Tim Kasser

What was interesting is there's this really interesting evidence that a similar thing has happened with our minds, that a kind of junk values have taken over our minds and made us mentally sick.

So I learned about it from this incredible man called Professor Tim Kasser, who's at Knox College in Illinois.

For thousands of years, philosophers have said, if you think life is about money and status and showing off and how you look to other people, you're going to be really unhappy.

But from Confucius to Socrates, a whole range of people have said that.

But weirdly, no one had actually scientifically investigated that to see if it was true until 25 years ago when Professor Tim Kasser began doing this really important research.

So it was already known before Professor Kasser...

To put it crudely, there are two kinds of motivation that human beings can have, right? So imagine if you play the piano.

Exactly.

The massive 2014 meta-analysis by Helga Dittmar, Rod Bond, Megan Hurst, and Tim Kasser provides arguably the most comprehensive empirical look at this phenomenon.

This was a huge study, right?

Massive.

But actually, other research has shown the value of a close friend who you see regularly is worth about $100,000 a year on your quality of life, if you like.

Um, now Tim Kasser did some great research where he looked at, he differentiated between, um, popularity and affinity, so people that strive to be popular versus people that, that try and build close relationships.

Um, and what he found is the people that push for popularity end up being much less happy, more depressed, more anxious, more lonely, and people that push for really building on the close friends, um, live longer, are happier, better mental health, take drugs less, all the rest of it.

And I apply that to, um, to, um, some work done by Robin Dunbar, where he looked at, um, you've probably heard of the Dunbar's number, which is the number of people anyone can know is 150.

What caught you was a scoreboard you never signed up for.

In 1996, the psychologists Tim Kasser and Richard Ryan sorted people's life goals into two kinds.

Extrinsic goals, like money, image, and recognition.

And intrinsic goals, like personal growth, close relationships, and community.