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  • Skeptic Magazine 27.4: Nationalism Matters
  • Springtime Voyage to Classic Japan (May 17–30, 2024)
  • Expedition from Amsterdam to Lisbon (August 6–17, 2023)
  • Voyage to Antarctica, South Georgia, and the Falklands (January 19 – February 7, 2024)
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The Michael Shermer Show

EPISODE # 329

Marc Schulz — The Good Life: Lessons from the World’s Longest Scientific Study of Happiness

Shermer and Schulz discuss: an operational definition of the “good life” or “happiness” or “well being” • the reliability (or unreliability) of self-report data in social science • relative roles of genes, environment, hard work, and luck in how lives turn out • personality and to what extent it can be scientifically measured and studied • factors in early childhood that shape mental health in mid and late life • generational differences: • the impact of loneliness • misconceptions about happiness • what social fitness is and how to exercise it • what most people get wrong about achievement, and more…

Watch or listen to this episode

Latest addition to the Reading Room

Political Polarization: Uncertainty and the Neurobiology of Why We’re So Divided

While many essays have addressed the social events and psychological traits that drive polarized thinking, the neural underpinnings of uncertainty and polarization are largely unknown. We know the brain processes information and makes decisions, but we know little about how politically polarized information is encoded, and even less about how attitudes about uncertainty influence that processing. Why is it important? In this article Natasha Mott explains that uncertainty may be seen as a threat, which moves individuals toward certain positions on the ends of ideological spectrums when considering political candidates and policy positions.

Read this article

Research Center

Political Accuracy & Divisions Study (PADS)

In the Partisan Accuracy & Divisions Study (PADS), we conducted an extensive survey of over 3,000 American adults to assess their accuracy about a variety of controversial topics including, abortion, immigration, gender, race, crime, and the economy. So much of our political discourse revolves around these topics—but how much do we really know about these issues and the views of our fellow Americans? How informed are the loudest, most politically confident voices? We will examine the prevalence of misconceptions across the political continuum, and in doing so, we hope to offer a means by which to improve the quality of our national discourse.

Explore this study

REPORT (PADS-002)

Trans, Identity and Institutional Controversies

Second report in the Political Accuracy & Divisions Study

A particularly salient culture-war issue in contemporary American society concerns the relationship between gender identity and biological sex. While some insist that peoples’ subjective interpretation of their sex is paramount, others insist objective markers (like chromosomes) are practically more relevant […]

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