Learn about how some male cuttlefish “cross-dress” to woo the ladies. You’ll also learn how to persuade people in a world where facts don’t seem to matter, with help from author Lee Hartley Carter. In this podcast, Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer discuss the following stories from Curiosity.com about how some male cuttlefish “cross-dress” to woo the ladies: https://curiosity.im/2VFMCDL Additional resources from Lee Hartley Carter: “Persuasion: Convincing Others When Facts Don't Seem to Matter” on Amazon — https://amazon.com Follow @lh_carter on Twitter — https://twitter.com/lh_carter Download the FREE 5-star Curiosity app for Android and iOS at https://curiosity.im/podcast-app. And Amazon smart speaker users: you can listen to our podcast as part of your Amazon Alexa Flash Briefing — just click “enable” here: https://curiosity.im/podcast-flash-briefing.
Learn about how some male cuttlefish “cross-dress” to woo the ladies. You’ll also learn how to persuade people in a world where facts don’t seem to matter, with help from author Lee Hartley Carter.
In this podcast, Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer discuss the following stories from Curiosity.com about how some male cuttlefish “cross-dress” to woo the ladies: https://curiosity.im/2VFMCDL
Additional resources from Lee Hartley Carter:
Download the FREE 5-star Curiosity app for Android and iOS at https://curiosity.im/podcast-app. And Amazon smart speaker users: you can listen to our podcast as part of your Amazon Alexa Flash Briefing — just click “enable” here: https://curiosity.im/podcast-flash-briefing.
Find episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/persuading-others-when-facts-dont-seem-to-matter-w-lee-hartley-carter-cross-dressing-cuttlefish
CODY: Hi! We’re here from curiosity-dot-com to help you get smarter in just a few minutes. I’m Cody Gough.
ASHLEY: And I’m Ashley Hamer. Today, you’ll learn about how some male cuttlefish “cross-dress” to woo the ladies. You’ll also learn how to persuade people in a world where facts don’t seem to matter, from author Lee Hartley Carter.
CODY: Let’s satisfy some curiosity.
Some Male Cuttlefish 'Cross-Dress' to Woo the Ladies — https://curiosity.im/2VFMCDL (Cody)
Here’s something you might not expect from the animal kingdom: one way that male cuttlefish attract mates is by, for all intents and purposes... cross-dressing. Welcome to the gender-bending world of cuttlefish courtship. First, for a quick refresher, cuttlefish are kinda like octopuses, because they’re cephalopods. But cuttlefish’s bodies are shaped like arrowheads — although they still have tentacles (although they’re shorter), and they still can change colors, like octopuses. Every winter, about a quarter-million giant Australian cuttlefish get together off the south coast of Australia, in a tiny spot about the size of ten soccer fields. And the reason? Basically a giant Tinder meet-up. At this subaquatic singles mixer, males outnumber females by an average of 4-to-1, although some scientists cite the figure as being as high as ELEVEN to 1. And because competition is so fierce, the bigger and stronger cuttlefish tend to fight off their weaker competitors to corner the most desirable females and pressure them to hang around. Which brings us to the “cross-dressing.” Those weaker males are actually able to change their color to look like the females of the species, and retract their extra, ahem, “tentacle,” to trick the bigger bro-fish into thinking they’re female. Sometimes they even act like they’re carrying around an egg, so they look less attractive to the bigger dudes who are desperate for a date. And once they’ve infiltrated the female clique, the smaller and weaker males are free to woo any receptive female. Believe it or not, things get even more interesting from there; see, male cuttlefish don’t fertilize the females’ eggs directly. They only give the female their sperm, and then she uses it to fertilize the eggs after she’s laid them. That means that when a female mates with several different males, she can choose which males' seed she wants to sow. And it turns out that the female cuttlefish are pretty picky, and they reject about 70 percent of all mating attempts overall. When it comes to the “cross-dressers,” though, they’re HALF as likely to reject the males, and when it’s time to fertilize their eggs, they show a clear preference for the tricksters. That could be because it takes brains to fool the competition. Brains over brawn? Seems like there’s hope for the less muscular of us out there, even out in the animal kingdom.
[CAPTERRA]
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Interview 1 - Persuasion, Active Listening, and Active Empathy (3:00) (Ashley)
How are you supposed to persuade people in a world where facts don’t seem to matter? Lee Hartley Carter may have some answers. She’s the author of the new book “Persuasion: Convincing Others When Facts Don't Seem to Matter,” and she has a lot of experience helping clients get their messages across in a way that really resonates. Here’s Lee with a little about her background, plus some tips on how to get past confirmation bias to make sure people are really hearing what you’re saying to them.
[CLIP 2:12]
Okay, so stop shouting facts and telling people they’re wrong and shaming them. Instead, be curious and practice active empathy. Here’s Lee on what that means.
[CLIP 0:47]
So start by figuring out where the other person’s coming from, then be specific about what you want, and you’ve taken the first step towards persuasion. Lee Hartley Carter will be back tomorow with a few more specific tips for being more persuasive, and you can find more advice in her new book “Persuasion: Convincing Others When Facts Don't Seem to Matter.” You can find a link to pick it up in today’s show notes.
CODY: And now, let’s recap what we learned today.
ASHLEY: Today we learned that some male cuttlefish basically cross-dress to woo the ladies. And it actually works pretty well!
CODY: And that if you want to be truly persuasive, then first try to understand where someone’s beliefs are coming from, then work on crafting an argument that moves them.
[ad lib optional]
CODY: Today’s stories were written by Reuben Westmas, and edited by Ashley Hamer, who’s the managing editor for Curiosity.com.
ASHLEY: Today’s episode was scripted, produced and edited by Cody Gough.
CODY: Join us again tomorrow to learn something new in just a few minutes.
ASHLEY: And until then, stay curious!