Counterintuitive

You are who you are. In our ideal scenario of consistency, a person has a stable personality. He or she is honest, outgoing, polite, or any of the other innumerable personality traits. That's not a fluke, that's how he or she really is. But does this scenario describe our world? Are personalities, in the form we know them, truly stable across contexts and time? Tune in and find out! For more (and the show notes), head to dbojar.com/category/podcast/.

You know what you want. And even more what you don't want. Maybe you know what your family and friends like. Turns out, you're probably mistaken on all three counts. Our preferences are so much influenced by all kinds of context that they can't even be considered to be stable. Or can they? Find out here, and in the process discover our preferences for broccoli, chairs, and sex. For more (and the show notes), head to https://dbojar.com/category/podcast/.

Did you ever stand before a meadow filled with life, basking in the sun, and wondered about the beauty of nature? You're not alone. Especially nowadays, far removed from nature as we are, we're prone to idealizing and idolizing nature and and all things natural. Here, you'll find out why nature's messy and not all that great, especially at any given time point. We'll explore the love life of beetles, the destiny of virgin islands, and the gory past of most of our continents to arrive at a...

What do school classes, cancer prevalence, and journeys have in common? Size! Be it number, proportion, or duration, size matters. Or does it? Taking the association between class size and academic performance as a primary example, this episode takes a deep dive into sample size and provenance. Find out where these seemingly abstract notions influence your daily life as well as your worldview! If you want to learn more, head to dbojar.com/category/podcast/.

How do you communicate power and determination so that you are believed? This conundrum lies at the heart of this episode, which takes place in 1989 and beyond. Equipped with game theory and good old psychology, this show will take a close look at torture and why authoritarian regimes sometimes seem to act against their own interests. To learn more, head to https://dbojar.com/category/podcast/.

On September 3rd, 1967, Sweden switched driving lanes, from left to right, in a single day. Not only were there no casualties, 1967 had fewer fatal traffic accidents than the years before or after. Why? And what does the counterintuitive phenomenon behind this teach us about how to make the world a safer place? To learn more, head to www.dbojar.com

A podcast series by Daniel Bojar about things which are not what they seem to be. Visit www.dbojar.com to learn more.