In this podcast, Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer discuss the following stories from Curiosity.com to help you get smarter and learn something new in just a few minutes: Can You Tell Fake Laughter from Real Laughter? 6 Little-Known Signs You Might Be a Perfectionist You Can Explore the Outdoors for Science on a Scientific Field Expedition Want to support our show?Register for the 2018 Podcast Awards and nominate Curiosity Daily to win for People’s Choice, Education, and Science & Medicine. Just register at the link and select Curiosity Daily from the drop-down menus (no need to pick nominees in every category):https://curiosity.im/podcast-awards-2018 If you or someone you know is struggling with perfectionism, Stephen Guise's "How to Be an Imperfectionist: The New Way to Self-Acceptance, Fearless Living, and Freedom from Perfectionism" may help you. We handpick reading recommendations we think you may like. If you choose to make a purchase, Curiosity will get a share of the sale. Learn about these topics and more onCuriosity.com, and download our5-star app for Android and iOS. Then, join the conversation onFacebook,Twitter, andInstagram. Plus: Amazon smart speaker users, enable ourAlexa Flash Briefing to learn something new in just a few minutes every day!
In this podcast, Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer discuss the following stories from Curiosity.com to help you get smarter and learn something new in just a few minutes:
Want to support our show? Register for the 2018 Podcast Awards and nominate Curiosity Daily to win for People’s Choice, Education, and Science & Medicine. Just register at the link and select Curiosity Daily from the drop-down menus (no need to pick nominees in every category): https://curiosity.im/podcast-awards-2018
If you or someone you know is struggling with perfectionism, Stephen Guise's "How to Be an Imperfectionist: The New Way to Self-Acceptance, Fearless Living, and Freedom from Perfectionism" may help you. We handpick reading recommendations we think you may like. If you choose to make a purchase, Curiosity will get a share of the sale.
Learn about these topics and more on Curiosity.com, and download our 5-star app for Android and iOS. Then, join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Plus: Amazon smart speaker users, enable our Alexa Flash Briefing to learn something new in just a few minutes every day!
Full episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/real-vs-fake-laughter-test-little-know-perfectionist-signs-and-scientific-field-expeditions
[MUSIC PLAYING] CODY GOUGH: Hi. We've got three stories from curiosity.com to help you get smarter in just a few minutes. I'm Cody Gough.
ASHLEY HAMER: And I'm Ashley Hamer. Today, you'll learn about little-known signs you might be a perfectionist. How you can explore the outdoors for science on a scientific field expedition. And we'll see if you can tell fake laughter from real laughter.
CODY GOUGH: Let's satisfy some curiosity.
ASHLEY HAMER: Can you tell real laughter from fake laughter? Well, a new study says you can. But we're going to see how good you are at it. That includes you, Cody.
CODY GOUGH: Oh, boy.
ASHLEY HAMER: First, here's some background. Greg Bryant is a Communications Professor nicknamed the Laughter Guy since he's done so much research on the topic. He gathered 884 people from 21 different countries, including six continents, to see if they could tell the difference between real laughter and fake laughter.
Nearly 2/3 of participants were able to guess right even if they were from different cultures or spoke different languages. Along with his other research, Bryant says that this supports the idea that laughter is something intrinsic to humans, not just something with cultural roots. Humans are social creatures, right?
Well, in another similar study, Bryant found that listeners from different cultures could tell when laughs were shared between strangers and when they were shared between friends. So a laugh is worth a thousand words. Anyway, let's see how well you do. Here's some real laughter and here's some fake laughter. Cody, are you ready?
CODY GOUGH: I am.
ASHLEY HAMER: So here's number one.
[LAUGHTER]
CODY GOUGH: And hear it again? Yeah.
[LAUGHTER]
CODY GOUGH: All right, I'm going to say that was a fake laugh.
ASHLEY HAMER: You are right.
CODY GOUGH: Yes! Number two.
ASHLEY HAMER: OK.
[LAUGHTER]
ASHLEY HAMER: Fake or real?
CODY GOUGH: That was definitely a real laugh.
ASHLEY HAMER: That was a real laugh.
CODY GOUGH: Aha, yes!
ASHLEY HAMER: Number three.
[LAUGHTER]
CODY GOUGH: Wait. Play it again.
ASHLEY HAMER: Play that again. That's a weird one.
CODY GOUGH: What was that?
[LAUGHTER]
CODY GOUGH: It's not the most generic laugh, but I'm going to say it's a real laugh.
ASHLEY HAMER: It is a real laugh.
CODY GOUGH: Ooh. All right.
ASHLEY HAMER: Yeah.
CODY GOUGH: Pressure's on. I got to go four for four now.
ASHLEY HAMER: All right.
[LAUGHTER]
ASHLEY HAMER: You want to hear it again?
CODY GOUGH: Yeah.
[LAUGHTER]
CODY GOUGH: I'm going to say that was fake.
ASHLEY HAMER: That was fake!
CODY GOUGH: Aha!
ASHLEY HAMER: Four for four.
CODY GOUGH: All right.
ASHLEY HAMER: Nice.
CODY GOUGH: Very cool!
ASHLEY HAMER: You can test your friends at home by sharing your full write-up on curiosity.com and on the Curiosity app for Android and iOS where we've got a video with all of these laughter samples.
CODY GOUGH: Yeah, challenge them. See what happens. Ashley, are you a perfectionist?
ASHLEY HAMER: Yes.
[LAUGHTER]
ASHLEY HAMER: Absolutely. 100%.
CODY GOUGH: Are all musicians perfectionists, do you think?
ASHLEY HAMER: I don't know. I mean, it depends on what kind of musician. If you went to school for music, you kind of have to be. But--
CODY GOUGH: I mean, yeah. Yeah, are all musicians-- Like not to make broad, sweeping over-generalizations on this podcast.
ASHLEY HAMER: Well, there's a certain attention to detail that you need to have when you're a musician.
CODY GOUGH: Yeah, I think so.
ASHLEY HAMER: Yeah.
CODY GOUGH: I think when you're really studying it seriously, yeah, you can be a bit of a perfectionist. But maybe I'm wrong. Because perfectionists are a little misunderstood, actually. Today we wanted to get into some common misconceptions and help you learn more about what exactly a perfectionist is.
Perfectionism is not a mental illness but has been linked with mental illnesses, including depression and anxiety disorders. It's also strongly correlated with feelings of guilt and shame. And perfectionism is rooted in the fear of failure. Here's a quote from Dr. Brene Brown, a Professor of Social Work at the University of Houston. "Perfectionism is not about striving for excellence or healthy striving. It's a way of thinking that says, if I look perfect, do it perfectly, work perfect and live perfect, I can avoid or minimize shame, blame, and judgment."
So let's talk about a few less well-known behaviors of a perfectionist. Like how about procrastination? That doesn't sound like something a perfectionist would do, right? Well, again, that's rooted in a fear of failure. Perfectionists might put off doing something they don't feel confident about. They might also have a hard time finishing a project because when they get close to the end goal, they come up with ideas for making it even better.
Thinking and acting in extremes can also be a telltale sign. Like if you go from a strict diet to one cheat meal, and then suddenly you're downing a whole pint of ice cream and a bag of potato chips. Not all super healthy behaviors. Now, we're not professional medical experts and this is not meant to be official counseling advice from Curiosity, but if being a perfectionist is getting in your way, then here's some advice based on our research that could help.
Try being vulnerable. Let people see your less-than-perfect work. Let yourself feel afraid and do the thing that scares you anyway. Basically, just let go. It's easier said than done, but you need to remember that you always have value as a human being, even if not everything you do is a grand slam. Try not basing your sense of self-worth on the quality of your work and see what happens.
ASHLEY HAMER: That's so important.
CODY GOUGH: Yeah.
ASHLEY HAMER: And it's so hard.
CODY GOUGH: I had a big problem with this in a journalism class in college. Every week we had to write one journalistic piece, go interview somebody and get some quotes. And I actually didn't turn in several assignments. Because I'd look around and I'd be like, I don't have anything that's really, really great, and I would end up not writing anything at all.
And at the end of semester, my professor sat me down. And he's like, look, everything you've turned in is really, really good. But I don't know what to do with you because you just didn't do all your homework. And--
ASHLEY HAMER: Yeah.
CODY GOUGH: --it's rough.
ASHLEY HAMER: I've taken art classes and I've taken writing classes where they're like, you can turn in anywhere from 2 to 15 projects. And I always turn in two because, well, OK, I'm just going to make these ones perfect. I'm just going to keep working-- no, it's not perfect enough. It's not perfect enough and I can't just like whip them out, you know?
CODY GOUGH: Wow.
ASHLEY HAMER: Yeah. It's not because I'm lazy. It's because of all the stuff you just said.
CODY GOUGH: You are definitely not lazy.
[LAUGHTER]
CODY GOUGH: That's not a thing you are. Done is better than perfect.
ASHLEY HAMER: Absolutely.
CODY GOUGH: And that is something you just got to remember sometimes when you want to get stuff done.
ASHLEY HAMER: Cody, do you have any summer travel plans?
CODY GOUGH: No. I was all over the place last year, and this year it's just kind of, nah.
ASHLEY HAMER: You're going to Indiana.
CODY GOUGH: That does not--
[LAUGHTER]
CODY GOUGH: Only indoors at a gaming convention playing Dungeons and Dragons for four days. I don't know if that's-- I mean, I guess, yes, I'm going to another city to do that.
ASHLEY HAMER: You're traveling.
CODY GOUGH: Yes, you got me.
ASHLEY HAMER: Well, some people like going on vacation just to get away from it all. But other people travel because they're curious. We've got some good news if you'd like to combine leisure and learning. You can actually tag along on a scientific expedition or even mount one of your own. Today we'll tell you about some options.
And this is not a sponsored segment, by the way. We did this research purely for you. So how can you get involved? That depends on what you're interested in and how much time, money, and energy you want to put into it. One good place to start is an organization like Adventure Scientists.
They're not just trying to learn about the world, they're trying to save it. As long as you meet the requirements for age and location and other things they'll tell you about, you can start gathering genetic samples of maple trees to help stop the sale of illegally harvested tinder. There are lots of other groups though, like the Pollinators Project. They're collecting data on butterflies far from urban centers.
Another organization is Wildlife Connectivity, which tracks roadkill patterns across the country. And Earthwatch helps with data collection for hundreds of scientists from around the world and lets you choose your region, activity level, and area of interest from a convenient search function. That's just a few options. You can find more today on Curiosity. And we've got a link to the full write-up in the show notes.
But now you know that next year, you can take a summer vacation for science.
CODY GOUGH: That's all for today, but Curiosity has big plans for the weekend. What can you learn about this weekend, Ashley?
ASHLEY HAMER: This weekend, you'll learn about the official protocol for how to announce that we've made contact with alien life. Why we want to do the opposite of what we're told. How carrying cash changes how much money you spend. The best cities for biking in the US. And the weird story of a Coral Castle in Florida and more.
CODY GOUGH: Join us again Sunday to learn something new in just a few minutes and hear a special guest answer an awesome listener question. If there's something you're curious about, then email your question to us at podcast@curiosity.com. We'll answer it as soon as we can.
ASHLEY HAMER: Again, our email address is podcast@curiosity.com Thanks for listening and for leaving us a five-star review on whatever app you use to listen to us. I'm Ashley Hamer.
CODY GOUGH: And I'm Cody Gough. Have a great weekend.
ASHLEY HAMER: And stay curious.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
VOICE RECORDING: On the Westwood One Podcast Network.