Beat Your Genes Podcast

More discussion about the concept of "Beating Your Genes"

As Dr. Lisle discusses the purpose of psychology, we begin with a discussion of thoughts, feelings, and behavior.    Some philosophers believe that we can think one thing and then feel something completely different but Dr. Lisle explains these seemingly conflicting thoughts & feelings explains how this relates to stress.  We continue on to discuss different models of psychology and some of the limits of learning theory.  For example,  do we learn our emotions during childhood?     Dr. Lisle discusses an example of a common "beat your genes" trap for women nowadays of staying with a man who's not right for her.    We continue on this topic for the remainder of the show and Dr. Lisle begins the explanation about differing mating strategies. 

Motivation and expectations are supposed to go hand-in-hand.  The idea being - if you're expected to achieve a goal, your motivation kicks in to meet these expectations.  In this episode, Dr. Lisle goes over a concept called The Ego Trap.  Which is the trap we may find ourselves in if the expectations of our performance exceeds what we think we can reasonably accomplish.  Nate G asks Dr. Lisle to describe this trap, how this process works, why it works the way it does, and how to effectively overcome it. 

What does "self-esteem" actually mean?  In this episode, Dr. Lisle goes over the history of the study of self-esteem.  Then he explains his own discoveries of  esteem processes including self-esteem. As it turns out, nobody can give you "self-esteem".  Dr. Lisle explains that self-esteem is quite literally esteem of your self, so it is how you view yourself.  So, what's called "low self-esteem" or "high self-esteem" is entirely based on how you view yourself.  However, this view is not easily changed, as Dr. Lisle describes a concept called the "internal audience" - a sort of social meter sitting inside your mind that views your own behavior & effort in context with expectations.   When you impress your 'internal audience' through diligent effort, you feel higher self-esteem.  In this episode, Dr. Lisle describes what you can do to impress your internal audience and therefore improve your self-esteem.  

In this interview, Dr. Doug Lisle, PhD, psychologist with over 30 years experience discusses some of his most important findings regarding health, happiness, and everything in between.   Dr. Doug talks about some important findings that suggest that the purpose of life (biologically) is quite simple - to spread our own genes and ensure their survival into the next few generations.  Because of this, our entire biology, physiology, and psychology is built around this goal.  It's been like this for the entire history of our species and we have survived in nature due to this goal.  All of a sudden, comes the modern environment of convenience and innovation in an incredibly short time frame.  With this new environment comes a new set of challenges that our brains were never designed to solve.  As a result, people may end up chasing happiness in all the wrong ways.   Dr. Doug will discuss a novel approach to find your path to happiness.   

In our very first episode, Nate G talks with Dr. Doug Lisle, PhD about the purpose of life, happiness vs. pleasure, and the psychological mechanisms that guide our behavior.    Dr. Lisle talks about some important findings that suggest that the purpose of life (biologically) is quite simple - to spread our own genes and ensure their survival into the next few generations.  Because of this, our entire biology, physiology, and psychology is built around this goal.  It's been like this for the entire history of our species and we have survived in nature due to this goal.  All of a sudden, comes the modern environment of convenience and innovation in an incredibly short time frame.  With this new environment comes a new set of challenges that our brains were never designed to solve. In this podcast and in future episodes, Dr. Lisle methodically describes what role the mind and, therefore, our behavior plays in our life experience and satisfaction.