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cover of episode Doing it the Hard Way

Doing it the Hard Way

2025/6/16
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Hidden Brain
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M
Mary Pan
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M
Michael Inslicht
R
Richard Thaler
S
Shankar Vedantam
Topics
Shankar Vedantam: 人类天生追求快乐，但也对不适感感到好奇，喜欢有意义和奋斗。做困难的事情是艰难的，但我们仍然会去做。 Michael Inslicht: 在其他条件相同的情况下，所有生物都倾向于以更少的努力获得相同的回报。但人们会将客观上毫无意义的任务赋予更多的重要性和意义。越是费力的任务，我们从中获得的乐趣就越少，但同时，我们从中获得的意义就越多。努力的情况为我们提供了展示自己能力的试验场，让我们成为自己生活故事中的英雄。努力是不愉快和痛苦的，但努力也可以是有回报的。我可以学会容忍努力，因为努力的感觉是一种普遍的感觉。 Mary Pan: 每当我遇到挑战或承诺做某事时，我倾向于完成它，即使它非常具有挑战性和痛苦。我可以做困难的事情，完成挑战和克服困难是我的核心价值。

Deep Dive

Chapters
This chapter explores the human tendency to seek pleasure while simultaneously being drawn to discomfort, examining the law of least effort and how it contradicts our inclination to do hard things. It introduces psychologist Michael Inzlicht and his research on motivation, effort, and reward.
  • Humans are wired to seek pleasure and ease but are also drawn to discomfort.
  • The "law of least effort" states that organisms prefer less work for the same reward.
  • Cultural examples like "quiet quitting" and the "Freedom 55" life insurance campaign show the societal reinforcement of seeking ease.

Shownotes Transcript

Learning to play a musical instrument is hard. So is trying to run a marathon, writing a term paper, and caring for a sick child. These things involve frustration, pain, and disappointment — yet we do them anyway. This week, in part two of our look at the allure of suffering, psychologist Michael Inzlicht) explains what we get from doing things that are difficult, and why the things we think will make us happy often do not.

*Hidden Brain is hitting the road this summer! Join Shankar in a city near you as he shares key insights from the first decade of the show. For more info, and to purchase tickets, go to hiddenbrain.org/tour). *