. Damon’s current research explores how young people develop purpose in their civic, work, family, and community relationships. He examines how people learn to approach their vocational and civic lives with a focus on purpose, imagination, and high standards of excellence. Damon also has written widely about how to educate for moral and ethical understanding. Dr. Damon’s most recent books include The Power of Ideals, Failing Liberty 101, and The Path to Purpose: Helping Our Children Find Their Calling in Life.

In this wide-ranging discussion, we cover the following topics:

- The definition of purpose

- The role of values in purpose

- The difference between purpose and meaning

- Vicktor Frankl’s “will to meaning”

- How purpose is a late developing capacity

- The difference between purpose and resiliency

- The paths to purpose among young people

- Methods for developing purpose

- Moral commitment among moral exemplars

- Purpose among leaders

- The importance of taking "ultimate responsibility" in life

- How we are leaving young people unprepared in a civic society

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Kennon Sheldon || How to Be an Optimal Human Apr 26, 2018

Show notes

“The happiest person is the person doing good stuff for good reasons.”

— Kennon Sheldon

Dr. Kennon Sheldon is a psychologist at the University of Missouri who studies motivation, goals, and well-being, from both a self-determination theory and a positive psychology perspective. He has authored or co-authored multiple books, including “Optimal human being: An integrated multi-level perspective”. Dr. Sheldon has been cited more than 30,000 times, and in 2010, he was named one of the 20 most cited social psychologists.

In this wide-ranging episode we discuss:

How Ken went from aspiring musician to leading research on goals
Whether the pursuit of happiness is worth it
Is happiness in your genes?
The link between goals and happiness
The what and why of motivated goal pursuit
The basic needs of self-determination theory
Deprivation vs. growth needs
Self-concordance theory
The link between values and happiness
How much can we use science as a guide to values?
Are there some ways of being more conducive to happiness than others?
How to get in touch with your OVP (organismic valuing process)
Marrying positive psychology and humanistic psychology
The relationship between personal goals and personal projects
How to know when to change your goals
The good life: well-being or well-doing?

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Patricia Stokes || Creativity from Constraints Apr 19, 2018

Show notes

Today I’m delighted to speak with Patricia Stokes, an adjunct professor at Barnard College who studies problem solving and creativity/innovation. Stokes is author of the book Creativity from Constraints: The Psychology of Breakthrough, which was informed by her psychological research as well as her background in art and advertising.

In this episode, we cover:

– How Patricia went from art and advertising to creativity researcher

– The importance of constraints and variability for creativity

– How constraints can promote or preclude creativity

– Using constraints to solve the “creativity problem”

– How “the solution path defines the goal state”

– The four major constraints on creativity

– How teachers and parents should praise children for optimal creativity

– How to reward the courage to be novel

– The importance of constraints in fashion and literature

– How to explain Lady Gaga’s creativity

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Robert Leahy || The Jealousy Cure Apr 12, 2018

Show notes

It’s great to have Dr. Robert Leahy on the podcast today. Dr. Leahy completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School under the direction of Dr. Aaron Beck, the founder of cognitive therapy. Dr. Leahy is the past president of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies, past president of the International Association of Cognitive Psychotherapy, past president of the Academy of Cognitive Therapy, director of the American Institute for Cognitive Therapy (NYC), and a clinical professor of psychology in psychiatry at Weill-Cornell University Medical School.

Dr. Leahy has received the Aaron T. Beck award for outstanding contributions in cognitive therapy, and he is author and editor of 25 books, including The Worry Cure, which received critical praise from the New York Times and has been selected by Self Magazine as one of the top eight self-help books of all time. His latest book is The Jealousy Cure: Learn to Trust, Overcome Possessiveness, and Save Your Relationship.

Topics:

Why Dr. Lahey wrote The Anxiety Cure
The new science of jealousy
How jealousy differs from envy
Why jealousy evolved
What is the downside of intense jealousy?
Why we don’t want to get rid of jealousy
Are men and women equally jealous?
The relationship between attachment style and jealousy
What if there really is a reason to be jealous?
What are some practical techniques that people can use to cope with their jealousy?

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Colin DeYoung || Cybernetics and the Science of Personality Apr 05, 2018

Show notes

Today I’m really excited to have Colin DeYoung on the podcast. Dr. DeYoung is associate professor of psychology at the University of Minnesota. He specializes in personality psychology but is especially interested in personality neuroscience. Besides being a prolific academic and researcher, I am also honored to count him as a dear friend and collaborator.

In this episode we discussed wide-range of topics relating to personality, including:

The modern day personality hierarchy
The “Big Two”: Stability and Plasticity
How Carl Jung developed his theory of introversion
The latest science of introversion
The scientific validity of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
Dopamine as the “neuromodulator of exploration”
The two major dopamingeric pathways
Why personality variation evolved
The neuroscience of conscientiousness
The link between compassion and imagination
The neuroscience of anxiety
The cybernetics of personality
Rethinking psychopathology
The effects of therapy on personality change

Links

Cybernetic Big Five Theory

The neuromodulator of exploration: A unifying theory of the role of dopamine in personality

Personality neuroscience and the biology of traits

Opening up openness to experience: A four-factor model and relations to creative achievement in the arts and sciences

The neuroscience of anxiety

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Jordan Peterson || Wonder, Creativity, and the Personality of Political Correctness Mar 29, 2018

Show notes

Today we have Dr. Jordan Peterson on the podcast. Dr. Peterson has taught mythology to lawyers, doctors and business people, consulted for the UN Secretary General, helped his clinical clients manage depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety, and schizophrenia, served as an adviser to senior partners of major Canadian law firms, and lectured extensively in North America and Europe. With his students and colleagues at Harvard and the University of Toronto, Dr. Peterson has published over a hundred scientific papers. Dr. Peterson is also author of two books: Maps of Meaning: The Architecture of Belief and 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos, which is a #1 bestseller.

In this wide-ranging conversation we discuss the following topics:

– Why “learned irrelevance” is incredibly important

– Why creativity requires keeping a childlike wonder

– How hallucinogens clear the “doors of perception”

– The “shared vulnerability” model of the creativity-mental illness connection

– The neuroscience of openness to experience

– The personality of personal correctness

– The practical implications of gender differences

– The function of the state in helping to make sure there is equality of individual expression

– How agreeableness and conscientiousness orient us differently in the social world

– The difference between pathological altruism and genuine compassion

– The link between pathological altruism and vulnerable narcissism

– The difference between responsibility and culpability

– How to help people take responsibility and make their lives better

Links

12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos

Jordan Peterson- What the State is For

Jordan Peterson- Future Authoring Program

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Max Lugavere || Genius Foods Mar 22, 2018

Show notes

Today I’m really excited to have Max Lugavere on the podcast. Max is a filmmaker, health and science journalist, and brain food expert. He is also the director of the upcoming film Bread Head, the first-ever documentary about dementia prevention through diet and lifestyle, and he is co-author, with Dr. Paul Grewal, of the just released book, Genius Foods.

In this episode, we discuss the following:

How he got into his line of work
How Alzheimer’s may be prevented through diet
The biomarkers of aging
Polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats
How to understand research on diet and medicine
Genius foods you can add to your diet right now
His supplement regime
The importance of gut health
The Hygiene Hypothesis on the rise of autoimmune diseases
The only fruits he recommends for a healthy diet
Cholesterol—not bad after all?
The emerging research on “psychobiotics” (treating psychological disorders with probiotics)
Stress, sleep and exercise
Metabolic health and the brain

Links

Follow Max on Twitter

Get his book Genius Foods, which is out now

For everything else Max does

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

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Mark Leary || The Self, Identity, and Removing the Mask Mar 15, 2018

Show notes

This week I'm thrilled to welcome Mark Leary, Ph.D. to The Psychology Podcast! Dr. Leary is the Garonzik Family Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Duke University and author of The Curse of the Self. His research interests focus on social motivation and emotion, and on processes involving self-reflection and self-relevant thought. He has written or edited 12 books and over 200 scholarly articles and chapters. He was the 2010 recipient of the Lifetime Career Award from the International Society for Self and Identity and a 2015 co-recipient of the Scientific Impact Award from the Society for Experimental Social Psychology.

During our chat we covered a number of mutual research interests including:
Links:
Read Dr. Leary's new blog at PsychologyToday

Self-esteem, identity and their relationships to behavior
The distinction between “instrumental social value" and "relational social value"
The human need for belonging
The concept of “self-presentation strategies" and their variations:
<ul> <li>Imposter syndrome<br />
Self-promotion
Ingratiation

The difference between egoism and egotism

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