Episode #76: How Immersive Experiences Lead to Flourishing, with Dr. Paul Zak

Paul J. Zak is a professor at Claremont Graduate University, where he directs the Center for Neuroeconomics Studies. He is ranked in the top 0.3% of the world’s most cited scientists, with over 200 published papers and more than 20,000 citations to his research. Paul’s two decades of research have taken him from the Pentagon to Fortune 50 boardrooms to the rainforest of Papua New Guinea. Along the way he helped start a number of interdisciplinary fields including neuroeconomics, neuromanagement, and neuromarketing. 

 

Paul has written four general audience books and is a regular TED speaker. His latest book, The Little Book of Happiness: A Scientific Approach to Living Better (2025) aims to show people how to live a longer, happier and healthier life by investing in improved relationships. Zak’s other books are Immersion: The Science of the Extraordinary and Source of Happiness (2022), Trust Factor: The Science of Creating High Performance Companies (2017) and The Moral Molecule: The Source of Love and Prosperity (2012). 

 

Trust Factor applies neuroscience to efficiently build high-performance organizations by creating a culture of trust. The Moral Molecule received much attention for Zak’s discovery of the key role played by the neurochemical oxytocin to explain virtuous behaviors and happiness. Zak delivered a TED Talk titled “Trust, Morality—and Oxytocin?” in 2011 that has been viewed two million times. He also co-founded the first neuroscience-as-a-service (NaaS) company, Immersion Neuroscience.

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Links:

• Website
• Claremont Graduate University webpage
• Most recent book: The Little Book of Happiness: A Scientific Approach to Living Better (2025)
• Other books
• Six: emotional fitness app
• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Facebook
• Google Scholar
• “The Neuroscience of Trust,” Harvard Business Review, 2017

Timestamps:

[00:05:08] PlaySpan and human flourishing.

[00:09:46] Investing in relationships.

[00:10:41] Stress and bonding experiences.

[00:18:17] Strategies for improving relationships.

[00:28:55] Six high value experiences daily.

[00:35:35] Optimizing high-value experiences.

[00:39:12] Neuroscience of trust.

[00:46:27] Trust's role in flourishing.

[00:48:27] Strengthening relationships daily.