PATT MORRISON SCHEDULE
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
1-3 p.m.
CALL-IN @ 866-893-5722, 866-893-KPCC; OR JOIN THE CONVERSATION ONLINE ON THE PATT MORRISON BLOG AT KPCC-DOT-ORG
1:06 – 1:39
OPEN
1:41:30 – 1:58:30
Life in 9/12 American: will radical Islam be the biggest casualty of 9/11?
Guest:
Eric Larson, senior policy researcher at
Via ISDN
2:06 – 2:30
Decision fatigue: a universal plague & the possible reason behind your regrettable behavior
Are you getting enough sleep, but still dragging? You could be experiencing a phenomenon called “ego depletion.” No, you don’t need a mega dose of self affirmations, but you may need to stop making so many decisions and give your brain some time to rest. The condition is also termed “decision fatigue” and it can help explain why otherwise normally functioning people can become testy, shop impulsively or binge on chocolate and other sweets (and no it’s not PMS). The researcher argues that we pay a biological price for making decision after decision after decision and unlike being physically tired, we may not recognize that our brains are burned out. The more choices you make throughout a day, the harder each one becomes for your brain and you eventually—perhaps unwittingly—start to look for shortcuts. Hence the tendency for recklessness, impulsiveness or the ultimate energy saver, total inactivity, as your brain starts to feel fatigued. What’s easier than avoiding a tough decision altogether? Naturally decision fatigue tends to happen later in the day or late in the context of stressful situations—think about the quarterback who makes a lousy throw into traffic at the end of a tense football game. With a finite store of mental energy for self control, what can be done to combat decision fatigue or are these kinds of breakdowns inevitable?
Guests:
Roy Baumeister is a leading social psychology researcher and professor at
CALL HIM @
John Tierney is science columnist for the New York Times, Author of Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength. He wrote the New York Times story Do you Suffer from Brain Fatigue?
CALL HIM:
2:30 – 2:39
OPEN
2:41:30 – 2:58:30
100+: How the Coming Age of Longevity Will Change Everything, from Careers and Relationships to Family and Faith
Cro-Magnon humans lived to an average age of 18 years old. Today, the average life expectancy is 80 years. And according to Sonia Arrison, living to 100 will eventually become the norm, not the exception. Arrison takes a look at the “caloric restriction” diet that has been claimed to greatly extend life; the windpipes and bladders that have already been grown in labs and transplanted in humans who need them; and the woman whose lost finger was regrown, nail and all, promising a future of regenerating entire limbs. One scientist even postulates that the first human to live to 1,000 has already been born. What effect will increased longevity have on the world’s resources, individual retirement plans, and understanding of religion and spirituality? Arrison joins us to take a look into our futures—which may be much longer than we expected.
Guest:
Sonia Arrison, author of 100+: How the Coming Age of Longevity Will Change Everything, from Careers and Relationships to Family and Faith
CALL HER:
Jonathan Serviss
Senior Producer, Patt Morrison
NPR Affiliate for
626.583.5171, office
415.497.2131, mobile
jserviss@kpcc.org / jserviss@scpr.org
www.scpr.org
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