Dr. Bonanno is chair of the department of counseling and clinical psychology at Columbia University’s Teachers College. He is a world leader on research around trauma, bereavement, and resilience. His interest in how people cope with difficult events and circumstances has led to studies around grief, trauma, acute medical situations, and other unpleasant events.
In this episode, you’ll learn…
- The rewards and consequences of pursuing controversial questions
- What to do when your work is published...and then ignored
- About the weak basis for many assumptions within psychology
- How to protect your curiosity from being squelched by the day-to-day
- Why it’s especially easy for those young in their careers to stay within the safe realm of the conventional
- Why Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi encouraged him to look for employment with a small school and why you might too
- How to deal with disappointments and setbacks
- How to keep the pragmatic details of work from encroaching on your mental space
Tips from the episode
On how to maintain motivation when doing something unconventional…
- You have to be internally motivated by the questions
- Begin with “What do we know and how do we know it? How solid is the evidence?”
- When you find something counterintuitive and trust your methods, it’s usually easy to stay motivated
- If you believe you’re on the right track, that’s rewarding in itself
- Follow your own interests
On dealing with setbacks and the parts of your job that you don’t enjoy
- Remember that the unusable finding of today might be usable in the future
- Hang in there. Keep pursuing the ideas that motivate you.
- Be creative with the tasks you have. Put your own spin on things. Modify things so they’re more amenable to your goals.
- Be open to failure and admit when something has failed.
Links from the episode:
Popular Podcasts
CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist
It’s 1996 in rural North Carolina, and an oddball crew makes history when they pull off America’s third largest cash heist. But it’s all downhill from there. Join host Johnny Knoxville as he unspools a wild and woolly tale about a group of regular ‘ol folks who risked it all for a chance at a better life. CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist answers the question: what would you do with 17.3 million dollars? The answer includes diamond rings, mansions, velvet Elvis paintings, plus a run for the border, murder-for-hire-plots, and FBI busts.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.