Are you an introvert ... or an extrovert? You might not know yourself as well as you think. Adam Grant talks with "Quiet" author Susan Cain and visits a workplace where personality training starts even before job training, to help you discover what your traits really are -- and how you can stretch beyond them. This episode is brought to you by W...

In 1942, a mother-daughter duo named Katharine Cook Briggs and Isabel Briggs Myers developed a questionnaire that classified people's personalities into 16 types. Called the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, or MBTI, it would go on to become one of the world's most widely-used personality tests. But do these tests actually reveal truths about persona...

A celebration of time spent in good company. (Sorry extroverts -- we love you, too.)

Biologist Kathleen McAuliffe dives into new research that suggests certain bacteria in your gut can influence major parts of who you are, from your personality to life-changing neurological disorders. Learn more about how this emerging science could change how we treat disease — and discover the impact of your internal microbial makeup on your m...

What makes you, you? Psychologists like to talk about our traits, or defined characteristics that make us who we are. But Brian Little is more interested in moments when we transcend those traits -- sometimes because our culture demands it of us, and sometimes because we demand it of ourselves. Join Little as he dissects the surprising differenc...

Self-confessed introvert Susan Cain delves deep into this complex personality trait, offering ideas for better offices, better schools and better relationships. (Audio only)

Sometimes, everyone’s a lot. These talks celebrate those moments when you just want to enjoy your own company.

Whether you realize it or not, you have a personal brand, says social entrepreneur Marcos Salazar -- and you have the power to shape what it is. Here's how you can create a brand that captures who you are, who you'd like to be and how you want to make an impact on the world.

Cambridge research professor Brian Little analyzes and redefines the threads of our personalities -- and suggests ways we can transform ourselves.

ReThinking with Adam Grant Deciphering the puzzle of our personality with Brian Little July 11, 2023 [00:00:00] Adam Grant: Hey everyone, it's Adam Grant. Welcome back to ReThinking, my podcast on the science of what makes us tick. I'm an organizational psychologist, and I'm taking you inside the minds of fascinating people to explore new thoug...

Today, some companies are working hard to prevent consumers from repairing products on their own. In many cases, repair can only be done by the original manufacturer, if at all. With limited repair options available, we end up buying new and throwing more items out. So, how exactly do companies prevent repair? And what can consumers do about it?...

What makes you, well, you? Get to know yourself a bit better with this collection of thought-provoking talks.

Dan Clay was worried about being dismissed as "too gay" at work, so he dialed down his personality. But then his alter ego, Carrie Dragshaw, went viral online. Here's what happened next.

When Ramona Pierson was 22, she was hit by a drunk driver and spent 18 months in a coma. In this talk, she tells the remarkable story of her recovery -- drawing on the collective skills and wisdom of a senior citizens' home.

Many of us have a social media presence -- a virtual personality made up of status updates, tweets and connections, stored in the cloud. Adam Ostrow asks a big question: What happens to that personality after you've died? Could it ... live on?

Rainn Wilson is an actor ("The Office"), comedian and film producer, a climate advocate and a member of the advisory board of Arctic Basecamp.

What if two different fish species, living thousands of miles apart from each other, hold the key to Earth's history? Evolutionary biologist and ichthyologist Prosanta Chakrabarty demonstrates the vitality of studies in nature, using 21st century tools to trace Earth's distant history, explain why it is the way it is today -- and theorize its po...

Did humans evolve from monkeys or from fish? In this enlightening talk, ichthyologist and TED Fellow Prosanta Chakrabarty dispels some hardwired myths about evolution, encouraging us to remember that we're a small part of a complex, four-billion-year process -- and not the end of the line. "We're not the goal of evolution," Chakrabarty says. "Th...

Narcissism isn't just a personality type that shows up in advice columns; it's actually a set of traits classified and studied by psychologists. But what causes it? And can narcissists improve on their negative traits? W. Keith Campbell describes the psychology behind the elevated and sometimes detrimental self-involvement of narcissists. [Direc...

TED Fellow Prosanta Chakrabarty explores hidden parts of the world in search of new species of cave-dwelling fish. These subterranean creatures have developed fascinating adaptations, and they provide biological insights into blindness as well as geological clues about how the continents broke apart million of years ago. Contemplate deep time in...

Rita Pierson, a teacher for 40 years, once heard a colleague say, "They don't pay me to like the kids." Her response: "Kids don't learn from people they don't like.'" A rousing call to educators to believe in their students and actually connect with them on a real, human, personal level.

For the past 70 years, scientists in Britain have been studying thousands of children through their lives to find out why some end up happy and healthy while others struggle. It's the longest-running study of human development in the world, and it's produced some of the best-studied people on the planet while changing the way we live, learn and ...

Two sisters take the same DNA test. The results show that one sister is 10% French, the other 0%. Both sisters share the same two parents, and therefore the same set of ancestors. So how can one be 10% more French than the other? Tests like these rely on our DNA to answer questions about our ancestry, but DNA actually can't tell us everything. P...

At 32, Jessica McCabe's ADHD brought her to the darkest point of her life thus far. At 34, she was thriving both personally and professionally, producing a successful Youtube channel about living with ADHD. In this deeply personal talk, Jessica describes how she turned things around through community and education.

How much of what you think about psychology is actually wrong? In this whistle-stop tour of disproved ideas, Ben Ambridge shares nine popular ideas about psychology that have been proven wrong -- and uncovers a few surprising truths about how our brains really work.

Emily Parsons-Lord re-creates air from distinct moments in Earth's history -- from the clean, fresh-tasting air of the Carboniferous period to the soda-water air of the Great Dying to the heavy, toxic air of the future we're creating. By turning air into art, she invites us to know the invisible world around us. Breathe in the Earth's past and f...

How good are you with money? What about reading people's emotions? How healthy are you, compared to other people you know? Knowing how our skills stack up against others is useful in many ways. But psychological research suggests that we're not very good at evaluating ourselves accurately. In fact, we frequently overestimate our own abilities. D...

With all that spam clogging your inbox, a more personalized experience with the brands you interact with would be a refreshing change of pace. Sharing insights from his research into what brands can do to improve the experience of the people they want to reach, personalization pioneer Mark Abraham highlights a key mindset that can help companies...

What makes you, you? Is it how you think of yourself, how others think of you, or something else entirely? Philosopher Julian Baggini draws from philosophy and neuroscience to give a surprising answer.

Which TED Talks did you watch and share most in 2016? These talks about being a better listener, parent, person ... and, um, spam email recipient.