You Are Not So Smart

David McRaney

Booking Overview

A psychology and behavioral-science interview show focused on reasoning, cognitive biases, judgment, decision-making, misinformation, and how people change their minds, with recurring guests who are researchers, professors, authors, and science communicators. PR agencies could credibly pitch psychologists, neuroscientists, social scientists, academics, and authors with evidence-based expertise in these areas; booking difficulty is medium because guests generally need strong research credentials or a notable book and the show has an established profile.

Metrics

Episodes: 343

Frequency: Biweekly

Rating: 4.5/5.0

Estimated listeners: 10k-100k

Gender skew: Unknown

Location: USA

YouTube: 16.4k subscribers

Contact Information

Publicly listed emails

davidmcraney@gmail.com

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Host

David McRaney - Science journalist and author known for examining psychology, reasoning, cognitive biases, and belief formation, including through his books You Are Not So Smart and How Minds Change.

Booking Intelligence

Booking Requirements

medium

Typical Credentials:

Psychologists, neuroscientists, social scientists, university researchers, science communicators, journalists, and authors with established expertise in cognition, reasoning, misinformation, belief, or decision-making.

Required Achievements:

Published books on psychology, science, misinformation, or belief, Peer-reviewed academic research or university appointments, Recognized science journalism, public scholarship, or an established podcast

Recent Guest Discussions

Helen Pilcher - The Nocebo Effect, The Relationship Between Thoughts And Symptoms, And The Psychological Influences On Illness.

Thomas Levenson - The History Of Vaccine Hesitancy, Antivaccination Beliefs, And Recurring Patterns In Public Responses To Vaccines.

Matthew Facciani - Misinformation, Disinformation, Propaganda, And How Misleading Information Affects Thoughts, Feelings, And Behavior.

Tim Harford - Conspiracy Theories, Belief Revision, And The Personal And Social Factors That Can Lead Someone To Change Their Mind.

Recent Topics

Psychology, Cognition, Biases, Decision Making, Misinformation

Episodes

Here's the recent few episodes on

You Are Not So Smart

346 - No Nocebo Effect - Helen Pilcher

August 17, 2026

The suffering is real, but the source may not be what you assume. That's the essence of the nocebo effect, the placebo effect's evil twin. As neuroscientist Dr. Helen Pilcher explains, illness is not simply a matter of biology. Our thoughts, conscious or otherwise, can make lead to symptoms in unexpected ways. Previous Episodes How Minds Change Dr. Helen Pilcher This Book May Cause Side Effects David McRaney’s Twitter David McRaney’s BlueSky YANSS Twitter YANSS Facebook Newsletter Patreon Ho...

345 - A Pox on Fools - Thomas Levenson

August 03, 2026

MIT professor Thomas Levenson, the author of the book A Pox on Fools, takes us through the same repeating patterns throughout history which have led to antivaxxers and vaccine hesitancy since the very first vaccines. Previous Episodes How Minds Change Thomas Levenson A Pox on Fools A History of Vaccines David McRaney’s Twitter David McRaney's BlueSky YANSS Twitter YANSS Facebook Newsletter Patreon Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collecti...

344 - Intellectual Humility - Tenelle Porter

August 03, 2026

Can intellectual humility be measured? What influences it and affects it, limits it and enhances it? What even is it, scientifically speaking? We explore all of this and then play an episode of How to Be A Better Human featuring psychologist Tenelle Porter telling comedian Chris Duffy how she is researching how to conduct better research into intellectual humility. Previous Episodes Transcript at TED How to Be A Better Human The Gateway Drugs to Intellectual Humility Tenelle Porter's Research...

Publicly listed emails

davidmcraney@gmail.com

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