Why getting it right might mean admitting you're wrong. What if we were to replace intellectual combat with genuine discussion and treat beliefs as hypotheses to be tested rather than treasures to be defended? In his guide to thinking better, Professor Steven Pinker is joined by: Julia Galef of the Center for Applied Rationality and author of ‘The Scout Mindset’ Daniel Willingham, professor of psychology at the University of Virginia and the author of ‘Cognition and Raising Kids who...

The media fills our minds with vivid images of rare events from plane crashes to terrorist attacks. In his guide to thinking better, Professor Steven Pinker explores how we can stop the news from distorting our understanding of the world. He’s joined by: James Harding a former editor of The Times and director of BBC News, and now the co-founder of Tortoise Media. Anna Rosling Rutland, co-founder and vice president of the Gap Minder Foundation and co-author with Hans and Ola Rosling of ...

Decision making in the courtroom: In his guide to thinking better, Professor Steven Pinker explores the life and death choices made by judges and juries. To help him sift signals from noise, he’s joined by: Judge Nancy Gertner: former United States district judge and now professor of law at Harvard University Elizabeth Loftus; professor at the University of California and one of the most influential psychologists of the 20th century Producer: Imogen Walford Editor Emma Rippon Think...

The way we think makes us vulnerable to bad decision making, but in his guide to thinking better, Steven Pinker explores how we can exploit our cognitive biases to make better choices. Professor Pinker is joined by: Daniel Kahneman, Professor Emeritus at Princeton University, Nobel Prize in Economics winner and author of “Thinking Fast and Slow” and “Noise A Flaw in Human Judgement” Robyn Scott, writer, entrepreneur and the founder and CEO of Apolitical, a peer to peer learning platform...

Making predictions can be hard, especially about the future. In his guide to thinking better, Professor Steven Pinker explores the cognitive flaws that hobble us as forecasters. He’s joined by Barbara Mellers, the George I. Heyman University Professor at the University of Pennsylvania and co-founder of the Good Judgement project, and by Thomas Friedman, foreign affairs columnist for The New York Times and author of 'Thank You For Being Late: An optimist’s guide to living in the age of...

How flaws in the way we think make it harder to tackle climate change. In his guide to thinking better, Professor Steven Pinker examines how global warming is also a problem in the psychology of judgement and decision making. To search for solutions, he’s joined by Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and author of ‘How to Avoid a Climate Disaster’ and by Professor Hannah Fry, senior lecturer at University College London’s Centre for Advanced...

Should we eat, drink and be merry or make sacrifices now to benefit our future selves? In his guide to thinking better, Professor Steven Pinker explores what's called 'future discounting' in decision making. He's joined by... Dr Maria Kournikova, psychologist, poker champion and author of ‘The Biggest Bluff; How I learned to pay attention, master myself and win’ and Bina Venkataraman, an editor at The Boston Globe, former senior advisor in the Obama administration, and the author of ‘The...

Are some thoughts too evil to think? Sometimes we avoid seemingly rational lines of reasoning, not because of logic, innumeracy or ignorance, but for morality. In his guide to thinking better, Professor Steven Pinker explores the trade-offs between taboos and our ability to reason clearly. Steven’s joined by Philip Tetlock, professor at the University of Pennsylvania, author of ‘Super Forecasting’ and the psychologist who originated the modern study of taboo. And by Sally Satel, a...

Why medical students are advised - if you hear hoofbeats behind you, don't expect to see a zebra. In his guide to thinking better, Professor Steven Pinker explores Bayesian reasoning. Steven is joined by Talithia Williams, professor of mathematics at Harvey Mudd College and author of ‘Power in Numbers The Rebel Women of Mathematics’, and by Siddartha Mukherjee, professor of medicine at Columbia University and the author of the Pulitzer Prise winning ‘The Emperor of All Maladies A Biography...

Why do so many of us believe in quackery and conspiracy? In his guide to thinking better, Professor Steven Pinker tries to make sense of the senseless. Steven is joined by Jonathan Rauch, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, and the author, most recently, of ‘The Constitution of Knowledge: A Defense of the Truth’ and by Ellen Cushing, Senior and Special Projects Editor at The Atlantic. What was it that finally convinced her that there isn’t really a global organisation communicating...

It’s tempting to see patterns in the random kaleidoscope of everyday experiences, but it's also dangerous. Along with his business partner Warren Buffet, vice-chair of Berkshire Hathaway Charlie Munger has made billions of dollars but, by his own admission, he would have made billions more if only he’d made better decisions. He joins Professor Steven Pinker to discuss defying the odds and the dangers of over-interpreting coincidences. They hear why Tim Harford, economist, presenter of...

Sabermetrics, the search for objective knowledge about baseball by analysing statistical records, has transformed the sport. But can statistics and formulas really do a better job of picking the best players than a baseball coach with decades of experience? Professor Steven Pinker is joined by Sig Mejdal, sabermetrician, former NASA engineer and assistant manager of the Baltimore Orioles and by Professor Ellen Peters, director of the Centre for Science Communication Research in the School...

Professor Steven Pinker has spent his life thinking about thinking. Now he wants us to join him. For this series Professor Pinker has created a critical thinking toolkit which he hopes will help all of us make better decisions about – well, everything. Steven will be joined by some big thinkers, and people who have to deal with the consequences of irrationality, as he sets out to steer us away from common fallacies and logical traps set by our own animal brains. Think with Pinker is...