
133. Pay Attention! (Your Body Will Thank You)
About this episode
Ellen Langer is a psychologist at Harvard who studies the mind-body connection. She’s published some of the most remarkable scientific findings Steve has ever encountered. Can we really improve our physical health by changing our mind?
- SOURCE:
- Ellen Langer, professor of psychology at Harvard University.
- RESOURCES:
- Brave New Words: How AI Will Revolutionize Education (and Why That's a Good Thing), by Sal Khan (2024).
- "F.D.A.’s Review of MDMA Cites Health Risks and Study Flaws," by Andrew Jacobs and Christina Jewett (The New York Times, 2024).
- The Mindful Body: Thinking Our Way to Chronic Health, by Ellen Langer (2023).
- "Physical Healing as a Function of Perceived Time," by Peter Aungle and Ellen Langer (Nature: Scientific Reports, 2023).
- "Aging as a Mindset: A Study Protocol to Rejuvenate Older Adults With a Counterclockwise Psychological Intervention," by Francesco Pagnini, Cesare Cavalera, Ellen Langer, et al. (BMJ Open, 2019).
- Counterclockwise: Mindful Health and the Power of Possibility, by Ellen Langer (2009).
- "Mind-Set Matters: Exercise and the Placebo Effect," by Alia Crum and Ellen Langer (2007).
- "The Effects of Choice and Enhanced Personal Responsibility for the Aged: A Field Experiment in an Institutional Setting," by Ellen Langer and Judith Rodin (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1976).
- EXTRAS:
- "The Future of Therapy Is Psychedelic," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2023).
- "Extra: An Update on the Khan World School," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2023).
- "Is This the Future of High School?" by People I (Mostly) Admire (2022).
- "What It Takes to Know Everything," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2022).
- "Sal Khan: 'If It Works for 15 Cousins, It Could Work for a Billion People,'" by People I (Mostly) Admire (2021).
- "Greg Norman & Mark Broadie: Why Golf Beats an Orgasm and Why Data Beats Everything," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2021).
- "Caverly Morgan: 'I Am Not This Voice. I Am Not This Narrative,'" by People I (Mostly) Admire (2020).
- "Does 'As If' Thinking Really Work?" by No Stupid Questions (2020).
- "Havana Wild Weekend," S28.E7 of The Simpsons (2016).
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Get every episode summarized
Each time People I (Mostly) Admire publishes, we email you a written briefing from the transcript — the topics, who appeared, and any specific claims, with the ad reads skipped.
Email me new episodesFree for 3 shows. No card needed.
Hosts & guests
No transcript yet
This episode has not been transcribed. Request it and it moves to the front of the queue.
More episodes
More from People I (Mostly) Admire

38. Sendhil Mullainathan Explains How to Generate an Idea a Minute (Part 2)
People I (Mostly) Admire

37. Sendhil Mullainathan Thinks Messing Around Is the Best Use of Your Time
People I (Mostly) Admire

36. How Rahm Emanuel Would Run the World
People I (Mostly) Admire

35. David Epstein Knows Something About Almost Everything
People I (Mostly) Admire
