David DeSteno
Psychological Scientist, Author, and host of PRX podcast "How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality." Studying the Science of Emotion, Morality, & Religion. Words frequently in NYT, WSJ, etc. https://davedesteno.com https://www.howgodworks.org
- An essay as beautiful as it is insightful from @michaelpollan.bsky.social on the self & consciousness. The Buddhists figured out a good deal about how the mind works centuries ago, and there are few better guides than @joanhalifax.bsky.social, as Michael discovered.
- We all have an innate need to feel like we matter. But as author Jennifer Wallace notes, that need often goes unmet. We talk about how to solve this mattering deficit. I also chat with Duke's Patty Van Cappellen about the wisdom spiritual traditions offer to help podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/h...
- Proud How God Works is a finalist for best personal growth/spirituality pod for the Ambies! Join me, an agnostic psychologist, to explore the science behind how & why spiritual practices help people flourish, whatever their beliefs. howgodworks.org @podcastacademy.bsky.social @prx.org
- If you're looking to improve life in 2026, you might want to think about...sin. Not in the fire & brimstone sense, but as @elizabetholdfield.bsky.social notes, as something that separates us from others or, simply put, just F's things up. Join us as we rethink sin. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/h...
- As @ezraklein.bsky.social points out, all of this is an assault on hope. The point is to wear people out -- to give them a sense they have no control to stop it and thereby remove hope & the will to act. But there is a way to overcome that despair... 1/2 @nytimes.com
- If we embrace hope as a practice -- as a continual movement toward the good without expectation -- despair falls away. Hope is an act of resistance. It's not about what any one of us can control. It's a way to live our values. 2/2 @nytimes.com
- Reposted by David DeStenoWhy you’re wise on Tuesday and foolish on Sunday: Practising #wisdom in uncertain times - a brief sunday read & a mild rant against "one trick" gurus & substakers. theconversation.com/why-youre-wi... @theconversation.com
- AI developers have been leveraging psychology to make chatbots seem like ideal social partners. But what our minds find most immediately attractive isn’t always in our long term best interest. As Samuel Kimbriel notes, philosophy can be a guide for design (or at least regulatory constraints). 1/2
- We need friends who challenge us to be better, not friends who are sycophantic. But with attention being the new coin of the realm, that will require some intentional & ethical rebalancing by the lords of Silicon Valley. 2/2
- Reposted by David DeStenoIn @nytopinion.nytimes.com “Our modern conception of hope is flawed,” the research psychologist David DeSteno writes. “It practically invites hopelessness when the stakes are greatest.”
- Psychologists & self-help gurus advise limiting hopes to ward off despair. But that keeps us from working on big challenges. As the world’s faith traditions realized long ago, hope is about fighting the darkness daily without expecting success. @nytimes.com
- For 2026, There’s a Better Way to Be Hopeful — one the world’s spiritual traditions figured out long ago. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/01/o...
- “In the long run, resolutions that keep others in mind tend to have greater staying power.”-Valerie Trapp. There’s something special about making resolutions together. And what better time than now!
- Dec. 31 brings up thoughts of endings, but also of renewal for the year ahead. As Dr. Kim Haines-Eitzen points out, the same is true for the ancient understanding of the apocalypse. It wasn’t the end of everything, as we think of it now, but rather a transition. www.howgodworks.org/podcast/seas...
- Reposted by David DeSteno⌛️ Two days left to double your donation to @give-directly.bsky.social for #PodsFightPoverty! Donate: givedirectly.org/pods
- Why do many people think the End Times & Rapture are just around the corner? I talk with writer Dina Nayeri about what it's like to live with that expectation, and Cornell Prof. Kim Haines-Eitzen about what we get wrong about religious views of the apocalypse. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/h...
- Richard Davidson & me on The Spiritual Power of the In-Between Times (and how to find more of them). www.templeton.org/news/the-spi... @templetonfdn.bsky.social
- Great piece by @davidfrenchjag.bsky.social. Religions offer a powerful technology to move hearts & minds. Whether it’s for good or for ill often depends on the motives of those wielding it. BUT, if you engage with the practices deeply, they point to compassion. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/21/o...
- Science & religion can work together. On this episode, we look at how Tibetan Buddhist monks & American neuroscientists are working together to study lucid dreaming using a practice called dream yoga which allows control of dreams. www.howgodworks.org/podcast/seas... @mindandlife.bsky.social
- Can you control your dreams? Tibetan Buddhists found a way centuries ago. I talk with neuroscientist Ken Paller (paller.bsky.social) about lucid dreaming, and with neuroscientist Robin Nusslock & Geshe Thabkhe about how monks & scientists are studying it together. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/h...
- Reposted by David DeStenoNew preprint: Empathy, Thick and Thin papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.... It is perhaps foolhardy to attempt to say something new about a topic as widely studied as empathy. I tried anyway! 1/
- Shamanism isn't just part of small faiths. As @mnvrsngh points out, you can find some elements of it in fast growing areas of Christianity too. On this week's episode of How God Works, we explore the how's & why's of shamanism's continued re-emergence. www.howgodworks.org/podcast/seas...
- Shamans have always been with us. This week, we explore how shamanism works with @manvir.bsky.social and why forms of it pop up in some surprising places, from modern medicine and CEO culture to charismatic Christianity. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/h...
- When things are difficult, gratitude can feel out of reach. That's when it's important to remember that gratitude isn't an act of complacency. It can be an act of resistance - a way to know you matter, a way to find strength and resilience. www.wbur.org/onpoint/2025...
- Link now available: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/o...
- Just in time for Thanksgiving, Meghna Chakrabarti and I explore the science of gratitude, how to cultivate it (even in difficult times), and why feeling grateful isn’t just about giving thanks for the past, but about ensuring a better future. Tune in to @wbur.org / @npr.org On Point’s episode today.
- Just in time for Thanksgiving, Meghna Chakrabarti and I explore the science of gratitude, how to cultivate it (even in difficult times), and why feeling grateful isn’t just about giving thanks for the past, but about ensuring a better future. Tune in to @wbur.org / @npr.org On Point’s episode today.
- Men are facing a crisis of meaning. Many are turning to more conservative forms of Christianity to find it. But the success of that journey, and what it means for the gender divide, depends on what answers they find (and from whom). I talked with @drmoore.bsky.social & @richardreeves.bsky.social 🧵
- Here’s the episode. We explore the crisis men are facing, why some are turning to Christianity, and the benefits and dangers that can come from it, depending on what message they get. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/h...
- Religions always influenced diet. But Christian influencers like Alex Clark are taking modern diet & wellness ideas and dressing them up in theological claims, with a big one being: God doesn't want you to be fat. I talk with @jessgrose.bsky.social about it on HGW podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/h...
- Diet has always mixed with morality in religion. But today's Christian influencers are taking it to new & potentially problematic levels. I talk with @nytimes.com writer @jessgrose.bsky.social & religious historian Catherine Newell about the history of food & faith podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/h...
- Wisdom isn’t about what you think; it’s about how you think. It’s using a set of mental tools. On this week’s episode of How God Works, we explore the science behind wisdom with @igi.bsky.social and take a look at modern & centuries old ways of cultivating it. www.howgodworks.org/podcast/seas...
- When it comes to making better decisions, science backs up what St. Ignatius figured out centuries ago: distancing yourself by taking a 3rd person or other perspective helps. This week, I talk with @bostoncollege.bsky.social Father Bart Geger about seeking wisdom www.howgodworks.org/podcast/seas...
- What does it mean to be wise? How do you become so? On today's episode, we explore the science of wisdom with Igor Grossmann (@igi.bsky.social) & see how some Christian traditions developed exercises for it long ago with @bostoncollege.bsky.social Fr. Bart Geger podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/h...
- On this week’s episode of How God Works, we explore views of what it means to be spiritual. Here’s Father Greg Boyle with his: Be in the world as God would be. Do in the world what God would want you to do. Cherish each other. Don’t focus on piety. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/h...
- Is withdrawing from the world into a life of contemplation or being in the world trying to heal it the best route to growing spiritually? Turns out, as @sigalsamuel.bsky.social notes, they're not mutually exclusive. The two paths can reinforce each other. More here podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/h...
- Does being spiritual mean withdrawing from the world to a life of contemplation, or being in the world actively trying to heal it? I talk with @sigalsamuel.bsky.social and Father Greg Boyle about this age old question and how to find balance.
- Happy to say How God Works continues to be recognized as one of the best religion/spirituality shows by podcast pros. A two time @podcastacademy.bsky.social Ambies finalist and now a silver for best religion/spirituality pod from the @signalawards.bsky.social. Thanks to the team & @prx.org!
- This week on How God Works, we explore friendship. Right now, that includes implications of AI chatbot friends. While people report feeling more heard & valued by chatbots, that’s not what makes for a good friend philosopher Samuel Kimbriel (and Aristotle) note. www.howgodworks.org/podcast/seas...
- Loneliness is on the rise. That's not news. But maybe part of the reason is: we're no longer sure what it means to be a good friend or lack tools to make it happen. I talk with Samuel Kimbriel & Robert Waldinger about what science, philosophy, and religion offer. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/h...
- A beautiful essay from @davidfrenchjag.bsky.social on what a thick practice of faith is as opposed to a thin one. The latter is treating it as a label that can be co-opted by politics. The former is a practice requiring grappling with a faith’s true meaning.
- While many understandably criticize calls for prayer after mass shootings in the absence of changes to gun laws to prevent harm, they miss the point that prayer has value for all affected by such tragedies - one that science backs up. My latest for @wsj.com www.wsj.com/health/the-p...
