No Stupid QuestionsFreakonomics Radio + StitcherAll episodes

169. Can We Disagree Better?

Do you suffer from the sin of certainty? How did Angela react when a grad student challenged her research? And can a Heineken commercial strengthen our democracy?

RESOURCES:

• "Disagree Better," National Governors Association initiative led by Spencer Cox (2023-2024).
• "Cooling Heated Discourse: Conversational Receptiveness Boosts Interpersonal Evaluations and Willingness to Talk," by Julia Minson, David Hagmann, and Kara Luo (Preprint, 2023).
• "Megastudy Identifying Effective Interventions to Strengthen Americans’ Democratic Attitudes," by Jan G. Voelkel, Robb Willer, et al. (Working Paper, 2023).
• Conflicted: Why Arguments Are Tearing Us Apart and How They Can Bring Us Together, by Ian Leslie (2021).
• "How to Disagree Productively and Find Common Ground," by Julia Dhar (TED, 2018).
• "From the Fundamental Attribution Error to the Truly Fundamental Attribution Error and Beyond: My Research Journey," by Lee Ross (Perspectives on Psychological Science, 2018).
• "The Humanizing Voice: Speech Reveals, and Text Conceals, a More Thoughtful Mind in the Midst of Disagreement," by Juliana Schroeder, Michael Kardas, and Nicholas Epley (Psychological Science, 2017).
• "Worlds Apart," ad by Heineken (2017).
• "Gritty Educations," by Anindya Kundu (Virginia Policy Review, 2014).
• Thinking, Fast and Slow, by Daniel Kahneman (2011).
• "Experiences of Collaborative Research," by Daniel Kahneman (American Psychologist, 2003).

EXTRAS:

• TikTok with advice from Apple Store employee (2023).
• "Can You Change Your Mind Without Losing Face?" by No Stupid Questions (2022).
• 12 Angry Men, film (1957).

SOURCES:

• Spencer Cox, governor of Utah and chair of the National Governors Association.
• Julia Dhar, managing director and partner at Boston Consulting Group.
• David Hagmann, professor of management at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
• Daniel Kahneman, professor emeritus of psychology and public affairs at Princeton University.
• Anindya Kundu, professor of educational leadership at Florida International University.
• Ian Leslie, British journalist and author.
• Kara Luo, Ph.D. candidate in organizational behavior at Stanford University.
• Julia Minson, professor of public policy at Harvard University.
• Pedro Noguera, professor of education and dean of the Rossier School of Education at the University of Southern California.
• Jared Polis, governor of Colorado.
• Lee Ross, professor of psychology at Stanford University.
• Julia Schroeder, professor of management of organizations at the University of California, Berkeley.
• Jared Smith, co-founder of Qualtrics.
• [An