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Dr Jer Clifton from the University of Pennsylvania is one of the world’s leading researchers into how our beliefs and worldview shape almost everything about our lives, including our wellbeing, our relationships, our sense of meaning and purpose, and our basic sense of safety in the world.

Some of the key things we discuss in this conversation include:

— Jer’s incredible story of saving a stranger from certain death in the subway and how this impacted his later trajectory in life

— The pervasiveness of the “belief in a just world” in our society, its good points, but also the hidden downsides

— The four “primal” worldviews we all hold and how understanding them can improve both our own quality of life and our relationships with others.

And more.

You can learn more about Jer’s work and take a short survey to find out what your own primal worldviews are by going to: https://myprimals.com/.

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Jeremy D. W. Clifton–everyone calls him “Jer”–received a PhD in psychology from the University of Pennsylvania studying with Dr. Martin Seligman (advisor), Dr. Angela Duckworth (committee chair), and Dr. Rob DeRubeis. His primary research area concerns primal world beliefs, with a secondary focus on measurement. Publications include the foundational 2019 Psychological Assessment article introducing primal world beliefs that was featured in the Washington Post and a 2019 Psychological Methods article on tradeoffs between validity and reliability. He is currently Senior Research Scientist at the Penn Positive Psychology Center, Director of the Penn Primals Project, and teaches research methods in the Penn Masters of Applied Positive Psychology program.

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Timestamps:

00:00 - Intro
01:21 - The Psychology of Heroic Actions
08:42 - Understanding World Beliefs
15:00 - Cultivating Empathy Through Belief
29:29 - The Impact of Beliefs on Life
44:15 - A Journey of Resilience
53:34 - Worldviews and Resilience
1:04:28 - Lessons from Research

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Interview Links:

— Dr Clifton’s profile - https://myprimals.com/jer/

— Dr Clifton’s X - @jerclifton