What’s So Bad About Being Alone With Your Thoughts?
10:58 minutes
Subscribe to Science Friday
Researchers at the University of Virginia were recently amazed to discover that many people would rather self-administer painful shocks than sit quietly with their own thoughts for 15 minutes. They also found that men were significantly more likely to shock themselves than women. So what’s so bad about sitting alone and thinking? Study author Erin Westgate helps parse the results.
Segment Guests
Erin Westgate
Erin Westgate is an assistant professor of Psychology at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida.
Related Links
Meet the Producer
About Annie Minoff
@annieminoffAnnie Minoff is a producer for The Journal from Gimlet Media and the Wall Street Journal, and a former co-host and producer of Undiscovered. She also plays the banjo.